“Black is not sad. Bright colours are what depress me. They’re so empty. Black is poetic. How do you imagine a poet? In a bright yellow jacket? Probably not.”

I want to put a soul in a garment. I don’t want my clothes to be perfect, because human beings are not perfect.

Who could imagine a poet wearing anything other than black?

I work for men that I would love to meet, somebody who I could fall in love with, someone who intrigues me.

I just wait because I think people will find me. And I’m not the kind of person who will knock on somebody’s door. I wait. If they’re good for me, they will come towards me.

Creating is a lonely thing in a lot of ways.

For me black is not dark, it’s poetic. I don’t think of gothic I think of classic – it’s a big difference.

Black is not sad. Black is poetic.

I never leave anything behind. It’s like a history, a chain, a line of life, you just have to move and make new steps, and keep it evolving – but my soul is my soul.

Good fashion for me is like rock ‘n’ roll – there’s always a little rebellion in it.

A new time is coming both for my personal life, and the brand Ann Demeulemeester. I feel it’s time to separate our paths.

I’d like to cut an attitude into clothes.

Fashion has a right to exist, because it permits the people to define themselves over and over again.

Jewelry is something that has to do with emotion. That aspect of jewelry really interests me.

Those that think my clothes are androgynous also still believe that women should look like Barbie dolls. That’s precisely the problem, the deep-rooted assumptions about what is feminine.

I’ve always been intrigued by cutout silhouettes. They are so intriguing, so poetic-the shadow of a soul. They tell everything about a character and they are open to be filled with one’s own imagination.

Fashion has a reason to be, because in fashion you can find new kinds of expression about human beings. It’s my way to communicate.

I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries.

I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries.

We should not have drug laws or a court system that disproportionately punishes the black community.

I was asked for years about being a Republican, probably because most black people are Democrats. My mother heard it once and called me and said ‘Charles, Republicans are for the rich people.’ And I said, ‘Mom, I’m rich.’

I think anybody who is racist is an idiot whether they are black or white.

Having grown up in a segregated environment in the south I know what it’s like to be stepped on, I know what it’s like also to see some black hero do well in the face of adversity.

I’m racist? How can that even be possible? I was a friend of Michael Jackson’s back when he was black.

When you’re black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It’s a dirty, dark secret; I’m glad it’s coming out.