I spent many a summer early morning with the radio very low, half sleeping and half listening.

I'm not doing contemporary songs unless something comes along that really knocks my socks off.

Jazz was my first love.

You can take the guy out of the neighorhood but you can't take the neighborhood out of the guy.

I don't shop. I buy things that inspire me, that give me emotion.

Rome holds my psyche in balance. Whenever I'm there, it's like a holiday.

At Ungaro, I discovered the flou and the language of Paris.

I want a woman to feel the cut of the scissors in the clothes.

I'm a label that wants to sell. I believe in clothes.

My clothes are for the international jet set. They are very much for the red carpet.

The hardest thing in fashion is not to be known for a logo, but to be known for a silhouette.

Capucci was the biggest schooling I had. It wasn't just about the technical knowledge, such as color and volume, but also about the secret rules, and the beautiful codes of respect between the atelier and the master.

I have made bouquets of pleats, bouquets of flowers, bouquets of ruffles, bouquets of feathers. Often I design in mousseline, held tightly around the waist, and with something else going on all around.

I like things that are kind of eclectic, when one thing doesn't go with another. That's why I love Rome. The town itself is that way. It's where Fascist architecture meets classic Renaissance, where the ancient bangs up against the contemporary. It has a touch of everything. That's my style, and that's what my work is about.

The problem is that resuscitating old labels doesn't work anymore. I think it is very important to give hope to a new generation of designers, so that one day they really can put their own names out there.