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.

People always ask me, "Oh, do you ever want to start your own thing?" And I don't, actually. I think what I enjoy most is the sort of co-production of things, where you bring something and somebody else brings something and a kind of alchemy happens.

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

I feel like I have to go back to Paris every so often. It just grows on you - the look of the city, the way people hang out there. If you're in Europe, it's good for that.

I think a lot of people, when they think about the house, they think of the print. But when people think about Emilio Pucci, I want them to think about this really, really hot girl, so my biggest job is to give her a face and an identity - and I do that by trying to associate that kind of print that people have in their minds with a kind of girl who is free-spirited, rebellious, a little bit rock 'n' roll, and who has a lot of energy, who is up.

I spend tons of time on the music for the fashion shows. I work with this DJ, Jeremy Healy, and we do, like, four or five sessions during the week leading up to the show where we put the music together.