You’re only as good as your last collection, which is an enormous pressure. 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. I have a fantastic relationship with money. I use it to buy my freedom. 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. I love things that age well – things that don’t date, that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best.

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. The key to my collections is sensuality. I like the body. I like to design everything to do with the body. For me, the summer will be pure gray – mother-of-pearl gray, very pale gray. To me, this is the big statement for summer. Then we have light blue, light turquoise, lots of pink. I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.