I just tried to be an artist in my own metier.
Basic clothes are for all women, to last for decades and decades. They are the future and will never change. I am persuaded of that.
I want to give haute couture a kind of wink, a sense of humour – to introduce the whole sense of freedom one sees in the street into high fashion; to give couture the same provocative and arrogant look as punk – but, of course, with luxury and dignity and style.
I’d really like to be in closer contact with life. I’m a little too distant, I guess. I like to place myself outside.
It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.
When I look at the five thousand garments and then all this music hall work, I ask myself how I could have done it all. I was a phenomenon!
I couldn’t love a woman who inspired me to be totally disinterested. If I fell in love with a woman for an artistic reason, or from the point of view of my work, I think it would rob her of something.
A visit to Marrakesh was a great shock to me. This city taught me color.
We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.
When I was young in the 1960s, all the world watched the youth. Everywhere was the sensation of wanting to break the chains but to do something beautiful. It is my privilege to have beauty always near me.
I told myself repeatedly, ‘One day you will be famous.’
I live in solitude. I have need of solitude to do the next day’s work. I can’t be to parties where the noise tires me. I can’t speak on the telephone. I must have complete calm.
I wanted women to have the same basic wardrobe as a man. Blazer, trousers, and suit. They’re so functional. I believed women wanted this and was right.
If men wanted to look good in a skirt, they would need the body of an African. And the colour. A skirt with white, skinny legs. Horrible!
My favorite thing is a black sweater and skirt, which you can wear all the time by changing the accessories.
I hate fashion. I don’t have any fun doing it. A show terrifies me.
Seeing Cubism paintings at the Beaubourg makes me very happy and, also, old films.
I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style.
Poiret made clothes for individual customers, but I wouldn’t like to make a dress just for its own sake.
Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.
I’m very sure of myself – what I do and what I like.
I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.
I’m not deceived by people, because I don’t pay attention to people.
Isn’t elegance forgetting what one is wearing?
I’m constantly looking for perfection.
I am very happy to design haute couture. It’s a love story between couture and me.
