Wayne Hemingway : Good morning everyone!
C4chatEd : Morning Wayne, let's get cracking! First question...
mickey mouse : If you hadn't gone into fashion, what would you have done?
Wayne Hemingway : Well I would have hoped to have been a pop star. And if not, a bin man.
Cindy : How did you get your job on the Big Breakfast?
Wayne Hemingway : I got a phone call out the blue 2 and a half years ago, asking me to stand in for someone. I started the same week as Denise - and I'm the only one left now from that 'era' doing any presenting.
YSL : who are your major infleunces?
Wayne Hemingway : Me nan and me mum, and the good lady wife!
ada : Who is your favourite designer at the minute
Wayne Hemingway : There's lots of good designers around at the moment - obviously my favourite is Red or Dead but, you know, we've got a lot of good British designers - Hussein Chalyan and all the rest.
Jules : What tips would you give to someone starting out in the fashion industry?
Wayne Hemingway : Well the main thing is you've got to live fashion, and love it. If you just treat it as a job, and you go home and shut away from things, you're not going to do very well. You have to totally immerse yourself in popular culture. And get inside the minds of people of all ages. You've got to know what films they're gonna like in a year, the music - everything in their lives, what will excite them in a year's time. That's the hardest thing, and you have to live, breathe and eat popular culture. There's actually very little glamour in it, it's hard work and very long hours. You're only as good as your current collection.
Claudia : What's hot in the world of fashion this year Wayne?
Wayne Hemingway : Hm... I'm pleased to say that a lot of the boring minimalism that's been coming out of Italy for the past two years, is giving way to a more individualistic way of dressing. The hottest thing is D.I.Y fashion.
Carole : Hi Wayne, I have a friend coming over from Australia soon, he's very much into the fashion industry, where's the best places to take him in London to see our fashion???
Wayne Hemingway : The best place - I'd start off in Covent Garden and the areas around Neal and Floral Streets... then do a trawl of Soho looking at the fashion shops, not the other kind of shops *grin* and of course you shouldn't miss Portobello and Camden at the weekends. But also a lot of the department stores like Selfridges are a better than a lot of other department stores around the world.
Cindy : Do you do many catwalk shows? If you do, what's the most nerve-wracking part?
Wayne Hemingway : We do catwalk as part of London Fashion Week twice a year, and we've done that for the last 10 years and then we also do shows all round the world at various times of the year. It's obviously a lot less nerve-wracking than when we started - but the most worrying thing is that you've done a collection that the press and buyers can appreciate. It doesn't matter if a model falls over, or if clothes fall off - but it matters if people don't like the collection, because at the end of the day you have to sell, to make money. You need the publicity.
C4chatEd : Wayne, can the a member of the public go to London fashion week?
Wayne Hemingway : They have a special public show that comes at the end where you can see the highlights of the collections. I think you can buy tickets through the national newspapers.
Designer Pants : So Wayne..If grey was THE colour of the Autumn/Winter..What's the next big one for this season..?
Wayne Hemingway : Well... for this summer... Acid brights. And white. And black. And hot cerise. And a bit of grey *grin*. Not forgetting yellow. Green. Purple. Orange. Beige. Taupe. Chocolate brown. Misty, midnight blue. Chlorophyll-green. Sunlight black.
DR_NICK_RIVERA : WAYNE ARE YOU WEARING ANYTHING FOR ST PATRICK'S DAY?
Wayne Hemingway : Um. I'm sat here naked.
C4chatEd : blimey!
Wayne Hemingway : The webmaster has his arms around me and I have a picture of a leprechaun covering my balls.
Vic : How did you come up with the name 'Red or Dead'??
Wayne Hemingway : This is going to be a true story. So sit back in your swivel chair, take a sip of Tesco Value Orange (39p a carton and the cheapest I've found) and enjoy: I'm half red indian, my father was the heavyweight wrestling champion of the world in 1958-61. He's a Red Indian Chief called Billy Two Rivers. Chief of the Khanawake tribe in Quebec... hence the Red. And our first collection had a Russian revolutionary theme and there was a Cold War saying, Better Red than Dead... hence the Dead.
mickey mouse : Do you get tempted to redesign the webmaster's outfit for him?
Wayne Hemingway : Um. No, nobody could look sexier than the webmaster in his present outfit. At present he is sat in front of me naked apart from the yellow wellies.
Kate : Hi Wayne... do you give the crew any fashion tips?
Wayne Hemingway : Does it look like it? *grin*. Obviously not! Can you not tell from their appalling sense of dress?
Foxy Caroline : Which country do you think is 'fashion central' at the moment?
Wayne Hemingway : The Isle of Man.
Foxy Caroline : Wayne - what do you think about the abundance of skinny models on the cat walk these days - do you think it sets a bad example to young girls?
Wayne Hemingway : Yes. And we right-on people at Red or Dead always use a mixture of all sizes and shapes to promote our clothes. And the sooner that the rest of the industry stops concentrating on overly-skinny people, the better.
Iain : Wayne what five things should I buy this summer?!?! I am a six footer, black hair, tanned skin.... and no this isn't a personal ad!
Wayne Hemingway : Are you male or female?... oh yeah Iain!
C4chatEd : male i think
Wayne Hemingway : You must be female. Erm. Stilettos from a special transvestite stiletto maker in Soho...
Iain : MALE
Wayne Hemingway : A Pamela Anderson wig...
Iain : NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Wayne Hemingway : A red swimsuit and a blow-up David Hasselhoff doll, strapped to your back.
Iain : OIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Wayne Hemingway : I'll have to stop there, I'm getting excited.
Iain : PROZAC MOMENT!?!?!?!
Wayne Hemingway giggles
Kate : What has been (in your opinion) the biggest fashion mistake ever?
Wayne Hemingway : The Fashion Cafe. Definitely the biggest mistake ever. Closely followed by one-legged leggings.
Jules : What has been your worst ever fashion statement?
Wayne Hemingway : Um. When we started out in business in 1982, just when new romanticism was on its way out I looked a real twerp. I wore some stupid horizontal-stripe leggings. Shoes like they'd been specially made for a birth defect and the biggest of Bill Oddie-style Hovis caps. I'm surprised my wife married me.
DR_NICK_RIVERA : Wayne do you ever wear a Thong
Wayne Hemingway grins. Why is a doctor asking this question?
C4chatEd : it's a medical thing
peterb : When does a fashion designer, go out of fashion?
Wayne Hemingway : When he stops understanding what the public wants and gets too carried away with his own ego.
cas : Wayne-what's more important? creativity?or Commercial sucess?
Wayne Hemingway : You've got to mix the two. There's no point being creative if you end up going bankrupt and one of the most creative things you can do is to have a social conscience with your business, and to employ people.
YSL : Do you think that fashion wirters have too much influence as to whether your collections will be successful or not?
Wayne Hemingway : They do, and they don't. Good write-ups by fashion editors bring attention to clothing. But if the clothing's crap, the public can see through the rubbish that a lot of the editors write. Likewise, if designs are really good and well-priced, even if the editors haven't written about them, the public will buy it.
Funky Feline : Wayne-Hellllllllo! can I ask you where is the line between cool stuff and just junk?
Wayne Hemingway : It's how you wear it. If you think you look good in something and you feel confident about it, then you almost certainly do look good in it. It's when some shop assistant has to convince you and you're not really sure, that it's time to say no.
Fashion Police : Wayne- what have you got in store for us in the year 2000 ?
Wayne Hemingway : There's a lot of talk about everything going futuristic to welcome in the new millennium. Well - Red or Dead is going new-age Stone-age. Coz we all don't want to go around looking like extras from Star Trek.
madeline : will you go out with me i have some of your shoes???
Wayne Hemingway : Please send us a photo. A multitude. Of you, just wearing the shoes. And a picture of your back yard. Wayne Hemingway grins.
C4chatEd : That's it everyone. Thanks Wayne. Thanks everyone...there'll be another BB chat soon. Bye!
Wayne Hemingway : If you have any more questions, you can send them to the Red or Dead website, and we'll try to get back to you in the next few days...
C4 Chat Ed : http://www.redordead.co.uk
Foxy Caroline : Bye Wayne!!
Kate : Thanks for the tips Wayne
peterb : Bye BYe!!!
peterb : Thanx for the adivce!
Fashion Police : bye wayne
