Designer Matthew Williamson talks about a recurring motif in his work

From the 49th floor of the Upper House Hotel in Admiralty, the clear blue skies reveal the city's skyline - but it's practically lost on Matthew Williamson.

The British fashion designer seems a little dazed, but then he's been a busy man. Williamson has only just finished his autumn-winter 2014 collection which debuted at London Fashion Week. He then flew to Hong Kong, where he held a retrospective show as part of the British Government’s Great Week. On top of all that, this is his umpteenth interview of the day fielding questions about his journey from a schoolboy obsessed with the patterns of the 1970s to the toast of women's fashion.

His mother, an optician's receptionist known for her snazzy sense of style, was a big influence on how things turned out. Williamson's open-minded parents accepted his artistic ambitions and sent him from their quiet Manchester home to that essential institute of high fashion, Central Saint Martins in London.

"I don't think it was ever a question or a doubt that I didn't want to do it," Williamson says of his beginnings in fashion. "I just had an early instinct when I was a young boy. It was a field that I was fascinated with and I had a natural affinity with it, and it was quite easy to navigate my way."

The environment was as cutthroat as most designers make out, he says, but his upbringing allowed him to stand out from the intense crowd - particularly by embracing his strange but chic interests.