FASHION DESIGNER MARY BELGUE REVEALS:

1) Do clothes really make the man/woman?

A Korean businessman once told me that the clothes on a beautiful woman are like the wings on an angel. Whatever. I develop crushes on guys and gals that I see around town, not so much because of a specific item or items they might wear, but their personal style leads me to suspect things. I’m way more impressed by idiosyncrasy or originality then ‘fashion’. I have to admit that I have a small prejudice against people who dress badly. Not people who genuinely don’t care and wear anything, I admire them, but the people who dress as though ‘I went to the mall and I tried really hard to wear what everyone else does’ is just bad. Clothing is advertising and I listen to what you’re wearing. Just a hint boys: girls often check men’s footwear for signals.

2) What clothes purr "sex and love" to you?

Well self-love is all about cashmere and silk, stuff that feels good. I could never wear silky slacks without panties, it would be way too distracting. The two things that make me actually wet are shaved heads and neck tattoos. As far as boys go, a simple wife beater with jeans and boots will do the trick. On girls it varies, a lil’ something different on everyone: on one girl it could be that bit of baby oil on a freshly shaved leg finished with a bare foot and mule, on another it could be hip huggers, or really messy bed head.

3) What inspires you lately?

Crazy, unassociated things: furniture, the flavour of food, words that stick in my brain like bungalow. Fall is my favourite season so a lot of my new stuff is fall colours like eggplant, rust, wine, olive and fall textures. On the other hand I’m really into delicate stuff with chaotic hand-detailing for dress up, kinda punk rock princess.

4) What's your personal style philosophy?

It changes often, but right now it’s a mixture of rock ’n roll tart, nice lady, and the basic elements: earth, air, fire, water.