Quotes from John Rocha

Your 30s is the time to embrace bold, zingy colour patterns and to follow trends while taking time to get used to what really suits you.

Just because something is trendy doesn't mean it will suit you.

I don't want to be an elitist designer. It's no fun just catering for a small group of people. It's against my principles.

I can tell you every element of every single look from each collection - one to 30 - without looking at a picture: my label is all done by me.

As you get older, your skin tone will change, and that means the colours that suit you best change, too. Take a trip to a department store and ask for advice, or simply hold colours close to your face in the mirror, as this should give you a good idea of what works.

My dream home would be a fishing lodge in New Zealand.

I'm interested in beauty more than anything else.

I believe that IT is the way forward. Every other industry utilises IT, and I feel that fashion needs to use it more extensively to move forward.

Unfortunately, I used to play in goal, and I broke my hand. Two fingers. The ball hit me and bent my fingers back. I used to play every Sunday. I was quite competitive.

I have no idea why, but I find that men make more of an impact on me in films than women - even very beautiful ones.

I am trained as a fashion designer and do not claim to be an expert architect or anything like that. I won't do something unless I know I can do it.

To create a beautiful thing with unlimited money is easy!

As I get older and older, people like my work more and more.

One thing I learned from all my years in business is you really have to work with the experts: you can launch something yourself, but unless you have the expertise and the marketing strategies and machinery behind you, you'll never be successful.

Dubai is a vibrant city: Big cars, big buildings... it reminds me of my home town, Hong Kong. People are always on the move here, and there's a lot going on. There are some wonderful architecture and some not-so-wonderful.

When I left college, nobody expected much of me - and nor did I.