Comfort is very important to me. I think people live better in big houses and in big clothes. Jeans represent democracy in fashion. I’d like to believe that the women who wear my clothes are not dressing for other people, that they’re wearing what they like and what suits them. It’s not a status thing. I think God is the most fantastic designer. I always loved aesthetics. Not particularly fashion.
Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul. There are only three things I can do – make a dress, decorate a house, and entertain people. My learning process is by eye alone; it’s not at all scientific. Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. I never like to think that I design for a particular person. I design for the woman I wanted to be, the woman I used to be, and – to some degree – the woman I’m still a little piece of.
Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable. I feel that things happen for a reason and open up new opportunities. I don’t try to be in fashion; I don’t try to follow trends. You just end up out of fashion that way. I love things that age well – things that don’t date, that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best. A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.
I would like the people that buy my clothes to understand that for me it’s one small piece of art. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity. My shows are about the complete woman who swallows it all. It’s a question of survival. Design is a series of creative choices – it’s a collaborative effort, an evolutionary process. You choose your fabrics depending upon what you want to say, then you work with mills to get those fabrics. Through the process, you realize what you want it to be.
I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now – no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore. Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. I have an obsession with details and pattern. I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now – no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore. You cannot be creative with people around you.
It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world. Comfort is very important to me. I think people live better in big houses and in big clothes. There is always an emotional element to anything that you make. I didn’t want to be a fashion designer, and for a good half of my career I didn’t like it. I always wanted to do other things. I’m an accomplice to helping women get what they want.
I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked. I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon. Fashion fades, only style remains the same. Design is a series of creative choices – it’s a collaborative effort, an evolutionary process. You choose your fabrics depending upon what you want to say, then you work with mills to get those fabrics. Through the process, you realize what you want it to be. I design from instinct. It’s the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut.
Luxury will be always around, no matter what happens in the world. It’s really easy to get colors right. It’s really hard to get black – and neutrals – right. Black is certainly a color but it’s also an illusion. Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul. I design from instinct. It’s the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut. Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.
