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. I don’t try to be in fashion; I don’t try to follow trends.

You just end up out of fashion that way. Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way. The important thing is to take your time and not get stressed. 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. Sometimes incompetence is useful. It helps you keep an open mind. Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it. I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes. If you cut a painter’s hands off, he’d still feel the urge to pick up a brush. Age and size are only numbers. It’s the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference.

Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. Fashion is a very stressful place to work because of the demands of doing the shows – no one expects a writer to produce two books a year on the dot – but it’s also a very toxic place to work.

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.

Jeans represent democracy in fashion.  Sometimes incompetence is useful. It helps you keep an open mind. Vanity is the healthiest thing in life. Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.

Awkwardness gives me great comfort. I’ve never been cool, but I’ve felt cool. I’ve been in the cool place, but I wasn’t really cool – I was trying to pass for hip or cool. It’s the awkwardness that’s nice. It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.

You cannot be creative with people around you. An evening dress that reveals a woman’s ankles while walking is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. When I was young, I lived like an old woman, and when I got old, I had to live like a young person. Fashion is made to become unfashionable. I think in the darkest moments, we need a break.

With all our love,