Watch our backstage video of Christopher Kane, at his London Fashion Week show

At 24, Christopher Kane is one of the youngest designers on the London Fashion Week schedule, but he is also among the most exciting. Having graduated with a distinction from Central Saint Martins in 2005, he went on to win numerous fashion awards and showed his first collection last September. Kane also consults for Donatella Versace

I didn’t lend Posh Spice one of my dresses when she asked because I don’t like her, it’s just that she’s not the kind of woman I think about when I’m designing my collection. Plus, I’m hardly in the financial position to be giving clothes away to somebody so wealthy. My interest in fashion started young. At school I spent all my time drawing naked women and clothes. But it was only after I watched John Galliano’s graduation collection on The Clothes Show that I knew I wanted to be a designer.

Being invited to have tea with Anna Wintour straight after my final Central Saint Martin’s show was extremely overwhelming. She was very pleasant, looked immaculate and no, she wasn’t wearing her sunglasses. We talked about my background in Scotland and then we got on to the subject of Versace. She told me that I reminded her of Gianni and that she wanted me to meet Donatella.

Within a week, I was backstage at her show. There were models running about, dresses didn’t fit, it was just insane. I wouldn’t say I was in heaven though, I was so scared, it felt more like hell. People were looking at me like, who is that little sh**. Aweek after our first meeting, Donatella invited me back to her office in Milan and offered me a job. I declined, because I wanted to do my own thing and she wasn’t surprised. Now I consult for the brand, which means giving Donatella ideas and working on different projects. I’ve also visited their treasure trove of an archive. All the clothes are wrapped up like mummies.

I wanted to have my own fashion show so badly that when it happened last summer it was totally nuts. I don’t think my family realised how big it was, they just thought, oh it’s another student event, so they were shocked and overwhelmed by all the media attention. Working in London is very inspiring: Marios Schwab, Jonathan Saunders and Gareth Pugh all work down the road, but there’s no rivalry.

You’re only as good as your last show, so the pressure is on. But it’s good pressure, it makes you work hard and create something different.

I don’t start the design process by doing loads of research because I find it clogs my head up – I just wait for things to creep up on me. I used to do lots of drawings but now I mostly work on the mannequin with the fabrics. Working with my sister Tammy is brilliant, we play off each other, but there are arguments. We are brother and sister after all.

My first collection – the neon one – had no neon in it at the beginning. It was only because I popped down to my local market and saw some neon pink wide elastic fabric that things changed. Neon hadn’t been done properly for a while so I thought, “why not?” It probably made an impact because in New York, the week before, everything on the catwalk was so dark. When my show opened with such a bright orange dress it made people sit up. I don’t really think about whether the designs are commercial, I’m of the mind that if I think of something good then I’ll create it. I recently saw someone wearing a neon dress of mine: she wore it with Doc Martens and it looked amazing. But generally it freaks me out when I see my dresses on girls. I get jealous, I want to keep them all for myself.

— Christopher Kane’s third catwalk show at London Fashion Week was supported by the Glasgow: Scotland with Style Design Collective. For more information about the initiative, go to www.seeglasgow.com/design

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