From blouses to houses

WAYNE Hemingway might not seem the obvious choice to be handing out careers guidance. True, in Red or Dead he created one of the most successful fashion brands of the last 20 years, but his route was hardly textbook.

He got his qualifications all right, although a degree in geography and town planning is not generally seen as a way into the fashion industry - and he points out that his then-girlfriend, business partner and now wife Gerardine left school at 15 without an O-level to her name - but it was a career he didn't so much set his heart on as stumble into.

But here he is, dispensing advice to 14 to 16-year-olds. The occasion is an event organised by Creative Partnerships Tees Valley, aimed at giving teenagers an insight into what it takes to succeed in an artistic field.

And if Hemingway might not have taken the road well-travelled, he knows what it takes to succeed.

"The main thing is to get across what it is all for, going to work and enjoying yourself and making enough money to do what you want to do," he says. "This is not just a pipe dream, a lot of people can achieve that.

"I was brought up in a poor background, got married young, had kids young, all the things you are not supposed to do to be successful, but we always had the attitude of being hard-working, not taking no for an answer, and really going for it.

"By the time many people get to middle age they have got so many regrets. We should try and live every bit of the dream and it is better to fail gloriously than get to your mid-40s and wish you'd had a go at that. The best qualification you can have is a desire and exam results don't necessarily prove desire."

His introduction to fashion came through penury. His experience of clothes came mainly from being dressed up as Tarzan or Elvis by his mum and his nan, although Gerardine had made some of her own outfits. Desperate for money, they sold some of their clothes on Camden market. Hiring the stall cost £6 and they took £80.

"It was only out of necessity," he says. "Being totally and utterly broke and needing to have a roof over our heads. At first we thought it was fun and people bought it and we were off and running.

"Most people will have an opportunity like that, out of adversity. It is whether you are willing and determined enough to take it."

The result was Red or Dead, but despite its success he says they were never really accepted into the fashion establishment.

"Red or Dead was always about being a non-elitist brand but fashion is about elitism so it was part of the appeal of Red or Dead and I was really glad to be like that. We don't bother what other people think, we only care about what the customers think," he says.

But in 1999 they decided to sell up. He says the money on offer was too good to turn down, running a big fashion company was unforgiving on family life, and they felt it was time to do something else.

"The love of our lives wasn't fashion. We fell into it, so it was no big pull to come out of it," he says. "And as you get older there are other things. The last thing I wanted was to be a 50-year-old bloke designing blouses. I always thought there had to be more than that."

He says he doesn't regret selling the company he had created. Was there a part of him that was relieved to have it off his hands? "Absolutely, absolutely. We enjoyed the youthful energy of starting that at 19 years old, but I don't want to just do one thing all my life."

They made enough money from the sale to live quite comfortably, but a few years later they got into designing houses, although again there was precious little planning involved.

Hemingway had launched a tirade against modern house-building, and in response Wimpey invited them to have a go at designing an estate themselves.

The chosen scheme was Staiths South Bank in Gateshead, mixing detached houses and apartment blocks, with around 800 homes in total. But while Wimpey may have indulged their big-name designers to some extent, they haven't been given free rein to display their artistic side, and although the houses have sold well - the Hemingways even bought one themselves - they have been criticised for not being radical enough.

He says although they have had to make compromises, that is only what they had to do at Red or Dead to make their clothes as affordable as possible. "It is not really a constraint, it is life," he says. "Businesses have to make money to employ people, we understand that, but it is a day to day struggle.

"A lot of architects say 'so what?', but we see our job as just to chip away. If you can change two per cent at a time it starts adding up. If we can prove that there are people who like what we do then we can improve on that."

The Hemingways are now working on several projects for Wimpey, about 5,000 homes altogether. He says having a home in Gateshead, which they visit at least once a fortnight, has informed their ideas on design, even down to where the radiators and sockets are placed.

While Red or Dead may have made his name, and his fortune, he is in no doubt he prefers designing homes. "Of all the things we've done that we could be proud of in 20 years, this is it," he says.

"If we had done this when we were 70 we could say this is it, we have used our creative skills to do something which is making a difference to something really important."

Better even than seeing his own company gain worldwide recognition? "It dwarfs that completely. It doesn't compare. Clothes are important, they get you laid and you meet somebody, but this is very different, it affects your whole life so much.

"At different stages of life you want different things. Red or Dead was really exciting and catwalk shows were really exciting but gradually your priorities in life change. You are probably less excitable when you are older."

They also have a range of wallpaper and tiles, although he says they are keen not to go down the road of other celebrity designers. "I'm quite wary of being seen to be a Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. I have nothing against that, it is just a way to make money, but a lot of it relies on people buying it because of name recognition. I want people to buy it because they like it," he says.

In fact, the whole celebrity culture is something he detests. He says he still gets invited to film premieres, even though he's only ever gone to the charity ones, and will never do a celebrity magazine or television programme - "I have this cheese monitor inside my head," he says.

"Before we had money I did stuff like that, if I got offered five grand to do half an hour on television. I never really enjoyed it, but I liked the fact it was building profile, making money.

"Now I don't need any of that so it is nice to say no. I hate celebrity culture with a vengeance."

He says his family would have been disappointed if he had bought into the celebrity lifestyle, but his four children have also helped keep him down to earth. "Being recognised is fun at first, and then becomes absolutely awful, especially when you have got kids because they get embarrassed," he says.

"They love it that I'm not on the television, and every time I am they hate it when all the kids and teachers see it. They never say how great you've been."