[reese06]

After that, he worked with everyone who's anyone, John Galliano, Paul Smith... 'Savile Row was good for learning technical skills; at Westwood it was creative. At Calvin Klein I learnt to manage a team. I've worked at all the different stages of the process; there's very little I don't know.' Within the fashion industry, Kinder's probably best known for his work at Versace during the house's Nineties heyday.
'I signed a lot of contracts not to talk to you about my personal relationship with the Versace family,' Kinder says, and it's not clear if he's joking. 'I had a great time. They were amazing at looking after people they liked. If you worked late, you couldn't eat sandwiches. A chef would bring a tablecloth, silver plates. A sandwich would do, you know. The drawback was that because they're family, they act like family. There's screaming and shouting and you get sucked in. You act like them.' He says Donatella was catnip for his parents, though. Coming from an academic background, they had been unconvinced by his career choice, considering his assertion that he'd learnt to dress people at college to be something they managed for themselves most mornings. 'They came backstage and Donatella said to them, "Your son is so much trouble, but we can't do without him." They were impressed that someone they'd seen on TV said that!'
We retire to the couch, which is draped in a Union Jack flag, and Kinder solemnly passes me a satsuma to eat. He's still removing bits of pith from his when mine has been reduced to peel, which I try and hide in a tissue.
Despite his success at the fashion houses, it's now time for him to go it alone. 'I was tired of other people's things,' he says. 'When I was working for one designer, I watched the models coming down the catwalk, and thought, "If I went to a club and they were there, I'd leave." I want to do my own thing now. Even if nobody buys it, at least I've done something I like.'
He looks over at his rails of clothes again, considering this. It's time for me to leave for the Eurostar, and Kinder courteously asks if I'd like to stay the night and says that he's happy to take the couch.
The next time we meet, a few weeks later, it's in a flat that's even nicer that the rue des Petits Champs apartment. Kinder's place in London feels quite French with its dark-wood parquet tiles and floor-to-ceiling windows. The ornaments in the flat include cat and mouse skeletons posed in a glass case, a single ermine fur pinned to an antique table, two sets of Russian dolls, a print from Marilyn Monroe's last nude photo shoot and an autographed photo of Paul Simonon. He shows me round the glass-walled guest room at the top of an ornate spiral staircase where I can stay if 'I ever have a row with my husband' and the master bedroom, one wall of which is covered in mirrors, reflecting his large bed and the painting of two women kissing above his headboard. He explains that he nearly lost the flat when he asked the previous owner if she worked in the sex industry. In his defence, this area of west London is well known for prostitution.
Kinder likes sex. During his time at Versace, he also edited a magazine called DV in 2001-03 dedicated to 'fashion and sex, my two favourite subjects'. The glossy title was inspired by Sixties French magazine Lui, which was shot by Helmut Newton and featured the likes of Brigitte Bardot. Kinder's version had David LaChapelle, Rankin and Vincent Peters as photographic contributors; articles by Sophie Dahl and Oliver Peyton and images of Pamela Anderson. Kinder's editor's letters were very amusing, too. Showing he pays as much attention to a woman's pubic hair as to the way her arms move when she drives, the way she crosses her legs, the spring/summer 2002 issue editor's letter included the following direction for a model in one of the magazine's shoots: 'If she'll peel that's great. But keep it sophisticated... she's got an Adolf? Whatever happened to normal? Can we fill it with make-up? Then I'd rather see it clean than with a George W. Just remember, we gotta see those Manolos.'
He plans to relaunch DV soon. 'I'm doing it again because the distributors have had so many requests. I'm going to make it a big, chunky annual - like a Pirelli calendar. It's going to be dedicated to luxury.'
Before Kinder shows me out, we admire the view across the Georgian square outside his windows. He points out a building across the way which is obscured by scaffolding and covered in plastic sheeting.
'Do you see the holes cut in the sheeting?'
I do. 'The builders cut those so they can watch when I have models over for fittings,' he explains. 'Until the girls came, those builders over there, they thought I was just some fag designer.' That's a mistake that only a fool would make.

Source:http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/...288786,00.html