My mother was a huge influence on me - she was a free spirit and helped me appreciate, from a very early age, that everyone is different.

If I'm in Italy I'm going to have a cappuccino and two small brioches and then a mix of orange and grapefruit. I don't drink tea in Italy.

I haven't yet met a woman who told me, 'I wish I had shorter legs.'

I’ve always been very detail orientated, but I have gone from embellishment to nudity - from designing for a woman that likes to be dressed to designing for a woman that likes to be undressed.

I mean, the shoe - there is a music to it, there is attitude, there is sound, it's a movement. Clothes - it's a different story. There are a million things I'd rather do before designing clothes: directing, landscaping.

People ask me all the time, 'How can I walk in these heels?' I answer with the best compliment I remember that came from a woman who lives here in Paris...I know my street much better. Heels permit me to take the time to look at the architecture of my street. Now I take time to look at things.' High heels give you time to think, to look at your surroundings- a camel has seen more in life than a very quick horse! Women should live to rhythm of high-heeled shoes!

To me, the word 'decadent' is so difficult to use; it's a very sensitive word, in a way.