I try to contrast

Design is a series of creative choices - it's a collaborative effort, an evolutionary process. You choose your fabrics depending upon what you want to say, then you work with mills to get those fabrics. Through the process, you realize what you want it to be. I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going - I have no post-satisfaction. Dressing is a way of life. I don't try to be in fashion; I don't try to follow trends. You just end up out of fashion that way. What I hate is nasty, ugly people.

Fashion never stops. There is always the new project, the new opportunity. I like things simple. I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style. You have to always work against what you did before, and even against your taste. My learning process is by eye alone; it's not at all scientific.

A lot of self-importance goes on in the fashion industry. I'm not like that. I can design a collection in a day and I always do, cause I've always got a load of Italians on my back, moaning that it's late. All I did my first year at Vogue was Xerox. I believe that my clothes can give people a better image of themselves - that it can increase their feelings of confidence and happiness. I try to contrast; life today is full of contrast... We have to change.