I'm not intellectual at all as a designer. Whatever I'm into at the moment is usually what becomes the collection.

That's always my downfall - when I start not having fun or not feeling passionate about what I'm doing. But that's why I love Emilio Pucci. There are some design houses that operate on a more intellectual level, but the way Pucci has always worked is more spontaneous and instinctual.

I'm not intellectual at all as a designer. Whatever I'm into at the moment is usually what becomes the collection.

I want Pucci woman to be a Pucci girl. That's number one, because I think she should have that vibe that corresponds with today. Emilio Pucci - the house is, I think, 63 years old now. It's an old house. The Pucci woman from the beginning would be 80 years old or something today, so I've kind of had to update her.

I'm really working on trying to get that lifestyle aspect of the Emilio Pucci house to be as strong as possible.

Working in the old fashion house is like how your parents raise you and give you this base, and you eventually grow up and have to say, "Well, you gave me this, but now I need to go my own way." So, more than finding a balance, it's about taking the good parts of what you've been given and bringing your own thing to it in order to take it all somewhere else - and hopefully, forward.

For me, coming to a fashion house and bringing my love and respect to it - and, hopefully, earning the love and respect of the house - is the only way to do it. I think of it as my own house in that sense as well. So I like not working from a blank piece of paper. I like that there's something from the past, some kind of identity that I have to work with. There are these good ghosts around, these good energies that kind of reinforce what you do.