The whole season thing is nonsense. It's either beautiful or it isn't. That's something I really learned when I started collecting dresses.

I want to know where is that committee in Switzerland that sits to decide what is in and what is out. I don't listen to the formula makers. I think maybe I have a selective hearing disorder.

All I want is beautiful. I mean, I like grey hair, I love wrinkles. But this is me.

All the young people in fashion worship the people who have been around a long time. I think it is about keeping something going through the generations. Take my work: Just because I'm not 20 anymore doesn't mean that people don't appreciate what I do.

I don't go out to parties because I'd look terrible in pictures. My escape is television - it's like meditation to me.

I'm not a plastic surgeon, and I cannot change the DNA of a person, but when I see a woman try on my clothes and she feels beautiful, I know I am doing my job.

The problem with couture is not designers; it's what happens when the couturier will no longer be there.