Yves Saint Laurent gave women power, Chanel liberated them and when I joined Lanvin, I thought 'what do I bring to women? One day, I received an SMS from a friend in New York - she was in a taxi on the way to court to face her arsehole ex-husband, and she said to me 'Alber, I am wearing a Lanvin dress, and I feel so protected.' That to me was the biggest compliment I ever received. To have a 500 gram piece of silk make her feel protected - that made me very happy indeed.

Fashion is instinctive and sensual. Learn to love what you wear. It should feel like eating chocolates...wi thout the calories

Style is the only thing you can't buy. It's not in a shopping bag, a label, or a price tag. It's something reflected from our soul to the outside world. An emotion.

When a woman's clothes are in harmony with her emotions, she shines from within.

My dream is to be a doctor. I'm almost working in a laboratory, because I'm trying new techniques, new directions and fabrics, new weaving.

With fashion, I barely finish one collection before I must start another.

I think that if you want to pass emotion, you have to write a letter. Emotions do not pass in SMS or in e-mail.