Nostalgia is a very complicated subject for me. I’m attracted by nostalgia but I refuse it intellectually. Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future. Women are more sure of themselves today. They don’t have to emulate the way men dress. I do not have one theme for each season, I just try to make beautiful clothes all year round. It’s sometimes said that I’m rebellious and I do things to push people’s buttons, but I just like the challenge.
Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them. My customers are successful workingwomen. I try to contrast; life today is full of contrast… We have to change. I am not interested in the past, except as the road to the future. In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
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. I’ve always tried to push myself technically and to push myself visually. That’s been part of the journey. 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. I don’t care about money. I really don’t care. I just want to do what I do. I think it’s an old fashioned notion that fashion needs to be exclusive to be fashionable.
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. I’ve always tried to push myself technically and to push myself visually. That’s been part of the journey. 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. I don’t care about money. I really don’t care. I just want to do what I do. I think it’s an old fashioned notion that fashion needs to be exclusive to be fashionable.
If you cut a painter’s hands off, he’d still feel the urge to pick up a brush. 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. My shows are about the complete woman who swallows it all. It’s a question of survival. The market is like a language, and you have to be able to understand what they’re saying. It’s sometimes said that I’m rebellious and I do things to push people’s buttons, but I just like the challenge.
