I think when I started to get in shape and spend time at the gym, I could be better to other people and be better to myself and get back to loving fashion and experience it myself. I started to wear kilts and lace dresses.

It's funny because every time I go to a shoot, and I have clothes on, they inevitably come off. I just did one recently and the stylist was like, "So..." and you just know that they are going to get to the point where they say "Can you take your clothes off?"

When you design a dress you ask yourself, would woman like it or no. It's much more of a creative process, not a research or trying to make somethings that sells or appeals. I hope that it will appeal to somebody, but it isn't what drives me.

Even mistakes can get you one step further.

I'd like to be invisible. To be anonymous and see things for what they really are. The truth may be painful but it's probably useful!

You can go to Graff and buy a diamond that's flawless. You aren't going to be able to buy the same diamond at Fortunoff, but it's still a diamond you can enjoy. If fashion can allow you to have the Chanel mystique through a lipstick, then why shouldn't art allow you to have that through a sweatshirt that says 'Cremaster' on it?

What's worked for me is not quitting and being passionate about what I do and not giving up - and when I don't believe in myself, turning to others who believe in me.