With her vivid volcano of pink hair and headache-inducing clothes, it would be easy to dismiss the fashion designer Zandra Rhodes as yet another English eccentric. But she takes her vocation incredibly seriously and is angry that her fellow designers and the Government have ignored her pet project, the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

On Wednesday Rhodes, 66, will receive the prestigious Montblanc de la Culture arts patronage award in recognition of her role as founder of the museum. As part of the award she will receive Euro 15,000, which will be used to support the museum's work in providing guidance for ethnic minority students. However, the museum will remain exhibition-less. Rhodes says that it costs at least £100,000 to put on a show: "The Arts Council has turned me down twice for grants. I've asked fashion designers for help but they saw the museum as a homage to me. It really isn't."

Rhodes was brought up in Chatham, Kent. Her father was a lorry driver, her mother taught at the local art college. "They might have been in love when they got married," she has said, "but by the time my sister and I came along they didn't get on. My mother believed her profession to be above his and she resented my father for not 'bettering' himself."

Rhodes studied textile design at the Royal College of Art. Her early designs were so bizarre that she could not find a manufacturer, but she caught the wave of punk and became a major player on the fashion scene, eventually attracting high profile clients including Diana, Princess of Wales.

Unsurprisingly, given how extreme her creations are, Rhodes has built a career in designing costumes and sets for opera, as well as a range of china for Royal Doulton and make-up for MAC. She guest-starred in Absolutely Fabulous and recently turned up in an episode of The Archers as herself, in an episode in which Sophie, David's annoying ex-girlfriend, held a fashion show.

Rhodes has "always been attracted to men whom I consider achievers" and met her current partner, Salah Hassanein, 18 years ago. He is 20 years her senior and she claims that the relationship works because, like her, he is a workaholic. As for her distinctive look, she reasons: "If you are going to decide not to be grey, why does your look have to be natural?"

Rhodes was annoyed that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York overlooked her in a survey of punk design, featuring Vivienne Westwood instead. But she isn't one to get depressed ("my work carries me through") and is adamant that, even without exhibitions, the Fashion and Textile Museum will not close. "I've jeopardised my career for it. After I'm dead they'll probably say, 'Oo, that was quite a good idea'."

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