Craig Lawrence has said that being a knitwear designer is way more inventive than designing straightforward fashion, because he doesn’t need to depend on textiles from someone else – he can start at zero, build from there and go mad. Saying Lady Gaga likes something feels really mainstream but, bizarrely, she interviewed Craig in Manchester and you’ll be surprised by how much the of a thinker the singer is. Gaga reckons she likes the “philosophy of Craig’s clothes”. Hmmm. Maybe the key is understanding that a lot of fashion is a bit like sex and dancing, and not rational. Craig replies he’s into “the spontaneity of his knitwear” and that he often doesn’t know where he’s going to end up. Maybe this is some sort of fashion equivalent of taking a pill and coming round while trying to work out who you’re having sex with. See Craig’s latest film and collection here.

Vice: Why knitting?
Craig Lawrence: There’s so much more potential to be creative. You get to choose the yarn, then choose a technique and then decide on the design. So from the very start you’re in control.

How did you start?
Well, my gran taught me how to knit when I spent a bored and lonely holiday with her one year.

What’s the most insane thing you’ve ever knitted?
A big yellow rubber glove chunky hand knit I took to Berlin for a !WOWOW! exhibition. It was the most ridiculous thing I could have thought to take on a plane and carry round Berlin.

Who are your fashion heroes?

Gareth Pugh, Victor & Rolf, Sid Bryan, Katie Shillingford, Fred Bulter, Orla Savage.

What do you like to wear?
My favourite outfit is a pair of skinny Levi’s with my giant-sized Miu Miu vest top – a vest that’s a dress.

What sort of universe or atmosphere are you trying to create with your knitwear designs?
Some kind of weird, dark and cold cyberspace fairground place.

This video is the stuff that’s on sale for autumn/winter ‘09 - 10

This is Craig’s completely insane graduate collection, a jumper from a dimension where plaid, DNA and ketamine-inspired fashion are the same thing and a knited flower is fairly typical.

Craig knitted these designs for Gareth Pugh, while he was still in college. As money was short, he made plastic bag knits as well as leather knits.

DARYOUSH HAJ-NAJAFI