Why the A-list fell for designer Richard Quinn

The Lewisham-born fashion designer, known for his distinctive floral and latex outfits, has dressed Amal Clooney - and the Queen was spotted on his front row. He talks to Chloe Street

- Chloe Street

N the seven short years since he graduated from Central Saint Martins, Lewisham-born fashion designer Richard Quinn's ascent has been of the meteoric variety most can but dream of. He has dressed Amal Clooney, Lily Aldridge and Nicola Coughlan for Met Galas, collaborated with everyone from Jo Malone to Barbie and Moncler- to name but a few - and his name has, for some time now, been one of the hottest tickets on the London Fashion Week schedule.

On Saturday evening the 33-year-old designer will unveil his autumn/winter 2023 collection with a runway show in Marylebone that is sure to go big on the dramatic sets, orchestras and floral and latex-clad supermodels that he's become known for. Quinn's is a distinctive aesthetic of punk-meets-couture that experiments with bold colour and prints and extreme silhouettes, with which the fashion pack have fallen firmly in love.

However, it was his first LFW show in February 2018, at which the late Queen made her front row debut, that really put Quinn on the map. "It was an incredible thing to happen," says Quinn, on a video call from his studio in Peckham. "You can't dream of a perfect storm like that. Even after I was like, why did they do that for me? That's crazy!" And certainly the column inches and headlines amassed by the royal appearance were a PR guru's dream.

The Queen was once again the focus at Quinn's most recent show in the fortnight after her death last September. While some designers cancelled, Quinn asked the British Fashion Council to push back his slot on the schedule to allow him maximum time to make an entirely new, and breathtakingly beautiful, 22-piece royal tribute in black, which he and his team of six (plus 20 show-time helpers) put together from scratch in just five days - along with the 27 other looks in the collection.