People imagine I am always in a Bentley with pearls and diamonds and black glasses and Karl Lagerfeld next to me.
Ines de La FressangeFashion is made up of paradoxes. There was a key moment in fashion. When the Japanese first arrived - Comme des Garรงons, 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.
Ines de La FressangeI 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.
Ines de La FressangeI 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.
Ines de La FressangeOne thing Della Valle taught me is the power to say no if something isn't right. That mattered even over sales. Now it's rolling and finally, after having been PR, boutique director, operator, messenger, and everything else, I'm finally in the role I like the most - court jester. And that's what I was doing at Chanel before.
Ines de La Fressange