My Secret Life: Marc Hare, 42, shoe designer

'I like two-and-a-half-inch heels'

Hare says: 'When I look in the mirror I see a fatter person than the person I think of when I'm not looking in the mirror.' (Alastair Levy)

My parents were… good people under a lot of pressure. My dad was quite forthright and Jamaican and my mum was a child of the Sixties.

The household I grew up in… When I was 12, we moved to Stockwell – I loved it. We went from a box in Croydon to a massive house, with a massive garden.

When I was a child I wanted to be… I saw a magazine at the careers' office advertising a course at the London College of Fashion. At the time we considered fashion to be Sergio Tacchini tracksuits. I thought: 'What do they teach there, how to make tracksuits?'.

You wouldn't know it but I am very good at… making aioli.

You may not know it but I'm no good at… singing.

At night I dream of… flying. I get everywhere by flying in my dreams, without even flapping my arms.

I wish I had never worn… I think that even if you've worn something really bad, at least you were brave enough to wear it.

What I see when I look in the mirror… A fatter person than the person I think of when I'm not looking in the mirror.

My favourite item of clothing… Black hoodies. The more serious the meeting, the more I'm drawn to wear one – I want to disprove the notion that all 'hoodies' are bad people.

It's not fashionable but I like… two-and-a-half-inch heels. And sandals. They're very tricky for men.

I drive… a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. It's only three months older than me.

My favourite work of art… I really love Harland Miller's Penguin book covers: they make me laugh.

My favourite building… Anything by Santiago Calatrava.

A book that changed me… Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe showed me you can talk about ordinary things with style.

Movie heaven… Oldboy (2003).

My greatest regret… Not growing up sooner. In some past relationships I could have been more of an adult.

My secret crush… [Channel 4 News presenter] Cathy Newman.

My real-life villain… Whoever's idea it was to push credit on poor people.

The person who really makes me laugh… Micky Flanagan.

The last time I cried… When I see an ethnic kid say: 'Fuck it, I'm going to get an education, I'm going to compete', it always brings a tear to my eye. To fight within the system is braver than to stand outside it being a bad boy.

My five-year plan… Get enough money to buy a yacht. Then I'll just cruise around islands and not work any more.

What's the point? You're born and you're here, so you'd better do something.

My life in six words… It will all make sense eventually.

A Life in Brief

Marc Hare was born in 1970 in Croydon, south London. He studied Business Studies at the London College of Fashion and worked in PR after graduating. He opened 'London's only proper surf shop', Low Pressure, in 1992. Over the next two decades he worked as a design and marketing consultant for some of the world's leading fashion labels before founding the Mr Hare brand in 2009. His Mayfair store is now one of London's leading boutique shoe shops. He lives in west London.