My first job in fashion: Rick Owens

During that time there was friction between me and Rick. I was going to quit. I don’t remember if I quite said “It’s him or me,” but maybe I did. So he left, and we didn’t speak for years. In the end it became quite fun being arch-enemies. Everybody called us ‘Good Rick’ and ‘Bad Rick’. It was an amusing rivalry. After Rick left, Michi stayed, and as well as working on the men’s collection while it lasted, I worked with her.

I do look back very fondly on it this time. I remember before I moved into Michèle’s house on Hancock Park there was this very glamorous period when I was living on Hollywood Boulevard. Because I was working I could afford this tiny, just exquisite apartment in one of those old Mediterranean-style palazzo buildings that was kind of falling apart. It was really pretty. And all of the bars were there; there were like five gay bars within walking radius. So we would just go on drinking tours. There was The Firefly, there was The Spotlight, there was The Blacklight. And there was the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel that had the lounge underneath it.

I vividly recall going to see Nina Simone perform there one night. I was walking by myself down Hollywood Boulevard wearing my platforms and my makeup. I had a long, black velvet cape. I was insufferable. And I remember this drunk homeless guy suddenly lurching out of the doorway as I was passing. He goes: “You’ve got the whole world in front of you.” I walked by, flicking my cigarette.

One Halloween, after about two years of me working there, Michèle and I became friends. I remember helping her do her hair and then going out and dancing. Suddenly it was comfortable for us to hang out. It wasn’t romantic at the beginning. Although she was always very vixeny. She always wore leggings with some kind of loose top and then a weird hat and a lot of jewellery. She was wildly attractive. I was definitely checking out her figure. Then, we came to Paris for something business related. And at one point I got really drunk, and I jumped her. That tried-and-tested method of seduction.

The jump occurred in Paris, then things proceeded back in Los Angeles. I remember the first time it was apparent at the factory that something was happening between us. Everybody could tell from the way we were looking at each other. Later, somebody told me that our press guy, Brian Watson, said: “Oh my God — there’s the end of the company.”