I am always locked in my design studio. I think I'd go mad if I didn't have a place to escape to. Men have got more of a discerning eye. They appreciate cut and details, things that aren't so obvious. They like things that have cachet and gentlemanliness. Fashion never stops. There is always the new project, the new opportunity. I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.

We have got to change our ethics and our financial system and our whole way of understanding the world. It has to be a world in which people live rather than die; a sustainable world. It could be great. I'm used to always deciding everything myself. It's a blessing, but also a terrible defect. It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion. I was the first person to have a punk rock hairstyle. I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style.

There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it's advertising. I sometimes feel that a pattern is almost a fashion statement in itself. I'm an accomplice to helping women get what they want. Sometimes the simplest things are the most profound. My breakfast is very important.

I think there is something about luxury - it's not something people need, but it's what they want. It really pulls at their heart. If you wear clothes that don't suit you, you're a fashion victim. You have to wear clothes that make you look better. My job is to bring out in people what they wouldn't dare do themselves. Attitude is everything. If you cut a painter's hands off, he'd still feel the urge to pick up a brush.

Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference. You have a more interesting life if you wear impressive clothes. Attitude is everything. I've treated the waistcoat as if it were a corset, so that it becomes the first layer in the process of putting clothes on the body. There is constant motion between layering and revealing. Those fashion designers are just crazy; but aren't we all?