I was going to the flea markets to buy furniture. It was getting done the way it was getting done - on a small scale and with a lot of soul and heart and risk. We did fashion like fashion was done before - spontaneously, with joy and freedom, and that's what created our identity.

One thing Della Valle taught me is the power to say no if something isn't right. That mattered even over sales.

I saw a lot of haute couture all my childhood, and without knowing it I've learned from when I was a child to recognise beautiful fabrics.

Often something more simple would be better. Sometimes I put things together - a shirt, a sweater, a jacket - and it's too complicated. I would have worn only a v-neck sweater, it would have been better. It's not the clothes but it's how you wear them sometimes.

The secret of great style is to feel good in what you wear

Fashion is made up of paradoxes. There was a key moment in fashion. When the Japanese first arrived - Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, and all - I have to humbly admit that I didn't understand the importance of it at all. It was Jean-Jacques Picart who explained it to me. They had a huge influence in that they showed that aestheticism could be different from prettiness, that there was beauty and that beauty was beyond pretty.

It is true that in France, women put on less things. If they have a necklace, they don't put on earrings; if they have nail polish, they don't put on all their rings and all their bracelets.