I like the things around me to be beautiful and slightly dreamy, with a feeling of worldliness. I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now – no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore. Luxury will be always around, no matter what happens in the world. Dressing is a way of life. The difference between style and fashion is quality.

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. Money is the most corrosive aspect of life today because it means that all attention to detail is forgotten. Money doesn’t buy elegance. You can take an inexpensive sheath, add a pretty scarf, gray shoes, and a wonderful bag, and it will always be elegant. Give me time and I’ll give you a revolution. I want to thank all the women who have worn my clothes, the famous and the unknown, who have been so faithful to me and given me so much joy.

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 I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. Fashion fosters cliches of beauty, but I want to tear them apart. Men have got more of a discerning eye. They appreciate cut and details, things that aren’t so obvious. They like things that have cachet and gentlemanliness. We live in an era of globalization and the era of the woman. Never in the history of the world have women been more in control of their destiny. It is not easy to dress well.

Money is the most corrosive aspect of life today because it means that all attention to detail is forgotten. Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it. I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction. Men have got more of a discerning eye. They appreciate cut and details, things that aren’t so obvious. They like things that have cachet and gentlemanliness. Give me time and I’ll give you a revolution.