To say the least, Haider Ackermann is having a moment.
The man perpetually on the tip of fashionistas' tongues each time there's a vacancy at a major maison (and Anna Wintour's CFDA Awards date) sat down with Women's Wear Daily to dish on his love for Los Angeles, his unconventional designer education, his signature wire-rim glasses, and how he met one of his muses Tilda Swinton.
On once having a job cleaning toilets:
That was in Antwerp. My press agent hates it when I talk about this. But it's my reality, you know?
On his days working with John Galliano:
It was the best study ever. You know, at the time, I had no money, nowhere to stay, so I was sleeping on the street and going every day to work. I put my luggage in a locker at a youth hostel and went there to take a shower. [...] I remember a sense of humor...I cannot talk about it though, because it was so sarcastic and it's bad to talk about this now. Due to all the respect I have for Mr. Galliano, I prefer not to mention his name. It's not healthy to talk about a company who suffers and a designer who suffers.
On how he met Tilda Swinton:
In a Chinese karaoke. I think we were both pissed [drunk]. It was in Paris, in a very lost area in the fourth arrondissement. I don't even know how we ended up there. She's has a quite nice voice, which is not my case. I mean, this is quite embarrassing, but I like to sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong." Actually, that was the second time we met. It's funny, we were in Istanbul the other weekend talking about how we met and I told her perhaps not remembering is the best thing.
On his distate for celebrity culture...except for Mrs. Beckham:
I'm really sorry, I'm going to sound so rude, but some of those girls don't do anything. Yes, some people are entitled to be a celebrity because they did something, they proved something, they made tremendously good movies. But then all those young girls, they might have done one movie and just because they're pretty, they're out there. I believe we're spoiling those girls' careers. We throw them out there, in their first role, they get all the hype -- but then we're searching for the next new thing. [...] Everybody is a fashion designer nowadays. But then again, sometimes you're surprised that a celebrity-singer can make quite a fantastic collection. When you look at Ms. Victoria Beckham's collection -- chapeau! Chapeau in French means "wow, fantastic."