'Life is short and pretty grim' concludes Cunningham who describes himself as a depressive optimist.'Following a few vain achievements and conquests we hopefully have a few good memories at the end of our lives and sometimes what we were wearing at a certain point in time can enhance these memories'.

Neil remains unapologetic for the retro influence on his designs. Of course a lot of that is due to his powerful childhood memories and he believes that we are artistically most impressionable from the age of seven to twelve just before puberty really kicks in.

As a teenage student while most aspiring British designers are expected to make their mark by deconstructing and challenging proportion and tradition Neil conversely wanted to conform - learning how do things in the correct and traditional way. What was the right interlining? How stiff should this collar be? He finds it ironic that today many of the great fashion deconstructivists are returning to a celebration of craftsmanship, tradition and the Savile Row work ethic.

Conventional beauty has never interested Neil Cunningham - he finds confidence and enthusiasm far more seductive and his definition of elegance is restraint. A woman with understated good taste who can reveal in a few well edited sentences her worldly wisdom whilst retaining her mystery is by far the sexiest woman and winning her over as a client is very similar to seduction'.

Cunningham acknowledges that clothing can be a whitewash, a disguise and a trivial ornament but maintains a belief in its power to influence others in a very un-trivial way. In his mind there is therefore no contradiction in stating that we should be celebrating with passion the minutiae and trivia that distract us from our inevitable demise.