Azzedine Alaia

“If I don't have a model in front of me, I don't have an idea.”

“Who can really say who invents something first in fashion?”

“I prefer to stay poor.”

“I take it to heart that, for example, there aren't enough funds for AIDS research, but people pay 20 times the value of an item of clothing.”

“There are certain people I am allergic to. I even intervene when I don't like a customer; I rush in and check all the names. If I don't like them, I don't take them.”

“As for success, I don't care for it. It is a fragile thing.”

“I love film - it's like painting.”

“I'm working 24 hours a day. I have had a house in Tunisia for 20 years, and I never have time to go because there are collections, fittings.”

“I had used the stretch materials for years to shape the inside of garments I made for private clients. Then I just started using them on their own.”

“I am very curious. Every day, I say: 'What am I going to learn today, and whom am I going to meet?'”

“The foundation of beauty is the body.”

“I think women should be seductive, not triste. There's enough sadness in life now without making women look sad, too.”

“I have been offered the highest paid contracts in the world. I refused them all. It's not my thing. I don't want to cheat people.”

“As a child, I was raised with my grandmother, alongside all my cousins, and the kitchen was always full.”

“Anna Wintour doesn't deal with pictures; she is just doing PR and business, and she scares everybody.”

“'Vogue' remains while its fashion editors come and go.”

“When you have one idea per year, it's already a miracle!”

“I want to speak directly with a star, not her stylist.”

“I'm always telling young designers to take the time to surround themselves with women.”

“My obsession is to make women beautiful. When you create with that in mind, things can't go out of fashion.”