Manolo Blahnik insists he has "never followed trends."

The 68-year-old designer's women's footwear has been hugely popular for over four decades yet he has no idea what his appeal is: "I've never really thought about my success, but I guess it's true. I have been going for a while. Suddenly, people seem to really like my shoes again. But you know, those furniture shoes were fashionable for three or four years. I did platforms in the 1970s, so that wasn't new to me. I've never followed trends or gotten into the frenzy of doing the 'right' shoes."

The designer also admitted he can be difficult to work with because he is never completely satisfied with all his creations: "I'm never satisfied. I always find something wrong, and I'm really difficult to work with in that respect. Just today, I was looking at a shoe [here in London], and there was a fault, so I called the factory and told them to do it again."

While he been working for over 41 years, Manolo admits it doesn't feel like that long. "I've never been able to capture the essence of time. I really enjoy what I do, so what's the point of saying how long I've been doing it?"