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

I'd rather work with someone who likes what I do than create something for the red carpet that won't make me happy.

With my designs and my ideas, I want to please myself first. I'm always very stressed about making a new proposition every season. But in a way, it's a kind of addiction. In another way, it's a crazy pressure. I try to stay quiet about the whole situation, because fashion itself can be crazy, and everyone wants a part of you.

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 remember Grace (Coddington) looking at me and said, 'Can you do something?' and I was like, 'OK, how long do you give me?' and she said 'Half an hour?', I said 'Forty-five minutes?'

You never do things thinking you will make a big statement. It just happens sometimes and you are lucky.

You need something that puts a little distance between what you really are and what you want to show; it's a shield, a protection.