My dad only ever talked about two things: bicycles and Mercedes.

I don't see Dior as something that could become mine. I see it as a dialogue with the women who wear it. I want to stay connected to them rather than to an abstract brand.

I know this independence is what people like most about my brand.

It felt wrong for me to stay totally connected to that very strict way of approaching the heritage - what it can be, what it cannot be. That was also the period where I really thought, "No, let's open it up."

Both costume and fashion are about telling a story, except that in a ballet the story has already been written by the composer or the librettist.

I wanted an idea of the future, a new femininity. I wanted you to feel that you wouldn't quite know where these women were coming from and where they were going to.

I would prefer to use the word free. I think the Dior thing is so much freer. There was not so much free about Jil's way of working.