Terms & Conditions

The only way to do something in depth is to work hard. You're only as good as your last collection, which is an enormous pressure. Instead of buying six things, one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it. Attitude is everything. You have a more interesting life if you wear impressive clothes.

Women are more sure of themselves today. They don't have to emulate the way men dress. I still appreciate individuality. Style is much more interesting than fashion, really. Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference. Vanity is the healthiest thing in life. I am not interested in the past, except as the road to the future.

All I did my first year at Vogue was Xerox. You have to stay true to your heritage; that's what your brand is about. Even Michelangelo got paid for doing the Sistine Chapel. To those artists who say they're doing it for the love of art, I say: Get real. I don't like trends. They tend to make everybody look the same. When I was young, I lived like an old woman, and when I got old, I had to live like a young person.

I think there is something about luxury - it's not something people need, but it's what they want. It really pulls at their heart. I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions. Attitude is everything. Success isn't about the end result, it's about what you learn along the way. Fashion moves so quickly that, unless you have a strong point of view, you can lose integrity.

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together. I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon. Don't dress to kill, dress to survive. There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it's advertising. I feel that things happen for a reason and open up new opportunities.

I've treated the waistcoat as if it were a corset, so that it becomes the first layer in the process of putting clothes on the body. There is constant motion between layering and revealing. The difference between style and fashion is quality. I like the things around me to be beautiful and slightly dreamy, with a feeling of worldliness. I am not interested in the past, except as the road to the future. Grunge is a hippied romantic version of punk.