You can't pretend that everybody likes Versace. It would be boring. It's better to create a reaction than to create no reaction. That's dangerous.

My mother didn't want me to be in fashion. She was in the fashion business, so was my brother, and she thought it was too crazy for me. She wanted me to be married with children, to be independent, yes, but not to have a crazy life.

Fashion is not frivolous. I am a businesswoman, a very serious person.

My muse changes all the time because I think every designer is a bit of a muse for themselves in a way - they just don't want to say it.

During the eighties and nineties, people wanted to be chic, elegant, bourgeois.

I think men know to seduce women though words and conversation and nice gestures. That's much sexier than when a man uses muscle.

Wear a fabulous smile, great jewelry and know that you are totally and utterly in control.