"Julie Verhoeven has worked in numerous ways across fashion and design, from illustration to creative direction and design consultancy. She studied fashion at Medway College (now Kent Institute), and began her career as John Galliano's first design assistant. Verhoeven's love of drawing is always at the heart of any commercial work she undertakes. In addition to her collaboration with Mulberry, Julie has also done record sleeve design for such bands as Kasabian and has contributed to top publications including Dazed and Confused, Self Service, and The Face."
INTERVIEW
Ultimate collaborator: designer and illustrator Julie Verhoeven at her home in south London Photo: MAJA FLINK
Julie Verhoeven, 39, has collaborated with Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Versace and Peter Jensen. Her latest solo exhibition, Fannying Around, is at the Concrete café in the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank from January 9, and her work is also part of Voo-Doo, a group show at the Riflemaker Gallery in Beak Street, London W1, from January 19. She lives in south London.
Eye opener I try to get up between 6 and 6.30am, and if I'm treating myself, I'll have a McDonald's bagel with Philadelphia cheese and a black coffee on the way to the studio. If I'm not treating myself, I'll have muesli with fruit and tea.
The three degrees: the intelligent must-have of the seasonWork Two days a week I teach; at the Royal College of Art and at St Martins, which is nice because they're both different. If I'm not there, I potter along to the studio which is a 10-minute walk down the road. And if that's going really badly then I go to one of the London Institute libraries for research. I'm trying to move away from fairy tales in my work now and I'm becoming more painterly.
Childhood ambition I knew I wanted to draw in some capacity because there was seriously nothing else I could do. I loved fashion and I wanted to be remembered. Everybody really wants to be remembered, but whether they will admit to it is another matter.
Listening habits I always have the radio on as background noise, but when I'm in the studio and start to draw I line the CDs up.
My music taste is a bit of a contradiction. My favourite music is punk and new wave because it gets me started, but my favourite album is Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, because it makes me happy every time I put it on.
Books I've got tons of picture books, the more pictures the better. More than anything I like old publications and periodicals and that's what I spend a lot of time going through in libraries. I like a photography magazine called Zoom, which still exists, Graphis, from the 1960s, and L'Officiel, which was a poor-man's Vogue from the 1960s to the 1980s, with really dodgy shoots. I'm also reading Molly Parkin's autobiography, and the The Orton Diaries, by the playwright Joe Orton. I recently re-watched the film Prick Up Your Ears, which is based on his diaries, and which made me want to read the book. It was quite hard to get hold of so that makes it all the more exciting.
Favourite room I have a soft spot for the lavatory. Whenever I go to the library I make photocopies to have as references for my drawings. I have banks and banks of copies, so I thought it would be rather nice to choose a few and put them on the wall.
Films I've only recently got into films, so I'm catching up and going through all the classics. I really like Turkish Delight, which is one of the director Paul Verhoeven's early films (we're not related). He used to be really cool before he went all commercial.
Collections I don't collect anything consciously but I do accumulate junk. I think it's more about laziness because I keep putting off clearing out, so the area where I work and live becomes smaller and smaller. On the way home from the studio I pass four junk shops and inevitably buy something. I have lots of local finds, such as a vase that I've painted pink.
Best present received One of my favourite things is a guinea-pig poster which my friend, the designer Emma Cook, gave me. I used to have a guinea-pig and she didn't know that it had died when she gave me the poster. It makes me chuckle when I look at it because the guinea-pig had died literally two days earlier.
Shoes I've got a giant tennis shoe in my hall that I made from calico, cardboard and polystyrene for an exhibition. I've got a weird relationship with trainers – I hate them – and apart from the giant tennis shoe, I only keep one secret pair at my studio.
Art I've got a wall of art which I keep adding to. I've just started to swap work with other artists, so I have a picture from Lucy Stein and I've also got a pair of shoes made from Sellotape which Emma Cook made for her graduate collection. They are balanced on a portrait of a cat, which is a light and the eyes become very blue when it's on.
New Year resolutions To worry less and embrace being 40. I've also done a children's book with a friend, called Cicely Scissors, and we're trying to find a publisher, so that's on my list to attack this year. My friend wrote the story and I illustrated it. It was fun to draw – lots of animals and cakes.
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