Glam-punk pioneer Zandra Rhodes has seen it all, but hasn’t stopped living large

Whether it's mere marketing gimmickry or the fact that advertisers are finally coming to their senses, the fashion world is showing new reverence for aging women. At 80, author Joan Didion is starring in a Céline campaign, while 71-year-old Joni Mitchell is the new face of YSL. Now another trailblazing woman of style is reminding us of her influence with a new collection of vibrantly printed kaftans: 74-year-old Zandra Rhodes, the legendary British textile designer who helped catapult London to international fashion heights in the late sixties and early seventies, has partnered with Colebrooke by Windsmoor, a label aimed at curvaceous women. Rhodes's colourful fare is easy to wear and perfect for camouflaging figure flaws.

There's a joie de vivre about Rhodes, who was bestowed the title of Dame by the Queen last summer. Sporting her signature pink hair and bedecked with large, outlandish accessories, the outspoken creator of glam punk balances her busy work schedule – designing statement prints, creating opera costumes and running her own British-fashion-and-textile museum – with a 30-year relationship with 93-year-old Salah Hassanein, former president of Warner Brothers International Theatres. With homes in San Diego and London, hers is a hectic, bicoastal lifestyle that would challenge a woman half her age. But Rhodes is committed to living life to the max and continues to be as prolific as she was when she dressed the likes of Queen's Freddie Mercury and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Fresh from a trip to Malaysia, Dame Zandra visited Toronto recently. I met her for tea at the Windsor Arms hotel to talk about textiles, prints and plain old passion.

You've made a career out of bringing unusual textiles to the forefront. Nowadays, a lot of designers are experimenting with different textures and prints, but that wasn't the case when you first started out. What was it about textiles that turned you on?

Well, I suppose I was artistic, and I liked the fact that, with textiles, you can create drama without overtaking things. I think that textiles give a bit of life to a wardrobe. And I just like to think that prints make you feel good.

In a way, it is a kind of art to wear. One has to see themselves as a canvas …

Exactly.

Why do you think there is this increasing synergy between art and fashion?

It came on strong in the sixties, but now there's a return. I think it has to do with the increased ease of people getting things from computers. They can absorb bits of artsy things and put them onto the fabric. I mean, I'm still not totally into computers; I use them, but they're not something I was brought up with.

And you never really got into digital printing?

I do some. There's a lot that I can't hand-screen. But basically I have a printing unit that's probably as long as this room, where we print the fabrics that make up my garments.

You played a major part in the punk scene in the late 1970s. What was it about that time that you found so inspiring?

Well, even though I do think that prints make everything pretty, I think I was challenged in just seeing what I could do with a fabric that wasn't a pretty print. So I put tears in fabrics, and used safety pins all over the place. It just led to a slightly different way of looking at things.

Some people credit Vivienne Westwood with doing that.

Well, we both did it. I always think it's similar to Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan, both inventing lightbulbs – kind of the same, but different really.

What is it about the business that you love?

I think it's being able to create something that hasn't been done before and seeing people in it. I guess I just keep doing it blindly, and it has led me into other things. I mean, I love working with the opera, where I've suddenly been able to do things larger than life. And you can disguise a size-18 lady and make her feel like a fairy princess!

You've always had a very theatrical way of dressing. Do regard clothes as costumes?

They are really. And with any luck, they make you feel good to approach the day. It's like why I keep my hair pink. If I haven't got that, I feel sort of boring. It would be the same as going out without makeup. It gives me some sort of disguise to the world. But whether it's a disguise or not, it still makes you feel better.

There are so many brands around these days, so many options. Would you say it's a good time for fashion or maybe not so good?

There's definitely too much out there. As a designer, I still personally run my company. But it's more difficult now because there are so many major American and French brands that are probably owned by drinks companies because I don't believe that half of them can exist on their clothes [alone]. Some might vaguely exist on perfume or, of course, handbags. But then again, I've just returned from Kuala Lumpur and, if you go to one of those brand shopping centres, you see that all the bags are probably made in the same place. They just have different labels on them. So many brands out there are just fighting for existence. I consider myself lucky that I exist – not on the mass market, mind you. But I do enjoy being involved in something like this special [Colebrooke by Windsmoor] design project.

So what is your secret to sustaining your brand, to being able to still be in this world and make a business of it?

One, I think, is very, very hard work. And then two, I've slightly diversified in that I have a museum in London, because I felt that British fashion and British designers needed to be remembered. Quite often, they've done wonderful things but they get forgotten, like Jean Muir (who really influenced the whole jersey look) or Thea Porter (who pioneered the whole bohemian-chic look in the sixties and seventies). We're having a Thea Porter exhibit at my museum next month. I came up with the idea [for the museum] when I thought that the world had forgotten me! But I've always saved one of everything I made, so I've got a hundred chests of clothes that I store. I'm like a horrible snail. Now I even have a travelling exhibition that I might ask the ROM if they'd be interested in taking.

This interview has been condensed and edited.