Jeans represent democracy in fashion. Design is a series of creative choices – it’s a collaborative effort, an evolutionary process. You choose your fabrics depending upon what you want to say, then you work with mills to get those fabrics. Through the process, you realize what you want it to be. I was the first person to have a punk rock hairstyle. I like the body. I like to design everything to do with the body. 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.

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. People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral. Online media is increasingly influential in fashion. I don’t try to be in fashion; I don’t try to follow trends. You just end up out of fashion that way. The only way to do something in depth is to work hard.

Fashion is about something that comes from within youRalph Lauren

Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them. For me, art is about learning and about living with people. It’s alive. I love to design things that people can actually buy. I’m staggered by what a boot costs today. Those fashion designers are just crazy; but aren’t we all? The market is like a language, and you have to be able to understand what they’re saying.

I would like the people that buy my clothes to understand that for me it’s one small piece of art. I like the body. I like to design everything to do with the body. I love a black wedding dress. Jeans represent democracy in fashion. We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.

It is difficult to talk about fashion in the abstract, without a human body before my eyes, without drawings, without a choice of fabric – without a practical or visual reality. In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish. I design from instinct. It’s the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut. You cannot be creative with people around you. Elegance isn’t solely defined by what you wear. It’s how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read.

Comfort is very important to me. I think people live better in big houses and in big clothes. It should be natural, and that’s how I like women to look. I like them to feel comfortable and look organic. People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral. Fashion to me has become very disposable; I wanted to get back to craft, to clothes that could last. It’s hard to balance everything. It’s always challenging.

My dresses are very reasonably priced, for dresses that are cut on the body. Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future. You have to always work against what you did before, and even against your taste. I am always locked in my design studio. What I hate is nasty, ugly people.

It’s hard to balance everything. It’s always challenging. Money is the most corrosive aspect of life today because it means that all attention to detail is forgotten. It is difficult to talk about fashion in the abstract, without a human body before my eyes, without drawings, without a choice of fabric – without a practical or visual reality. I would like the people that buy my clothes to understand that for me it’s one small piece of art. I don’t care about money. I really don’t care. I just want to do what I do.

• Arts

• Fashion