Amy Molyneaux is a fashion designer and one half of the label PPQ. She has designed dresses for Girl's Aloud, Sienna Miller and Kirsten Dunst among other and currently lives in East London with friends.
What time do you get up?
It depends if I've been to an event the night before but I'm normally up before 8am. I have a passion for swimming - or it could just be the sauna after - so I’ll try and go to the gym every other day before going to the studio. I also do transcendental meditation in the morning - it's like yoga for the brain.
What’s for breakfast?
Black coffee. I don’t often eat breakfast food ...I’ll just eat broccoli or Indian food left over from dinner the night before. Alexandra, one our old assistants, loves coming over armed with coffee if she’s not in LA, or knitting.
How do you start your working day?
I speak to all the girls in the studio and then the laptop comes out. I find designing is better in the evening when everyone has gone home.
What do you read?
I always buy Private Eye and I love random pamphlets that most people throw in the bin. I’ll read a tabloid too, for an edited version of the news. It’s like those Rupert The Bear books where you could choose the long long version of the story or the rhyming short description.
What’s a typical morning like?
Hectic, as I have my own work to do and I have to keep an eye on everyone else. If Percy (Percy Parker, co-creator of PPQ) goes out, he always comes back with some novelty to keep everyone amused. He bought a rather stylish addition to the tea set we have in the form of a Russian mug after we did our show there.
Is lunch a wrap at your desk or a meeting in town?
I’m often out and will eat In Sketch or in Cecconis. Percy is very good at making soup too so I'm spoilt for choice.
What’s a typical afternoon like?
I’ll have often got all my emails out of the way and in the afternoon I will be either designing or shooting for the diffusion collection.
What time do you finish?
Never! PPQ is an all-encompassing lifestyle. We either have events to go to, people coming over for private shopping. Friends bring music over or I’ll stay late to design if I'm in ideas mode.
Networking eve or night on the sofa?
Both. But the sofa bit is rare and has to involve Indian take-away - to provide me with breakfast the next day.
When’s bedtime?
Probably after 11pm. I have the rather snazzy ability to sleep anywhere which is handy when travelling and having to go to Paris so often. I never have to buy magazines if I’m flying anywhere as I'm straight to sleep.
Who has been the most surprising celebrity you’ve ever worked with?
There are a couple of people I’ve worked with who have been really interesting. All of Girls Aloud are really good fun and always look at each other's dresses and wanted them shorter and shorter. Peaches Geldof has the driest sense of humor and is hilarious. I had no pre-conceived ideas of what she was like before I met her but I didn’t expect to have stomach ache from laughing so much. The best shoot I’ve ever done was with Suki Waterhouse and Rankin for our collection with Adidas. It was a non-stop buzz. And I did an interview with George Lamb at fashion week where we worked out he was conceived during fashion week!
Who would be your dream star to work with?
I don’t have one, I don’t think about designs like that. There are very few people who give me goose bumps.
If you could offer one piece of advice to someone interested in going into the industry, what would it be?
You have to be more than just interested. You need to think about nothing else and be completely dedicated - I constantly think about what I do. Otherwise your job will be ‘work’ rather than your passion.
This month sees the launch of the online PPQ shop. Get clicking at www.ppqclothing.com
