Giles Deacon is a master of dark arts when it comes to weaving gothic themes into his collections, whether via ornate bat-clad headdresses, as we saw for spring 2014, or the neat velvet jackets we saw for autumn 2012. 'I used to know quite a lot of goths up north', he told us, when we met for a deeply introspective heart-to-heart on the matter this week, so we don't doubt he's something of an expert. 

There's two kinds of goth, according to Giles. There's the ‘hair-down’ goths, always shuffling around in gothy groups. Otherwise you get, gregarious, drunk and hilarious goths who are into The Cramps. They're the rockabilly goths', he noted. 

He might not sit in either camp when it comes to his attire, but Giles has certainly got goth on the brain, and these are the things on the darker side of his inspiration list.  

'When I was designing the spring 2014 collection I watched a fantastic documentary on animal swarms and there was one on bats. I absolutely adored them, and I always like some kind of naturalistic motif in a collection, so we thought, "wow, bats could be really quite good!". 

'Bats are gorgeous little creatures with their vampiric connotations'.

'My friend, the artist, Jeremy Deller did a really gorgeous film about bat caves in South America. They’re miles deep, and there’s hundreds of thousands of bats in them. He said because of all the bat s**t that was dropping onto the base of the cave, his trainers almost melted by the time he walked out'.

'For autumn 2012, we wanted to create this idea of a really gorgeous stately home being set on fire, and someone trying to collect things like Eton school jackets and gorgeous tapestries, all burnt, like in a very gothy romance. It was all a bit wonky, but beautiful'. 

'The autumn 2011 show opened and closed with Kristen McMenamy who’s a fantastic goth heroin. She looks so brilliantly demonic in the show, like a Victorian Carrie!  The looks were based on these beautiful sculptures in St Paul’s cathedral called Lord Melvin’s Gates, which are these very beautiful marble carvings of gates to heaven and hell. We thought Kristen could good as though she was coming out of both of those, because she looks like that most days!' 

'Seaside towns like Whitby, though not just in the north, are very harsh places with a lot of history. A lot of storytelling has always gone on in them – there’s always an amazing story going on in a bar or a pub. Plus, you’re quite isolated in them, they’re often in the middle of nowhere, which makes for a lot of idle night time chat, which is invariably about ghosts, murder and loss. There’s a lot of loss in seaside towns, a lot of people get killed at sea. A lot of families will have had a member who will have drowned, or who’s boat has gone under'.  

'I’ve always liked a bit of gothicism in things - I’m a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe'.

'Angela Carter’s books always have a great gothic tinge to them too'. 

'Robert Smith is by far the best real life goth and 'All Cats are Grey', from 1981's Faith has to be the best song by The Cure. Of the fictional goths, Edward Scissorhands is my favourite'. 

'Alison Moyet used to do a great goth look'. 

'Siouxsie Sioux’s got to be the number one female goth. She looks phenomenal. She looked extraordinary performing at the recent Meltdown festival'. 

Müllerlight and Giles Deacon have collaborated on Strawberry and Toffee pot designs and given them a fashion makeover – in stores available now.