For me, fashion is a job. I love it. It's my passion. But the most important thing for me in general is life.

I brought a lot of the codification of womenswear to menswear. Why? Because when I was a child, I was wearing women's clothes adjusted to me.

When I was young, especially when I was at school, I thought couture was about big gowns, big hats (that is couture as well, of course) - but my couture is about going near the clothes and having a look at the details. I like people to have a shock in a chic way.

My definition of beauty is something between extremely ugly and extremely fantastic.

I tried to never exclude people. I know what it means to be left out.

My mom didn't teach me about Marco Polo. She didn't teach me about Napoleon. She didn't teach me about any of that. But she did teach me how to survive and to be a good person. And you need to be a strong woman to do that. She's the biggest person in my life. She's my Virgin Maria. That's why I love religion so much.

I try to destroy taboo in fashion-which is something I learned as a kid. I come from the street, and you have to be a survivor.