Couture has a lot of issues today. Here in Paris there are oddly so few houses showing. And I'm not talking about the style. I'm talking about the sense of couture and these young actresses that you were talking about - they want long dresses that are not always the most innovative or the most interesting. So it's a bit lost.

I can say, let's go to the DNA of the brand and find something that I can introduce into my work. It's part of the patrimony of fashion.

I grew up in such a small city, I had to be popular or I'd be dead. So I had to be popular!

Why isn't Tilda Swinton on the covers of tons of magazines? Well, she's not that. It isn't her thing. But I don't know. I think that suddenly a time came when models, after the Linda Evangelista crowd, and Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, when the models for me became a bit bland. But I think more than that, the culture changed. The movies, television, music, and all of those things - those people were more visual and therefore more interesting.

What I find most interesting in fashion is that it has to reflect our time. You have to witness your own moment.

If I were to find something that is going to be more important to me than fashion - that would be work and love - then I probably would let go. That's a possibility. But fashion is an addiction.

Fashion is a playground up until a certain age. But then you have to find your own signature and your own style.