The young Brit stands by his decision to wear a ‘scruffy’ baseball cap to meet the head of state when she presented him with he inaugural Queen Elizabeth II award during London Fashion Week

How often does the head of state attend London fashion week? Never, until last Wednesday, when the Queen made her first ever appearance on the front row, aged 91, at designer Richard Quinn’s autumn show – primarily to present the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II award for British design, based on “value to the community and/or strong sustainable policies”. Quinn, whose wearing of a baseball cap, grey T-shirt and plaid shirt at the event led to him being described as a “scruffy prick” on Twitter, says Her Majesty was “lovely, nice and friendly”.

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As front rows go, Quinn’s was quite the tableau: wearing a duck-egg blue suit (someone’s a fan of current season Loewe), HM sat on a special cushion placed on her Lucite chair in between Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue, in sunglasses, Caroline Rush, chair of the British Fashion Council, and the Queen’s personal wardrobe advisor, Angela Kelly, all flanked by a small pool of security.

Play Video 0:34 The Queen makes front row appearance at London fashion week – video

Quinn was given the heads up and signed a non-disclosure agreement a few weeks before the show – enough time to “add a few Queeny touches”, he says, pointing towards the headscarves and excess of florals in a section known as the Balmoral segment. Having originally designed about 20 different looks, he added a further 10. Otherwise, the collection was pure Quinn, barrelling from floral bodysuits to oversized padded jackets plastered in florals, to plissé skirts and foil gowns, inspired by 1960s designer Paul Harris. The Queen was most amused by the bodysuits and ballgowns, although her reaction to the models who emerged in floral biker helmets was less readable.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest One of Richard Quinn’s floral designs at London fashion week. Photograph: WWD/Rex/Shutterstock

Quinn was a plum choice for the award. A print-maker and 2016 MA graduate of Central Saint Martins’, last spring he opened a textile print space in Peckham, south London, near his father’s scaffolding company. His work visits the idea of “transforming a woman into a textile” by covering her in prints. But printing digital textiles requires facilities, so the designer, horrified by the cost, decided to create an open-access, cost-effective studio where students and fellow designers could do this. Impressively, fame has yet to change Quinn. To celebrate the show, he planned a trip to the fast food chain Five Guys and, in the days that followed, stuck to his routine of visiting the bakery above his studio – although he admits a slight sense of disappointment that he did “not get a free coffee”.

Concerning the baseball cap, he says: “Obviously, I care about meeting the Queen, but I think it’s more endearing to wear what you feel comfortable in.” As for the burning question of designing Meghan Markle’s wedding dress? “No,” he says. “You saw the helmets.”

• This article was amended on 26 February 2018. An earlier version referred to the Queen as HRH. This has been corrected to HM.

