For me, haute couture is a necessity. I never would have done this job were it not for haute couture. It is a comfort, a security. I almost feel it is our duty to continue. Haute couture is France. We have to keep all the skills and craftmanship alive.

The exchange by e-mail is more intimate than conversation - you allow yourself to say things you otherwise wouldn't.

We all look for lost time.

Haute Couture should be fun, foolish and almost unwearable.

I am always anxious to know what has happened while I've been asleep.

I am still in love with couture because it is just two months from drawing pad to runway so everything on the catwalk is hot from the oven.

French design hardly exists, except as artificial modernism.