I'm used to always deciding everything myself. It's a blessing, but also a terrible defect. 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. Nostalgia is a very complicated subject for me. I'm attracted by nostalgia but I refuse it intellectually. We have got to change our ethics and our financial system and our whole way of understanding the world. It has to be a world in which people live rather than die; a sustainable world. It could be great. 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.

I don't really know how to do casual clothes. You have to always work against what you did before, and even against your taste. Fashion to me has become very disposable; I wanted to get back to craft, to clothes that could last. My relationships with producers or photographers - these are relationships that took years. Today, I'm very happy about myself, because I realized my dreams. I learned how to understand what people want.

I try to contrast; life today is full of contrast... We have to change. For me, the summer will be pure gray - mother-of-pearl gray, very pale gray. To me, this is the big statement for summer. Then we have light blue, light turquoise, lots of pink. Fashion is made to become unfashionable. Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury. Elegance isn't solely defined by what you wear. It's how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read.

It is difficult to talk about fashion in the abstract, without a human body before my eyes, without drawings, without a choice of fabric - without a practical or visual reality. You have to stay true to your heritage; that's what your brand is about. I'm a fashion designer and people think, what do I know? I love you if you love me. Dressing up. People just don't do it anymore. We have to change that.

Luxury will be always around, no matter what happens in the world. Attention to detail is of utmost importance when you want to look good. 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 am what I am. Before I was not so proud to make fashion. My family thought fashion wasn't very interesting. So I hid that. I've always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet.

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. People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral. Attention to detail is of utmost importance when you want to look good. I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.

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. You're only as good as your last collection, which is an enormous pressure. Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. An evening dress that reveals a woman's ankles while walking is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Nostalgia is a very complicated subject for me. I'm attracted by nostalgia but I refuse it intellectually.

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. I get ideas about what's essential when packing my suitcase. Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them. My learning process is by eye alone; it's not at all scientific. What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today when human contacts go so fast. Fashion is instant language.