My shows are about the complete woman who swallows it all. It's a question of survival.

When I was a kid, all I liked were books and chocolate.

I think that clothes should be a shelter like a house or a rug. I think that there is that element of protection and a uniform can be just that.

The natures of men and women are very mixed and for me the most fascinating type of woman is the one who is a little masculine, has a little of the man in her, and the sort of man who is fabulous is the one who is a little woman too. It's impossible not to mix them!

I was influenced by the hippie movement in San Francisco and by the feminist movement, which had arrived in Paris.

From the very beginning I've said to women not to follow the fashion rules blindly, and to adapt clothes to suit who they are, and not the contrary.

As a young girl I was a real tomboy, only listening to myself. I carried on with this attitude even as a woman and when I first launched the Sonia Rykiel line, and said to women to remove their bras or when I designed sweaters with stitches inside out, everybody said to me that it was crazy and risky, but I ignored what they said and I did what I felt was right at the time.