When I was far away, when I prayed every night, I felt I was very near with my heart, with my brain, to my sisters and my mom.

I always think about the streets because that's where I come from and that's where I'm going to die one day. That is my life.

In prêt-à-porter now we understandably need to make the collection satisfy the big market more, so couture is extra special.

Even though I had a fantastic family, I always felt lonely - not lonely in the melancholic way but knowing that, to really survive, I have to do everything for myself. I had to work and study, and I was out in the street really surviving, bringing food back home.

I've had this sensibility since I was a child. If there was a black boy in the school, I was the friend. If there was an effeminate guy, I was the friend. If there was somebody who was poor like me, I was the friend.

I am interested in beauty when it has something special and mysterious.

I was lucky. From the time I was a little, I was always surrounded by women, and I am very attracted to the feminine world, because I love the strength and romanticism, which in the end, you can find in my style.