I suppose I must of been about 12 or 13 years old and as with most kids your resources are limited. There hasn’t always been Charity Shops / Thrift shops in the UK- Instead we had what were called ‘Jumble sales’. So, an ideal place for teenagers to find clothes to experiment with fashions and so on.

I felt alone even in the company of others, so, I was hanging out with a group of lads. I remember I was experimenting with caps/hats/clothes, not only with fashion, music influences and but to fit with my dual identity as a little boxer. When this young lad from the group of boys said “Paddock, why can’t you be and dress like the rest of us ?” I didn’t know what to think about that at the time, however, quite a good observation from him though.

Today, I dress quite conservatively, being that bit older. Yet, there’s nothing more I like than working with say fashion/textile students to create costumes for characters/actors. The fashion students had to rein me in recently on some costume designs, that were Far Eastern, I think contemporary Korean influences and an Afro/Contemporary/Western/Voice Hearer fusion; an influence is pictured.