Quotes from John Rocha

I want romance; I want people to be happy in their relationships.

A woman can look incredibly sexy in a black suit.

I love white walls because white reflects the light and is a great backdrop for art.

We cater for fashion-conscious people.

Chinese people have that superstitious fix - people always do feng shui when they are opening a shop; even the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank pays people to do feng shui for them.

At primary school, we would pick up plastic petals on the way home to make flowers. Now you might call it child labour, but we did it for pocket money.

As a heterosexual designer, it is really, really important to have a woman's point of view.

Men like clothes they can wear to work and afterwards. They don't want things to be complicated.

I like to create a simple space and surround myself with things that I like to look at.

Many women in their 40s make the mistake of wearing clothes that are too tight. Skimpy dresses and tight trousers can make you look older, so get the best fit you can find.

It might be a selfish choice, but I find it quite difficult to design for individuals and prefer the distance of larger schemes. It's the same reason why, as a designer, I don't do wedding dresses.

If you ask me where do I belong, it would be somewhere in the Irish Sea almost - born in Hong Kong, Chinese mother, Portuguese father from Macao, lived in Europe most of my life.

When I was young, we always went to our posh cousins at Christmas. My dad made sure we had new shoes and clean clothes - he was really proud - and that's why I felt different from everyone living around me. We had the first television on the estate, the first fridge.

My most precious possession is a 13.5-feet-long fishing rod, made by an American firm called Loomis.

Design has always been at the heart of our business.

I will never see myself as a businessman. I'm a designer. I have to be true to what I believe.

I want to challenge myself in new mediums; I want to leave myself open to different things.

Fashion is like a four-legged table: you need a good designer, a very good business manager, a good manufacturer, and a very good distributor. Without all the legs, table collapses.

I want to explore my design philosophy in different mediums, and I'm very interested in architecture.

My life is about family and friends as well as work.

I always promised myself that I wouldn't do catwalk shows until the day I died.

I think natural fibers look better over time. The more you wear them, they look even better.

I always have a cigar when I catch a fish.

I used to play football, and then my wife bought me a fishing rod.