Rubies and Lemons

  Charlie Billingham, thank you for agreeing to this interview. I have happily followed your work for some time. I am particularly interested in your appropriation of those great masters of British satirical illustration - Cruikshank, Rowlandson, and Gillray, for whom I have a great affection. Yes, they are artists of whom I too am very fond. When I was young, my parents bought a series of Cruikshank etchings from the 'Monstrosities' series, showing exaggerated fashions from the 1810s and 1820s. They hung in the bathroom and around the house, and for me this spawned a fascination for caricatures from this period.     You gained an MA Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art, and you later completed a Post Graduate Diploma at the Royal Academy Schools, London. It must have been a validating experience to every day walk past the sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds which stands in the entrance courtyard? Yes, it was! Both art schools also have incredible plaster cast collections of

    Innovative designer Jeffrey Bryant has created iconic looks for some of the world’s most recognisable performers, including Lady Gaga and Duran Duran. His work has been seen by millions. I spoke to him while he was on tour with the Pet Shop Boys, with whom he has collaborated since the early 1990s.   Growing up in South Wales, were there any clues about your destiny? As a child, I daydreamed. I was obsessed with Greek and Roman history. I was always dressing up. I remember tying bamboo table-mats around my chest, like Samurai armour; a tea towel became the helmet. I left school at 16 to work in a factory, completing a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. In 1976, everything was about to change. I'm sure you'll agree that the UK Punk explosion was life-changing for many of our generation! Punk became the natural progression for a tribe of like-minded people. In 1977 I began to explore wilder fashions and music. In ’78, I visited Vivienne Westwood’s shop, Seditio