Dame Zandra Rhodes has built her world on colour. The iconic British designer, who launched her eponymous fashion brand almost fifty years ago, is known for her bold prints and vibrant technicolour designs. Nicknamed ‘The Princess of Punk’, Rhodes became an influential designer on the 1970s fashion scene, with clients including Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and Freddie Mercury. With her own distinctive look of theatrical make-up and trademark bob, dyed hot pink since the 80s, she is the the embodiment of her label’s designs – larger than life, and impossible to ignore.

We met Rhodes at her kaleidoscopic home and studio in South London, where she occupies the top floor of the Fashion and Textile Museum. Founded by Rhodes in 2003, the museum is dedicated to showcasing fashion and textile designers from the 1950s onwards. Fittingly, the building itself – a converted warehouse redesigned by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta – is painted a vibrant orange and pink. We spoke to Rhodes about her colourful hair history, and what her hair means to her.

Your world is filled with colour. What is it about colour that draws you in? I think that colour in general makes one feel happy, rather than sad. I don’t feel very special when I wear black, it doesn’t define me as a person. Colour also diverts from other things, so they’re not going to notice if my manicure isn’t perfect, or other things about me, so that’s always a good saving grace!

Which other colours did you try before you settled on your (now signature) pink? Pink is fabulous – it’s a very happy colour, and it doesn’t take much upkeep. I only need to do it about once a month. During the 70s I experimented a lot – I wore it longish, tried streaks of purple, streaks of green, green with little feathers on the tips…

Then in 1979, I went to China as one of the first groups of tourists. There was no colour anywhere – everything was uniform, navy blue. When I came back to do a collection, I thought to myself, ‘Red China!’ I dyed my hair pink to commemorate the occasion, and it’s been pink ever since.

The 70s also marked the start of punk, during which brightly dyed hair became a very visual symbol of rejecting societal norms. Was this tied in with your decision to start colouring your hair? For me, I don’t think it had that much to do with punk. I feel like punk was more to do with a definition of how your hair might have been cut. Like it was green but it might have been stiffer, or sticking out. I tried lots of experiments that went with the punk movement, but I don’t necessarily associate coloured hair with punk. This is softer really. I suppose I’ve always felt that, your hair and your face are as important, if not more important, than the clothes that you wear, because it’s your face to the public. I’ve always made sure that I’m fully made-up, and when I’ve got my hair looking right, I feel great. It’s a guarantee to feeling great.

Do you think it could be because bright primary colours evoke something childlike and playful in us? I like that theory! For me, it’s as simple as – I know that I wouldn’t like to be a little grey-haired old lady, so I’m better off being a little pink-haired old lady!

Pink as a colour has quite a strange and complicated gender history – at some point it overwhelmingly became associated exclusively with femininity. Although this notion – of certain colours being assigned to certain genders – is now finally being rejected more and more.

What has been your experience of this, both as an individual and a designer? I think, when people come to me personally, it’s because they want a Zandra Rhodes dress, but they might not want to wear it in the brightest of pink. They might want it in sky-blue. They’re coming to me because they want a dress that is identifiable for them but not to be an overwhelming statement. I think that I’m in a very lovely position, of people enjoying it and not being shocked any more. I’ve never found that I’ve identified colours with genders, I know people do… but now I find that they associate pink with me, which is quite an honour!