The woman I'm still a little piece of

I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now - no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore. 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 thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet. Jeans represent democracy in fashion. I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together.

Never in my wildest dreams did I entertain the idea that I would become a fashion designer. I never like to think that I design for a particular person. I design for the woman I wanted to be, the woman I used to be, and - to some degree - the woman I'm still a little piece of.

It's a philosophy of life

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. Doing collections, doing fashion is like a non-stop dialogue. 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. Women are women, and hurray for that. Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference.

It's a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world. I believe that my clothes can give people a better image of themselves - that it can increase their feelings of confidence and happiness. The market is like a language, and you have to be able to understand what they're saying. Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it. Fashion is to please your eye. Shapes and proportions are for your intellect.

Everything I do is a matter of heart

I try as much as possible to give you a great basic product and what comes out, I feel, is really amazing. Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul. I believe in comfort. If you don't feel comfortable in your clothes, it's hard to think of anything else. I have an obsession with details and pattern. I've always tried to push myself technically and to push myself visually. That's been part of the journey.

Fashion fosters cliches of beauty, but I want to tear them apart. I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style. 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. The important thing is to take your time and not get stressed. You have to stay true to your heritage; that's what your brand is about.