“If my parents had discouraged me, I would have turned out very differently. They raised me in an open-minded, liberal environment.”

At home, off-duty, I wear T-shirts from Fruit of the Loom – but I have them tailored.

Yes, I still take my baths all day long. They’re meditative. I have three a day.

In my adult life I’ve understood that if I put an enormous amount of love and honesty into something, usually that shows in the end.

In another life I would love to be a cosmetic surgeon because it’s architectural. You know, you are trying to figure out where the seams go. Can I do it in one piece like Halston? Can you formaldehyde DNA?

I find I can get so much done between midnight and 4 a.m. Everything is quiet, no one is disturbing me, and if I go to bed then, I just lie awake thinking of ideas. They are very creative hours for me. One night a week I crash out, though.

I’m living the exact life I planned on living when I was five.

A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach.

Everyday is one less day.

Style is very different from fashion. Once you find something that works, keep it.

I want to make beautiful clothes for women and men who appreciate detail and quality. The product must be the best but this is almost secondary to the service the customer will receive.

I am not a person who is about reality. I am about enhanced reality.

I think people are sick of trends changing every six months – not because we’re tired of them, but just for the sake of change. There is so much junk in the world: junk TV, junk movies, all those junk magazines with the same people on the cover.

From the time we’re born until we die, we’re kept busy with artificial stuff that isn’t important.

You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.

I don’t wear a lot of color. In fact, I don’t actually like color on myself. I love color but it’s very challenging, it’s very powerful, it can overpower you. I think if my eyes were closed and someone put a red jacket on me, I would be able to feel that it was red. I don’t feel great in color.

The Gucci woman – you know what she’s after. The Saint Laurent woman – she’s going to torture you a little bit. You might have sex, but she will drip a little hot wax on you first.