Andreas Kronthaler's lederhosen admission

Jul 10, 2009, 11:45 GMT

Andreas Kronthaler and Vivienne Westwood

Andreas Kronthaler wore lederhosen as a child because they were "good for playing".

The 42-year-old fashion designer - who has been married to legendary clothes maker Vivienne Westwood for 17 years - grew up in Austria and often used to wear the traditional dress.

He said: "It was very good for playing. I was handed it down from my older brother. When you were little, you could even p**s in them. You didn't need nappies, you know. But I wasn't very fond of it. It was hard like a carpet from all the p**s."

Andreas always new he was destined for a career in fashion, and put on his first shows when he was a child.

He explained to Britain's Observer newspaper: "My mother had all these clothes, all these wardrobes full of stuff, and I got all my friends together and put together a kind of fashion show with looks and everything.

"And we made these posters and advertised it all over the village and had a fee to get in. It was a big success and afterwards we had huge things of ice cream. I was always doing things like this."

Andreas is well-known for his dramatic dress sense and outlandish designs.

A recent range for men included a baby-pink suit, and he sent models down the runway wearing leather masks.

His sense of style has caused rumours he inspired Sacha Baron Cohen's latest character Bruno, a gay Austrian fashionista who tries to become a celebrity in the US in new movie 'Bruno'.

Andreas said: "Some of the people in the studio, they were saying it's based on me! But I don't know. I met him once, I think. Sacha Baron Cohen. And they borrowed some of the clothes, I think. For the film. He may even have been at one of the shows once."