After he triumphantly showed his S/S '11 at New York Fashion Week, and then won a WGSN Award for 'Emerging Brand or Retailer', we caught up with the lovely London designer at the launch of Body Shop's new range - Brush With Fashion, which took place at the wonderful London College of Fashion with Ben Grimes closing the show and dillions of models all made up in Body Shop products, with makeup design by Nikki Palmer. Nikki is now an international makeup artist, but, like William (and Grazia Daily) trained at good old LCF. Aaah, It's like a Uni reunion!

Grazia Daily: How are you? What have you been up to?                                                                          William Tempest: I’ve come down from Manchester this morning, because I’ve been up in Cheshire with my family.

GD: That’s nice. How does it feel to be back in your old college? Is it strange?                                           WT: Not really because I come here quite a lot in actual fact. I come in and look at books in the library for inspiration and I keep in touch with the college regularly because the press office have helped me so much, so I stay on their good side!

GD: Well, yes it’s always handy to have free publicity. You showed in New York last season. Are you still based in London most of the time?                                                                                                            WT: Yes, we still work from here. It was a fantastic experience having my show at New York fashion week. I had a showroom at the Soho Grand hotel as well and got to meet lots of stylists and editors too, which was great. I love New York in general. People there are so positive and upbeat and they really like my style, the whole red carpet thing! We haven’t decided for definite where we are going to show next season but I wouldn’t rule it out because I loved it there.

GD: Do you sell a lot in the states?                                                                                                             WT: Yes, I have really good stockists there. My biggest market though, is the Middle East. They love me there, they spend loads. So there are all these wealthy Saudi women or whoever, super glammed up in one of my dresses and makeup and then they go and put a burka over it! Oh well.

GD: How do you feel about working with Body Shop?                                                                               WT: I’m really happy to be doing the show with Body Shop. It’s something we all remember from childhood, me and my sister used to go down there and spend all our pocket money on bath bits. Of course the fact that they are ethical and sustainable and free from animal cruelty is a big selling point. I’m really pleased to be working with them and I think the makeup looks great!

GD: If you could collaborate with any brand on anything, would else would you like to do?                       WT: Ooh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind doing nail varnish!

Watch this space, readers!

- Naomi Attwood