Fashion is always of the time in which you live. It is not something standing alone. But the grand problem, the most important problem, is to rejeuvenate women. To make women look young. Then their outlook changes. They feel more joyous. Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable. 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 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 don’t like trends. They tend to make everybody look the same.

Delete the negative; accentuate the positive! I’m a fashion designer and people think, what do I know? Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future. Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul. I adore the challenge of creating truly modern clothes, where a woman’s personality and sense of self are revealed. I want people to see the dress, but focus on the woman.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous. 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. 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. Fashion should be fun. It shouldn’t be labelled intellectual. 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.

The difference between style and fashion is quality. I like to be real. I don’t like things to be staged or fussy. I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes. I sometimes feel that a pattern is almost a fashion statement in itself. Dressing up. People just don’t do it anymore. We have to change that.