Stefano Pilati - Designer

[Ianastar]

I love those shoes Pilati is wearing in the pic above.

 

[taz]

Stefano Pilati @ New York Times Magazine with a presentation for his Yves Saint Laurent Mens F/W 07.08 collection

Luxe, Calm and Volupté

When it comes to fashion, Stefano Pilati is not afraid to lead by example. As the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, he embodies the louche elegance of one of the world’s most iconic labels. With his slicked-back hair, carefully groomed beard and lithe figure, Pilati projects an innate sense of elegance. Frayed jeans and tight-fitting clothes are not for him: Pilati identifies with the Old World glamour of tuxedos and scarves. He is seldom seen without a foulard around his neck; he jauntily folds up the sleeves of his figure-skimming suits, which he sometimes cinches with a large safety pin; and he rocks vintage cuff links and jeweled rings the way a pop star flaunts tight jeans. Hardly surprising, then, that Pilati chose Melvil Poupaud — practically his doppelgänger — when asked whom he would most like to style. Poupaud, one of France’s leading young actors, is the star of the recent indie favorites ‘‘Broken English’’ and ‘‘Le Temps Qui Reste’’; he is also in a rock band called Mud. It’s a perfect match for Pilati, who tempers his love of dandyism with a healthy dose of pop culture: he is sometimes spotted dancing until dawn, has several tattoos under those perfectly tailored shirts and will admit, if pressed, that he has been less than saintly in the past. Like Saint Laurent before him, Pilati is keenly aware that in order to successfully promote a lifestyle, you need to be prepared to live it. ARMAND LIMNANDER

rest of the pics are at Yves Saint Laurent Mens F/W 07.08 thread:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forum...mens-f-w-07-08-paris-53025-3.html#post3950725

 

[taz]

Today from WWD:

Pilati Strives for Timeless YSL Experience

Published: Monday, February 25, 2008
By Miles Socha

PARIS — "I call it the opium experience," Stefano Pilati said of Yves Saint Laurent's striking new-look boutique here at St. Sulpice, with ceilings and wall panels in glossy lacquer the color of the French brand's legendary perfume bottle and packaging.

A custom scent wafting from candles aside, Pilati's hope is that the store design — to be unveiled to the industry tonight at the start of Paris Fashion Week — is iconic enough to be recognizable without any logo.

"I wanted to do something that was timeless," Pilati said during an exclusive walk-through of the 3,200-square-foot, two-level boutique on Friday. "It has to go beyond my era at Saint Laurent: contemporary, but effective, and with a strong identity."

Airy and bright because of pale stone walls, the liquid-look lacquer and accents of polished brass, the boutique is worlds apart from the mostly black, rough-hewn interiors that were in place in 2004 when Pilati took over the design helm from Tom Ford.

"[This] fits more with my designing," said Pilati, dressed in shades of cream and light gray. "In general, I'm more bright and open in terms of mood." He described the environment as luxurious and modern, but also "familiar, warm and personal."

The dramatic concept will eventually arrive at the other 61 stores in YSL's global network as the brand capitalizes on strong sales momentum. Fourth-quarter revenues gained 20 percent at constant exchange rates. (YSL parent PPR reports 2007 earnings on Wednesday.)

In separate interviews, Pilati and YSL chief executive officer Valérie Hermann allowed that the dark stores have shortcomings. For example, in some locations, it is difficult to distinguish a garment that is dark brown, say, from one that is black.

They said the new design should bring fresh energy to the brand, and fuel double-digit sales at St. Sulpice thanks to more legible merchandising and a more suitable backdrop for Pilati's ready-to-wear and accessories.

Hermann said a larger store in Cannes, and a shop-in-shop in Printemps in Paris, would be among the first this year to reflect the new design concept. But the plan is to "have it quite visible quickly," she said. "The majority of [the stores] should be done over four to five years."

St. Sulpice has been home to a YSL boutique since 1979, and Pilati stripped out the warren of rooms and internal walls to expose stone arches and give the store an open feel. Customers alight upon a large selling area showcasing rtw, handbags and accessories, with a shoe salon and cash wrap in a second room off to the left. A glass and stone staircase leads to the second level, a larger showcase for rtw. Upstairs, Pilati had interior walls removed to give views of the square.

"I love to see the clothes against the city," he said. "I don't want the store to be the star. I want the clothing to be the star, but I want [the store] to be identifiable."

And adaptable, given that no other YSL locations are housed in a landmark 17th-century building in one of the most picturesque squares in Paris.

"Every shop is going to have its own identity, but quite linked to what we have done here," he said.

Pilati said he would likely keep the stone walls — "it's a very French identity," he noted — but the scale of lacquer panels, for example, would be adapted to each unit. The material, he said, "gives a liquid effect to the store." And, placed behind racks, they resemble minimalist canvases.

Working with architectural firm Moatti & Rivière, Pilati opted for a mix of industrial and luxurious materials, from Baccarat crystal light fixtures to synthetic concrete floors in a typical French parquet pattern. The store also has an environmentally friendly bent in the use of ductal concrete (which uses less water and energy to produce) and efficient lighting.

The store also comes with new staff uniforms, opium-colored shopping bags and boxes and spacious, spa-like fitting rooms. It will be used for special events as well, including re-see appointments for the press right after Pilati's fall show on Thursday.

WWD

 

[taz]

& from Wallpaper :

Stefano Pilati Q&A

Stefano Pilati has been at the helm of Yves Saint Laurent as creative director since 2004. In a relatively short space of time (even in the fashion world), he has steered the direction of the classic brand back to its French roots, though his latest menswear collection for Autumn/Winter '08 has a distinctly British feel, not to mention a ground-breaking presentation. We caught up with the creative director to find out a little more...
Why did you decide to show the collection in a multimedia format as opposed to staging a traditional catwalk?
I used video as a medium because it seemed fitting considering today's social and cultural climate. I wanted the message to have a broader, more democratic reach than a catwalk show can achieve.
We found it refreshing that you chose to work with directors who are relatively young, what was it about their work that particularly attracted you to them?
Their curiosity and innate creativity. It was as new and exciting for them to work with fashion as it was for me to work with video.
Do you think this multi-media type presentation may be the future of showing collections?
What I know is that it works for me, for Yves Saint Laurent, now.
How significant is it that both the directors and Simon Woods are British? Do you feel there's a new vibrancy afoot in British culture?
I have always admired British culture and traditions.
How does this fit in with the direction of the YSL brand?
We are constantly pushing safe boundaries, experimenting. It keeps fashion vital.
How do you feel experimental methods of showing collections will affect the way people view, think about and ultimately purchase fashion?
They introduce the possibility of an intimacy and a connection between viewers/consumers and the collection that may not have been there before. A video experience can elicit a visceral, emotional reaction from its audience that is unmatched.
We feel the crossover of creative disciplines of late is leading to an amalgamation of culture as whole, where each discipline is no longer viewed as a separate entity in itself, operating in a creative vacuum - what are your thoughts on these developments?
There are certainly overlaps amongst disciplines and it's true that they occur these days with greater frequency. Where such crossovers produce synergistic possibilities they are useful. Still, maintaining the integrity of a single discipline - its unique identity - is essential.
Where do you see the YSL brand fitting into this?
Yves Saint Laurent has always been about a world, a set of ideas and aesthetics. It has never been only about fashion.
24 January 2008 | Fashion

 

[balmain1914]

I found a blog on Stefao Pilati,it looks like an online resource of him.
http://stefanopilati.blogspot.com/

 

[Chanelcouture09]

youtube stylistaonline

 

[helmut.newton]

^^ Thanks for posting

For me, Pilati is a genius. His taste is impeccable, and his Saint-Laurent aesthetic is perfect. However, I do feel he is going through a bad-design-period as of late. His recent collections lack the excitement and freedom of his first collections.

Here are some memorable quotations from Stefano that have not been posted, from fashionolgie.com

“A well-dressed man is someone you want to share an evening with, have a conversation … You don’t want to see him on the catwalk. Whatever your sexuality, fashion is female … How beautiful is it to see the breast or the derrière moving on the street? We are all seduced by the blue of the sky and the red of the flower, why not the behind of a woman? It’s just a beautiful part of nature.”

“I never had sneakers. My mother was pushing me to dress up, but from the ages of 8 or 9, I picked out my own clothes. I would change my clothes up to five times a day. To play, I had clogs. I had loafers to go to school. Lace-up shoes to go to Mass. This kind of discipline taught me a lot. To the point where I could then be more transgressive. I tried very early to break rules. I wanted to wear clothes from Fiorucci, that was the dream. My mother didn’t want that.”

“I always wonder why 99 percent of the top male fashion designers are homosexual. In my case, I would say that my sexuality has led me to love women to death and to hate them as well … [Being gay] helped me understand the male mind. But when I do a fitting with a woman, I think, Would this woman seduce me?”

 

[ilaughead]

^I've always thought it was interesting how traditional of a view Pilati has on menswear. Well, I've been more disappointed than interested, but luckily his designs often betray his ideals.

 

[helmut.newton]

Here is another short interview from HintMagazine, from June 2009

Stefano Pilati

In their own selfish way, fashion victims help the world go 'round. But no one wants to see the end result of hoarding, not even the creative engine behind one of the world's great luxury brands, Yves Saint Laurent. So last night at Barneys New York, with a little encouragement from Julie Gilhart, Stefano Pilati launched New Vintage, an eco-friendly capsule collection made from unused fabrics left over from previous YSL collections, with an emphasis on wearability and affordability. Naturally all fifty limited-edition, numbered pieces sold out within minutes, including a Downtown bag in remnant khaki that Julie craftily scooped up ahead of time. But I also managed a little selfish hoarding of Stefano. —Lee Carter

Did you just fly in?
No, no, no. I got here a few day ago.
Have you been working nonstop or do you take breaks to romp around the city?
I know I look tan, like I've spent the afternoon in my garden, but actually I've been working nonstop. Normally the summer is more relaxed, but this one, no way. I didn't stop one day. After this I have the cruise show, then men's, then I start to work on women's.
Always moving.
Always moving. I do eleven collections a year.
That's crazy. How do you recharge yourself after a show?
Normally I disappear.
As in, you become a shut-in?
No, I go to Hawaii or skiing in Idaho. You know, I can't really stop thinking about collections, but at least I'm not under so much pressure.
Did you go to the Tony Awards last night? I thought I saw you in the audience on TV.
No, I read about it in the papers. It's not really a part of my world, but I could see Billy Elliott a hundred times.
Let's talk about your New Vintage project with Barneys.
Julie approached me to consider how we could educate the customer about the environment and recycling.
Is this the first time you've done something like this?Yes. Well, this is the first time I've said it so clearly. I might have considered these aspects in my collections before, but I don't always communicate it. My mission is to challenge people, not to shock or be obvious.
New Vintage feels like it comes from the heart. How do you consider the environment on a personal level? I assume you recycle at home?
Yes, this for sure. And also at work I tell my assistants not to waste too much. For me there are two environments. There is a woman's environment and how she wants to present herself to the world. And then there is the larger environment, which is total. There is nothing more important. We have to start disciplining ourselves. So I wanted to get rid of some fabrics, starting with the ones I like.
Is this the start of a brave green YSL?
I think fashion should get to a different level. But you know, it's fashion. I'm not trying to be the President of the United States.
Or Al Gore?
Or Al Gore.

 

[helmut.newton]

The man is beyond chic. He understands how to dress his Saint-Laurent woman and himself in such a fashion that is not trendy or avant-garde for the sake of being exciting and progressive. He is progressive in his own way.

Some photos of his personal style, which I idolize!

gettyimages.com/ + beatificfashion.blogspot.com/ + operachic.typepad.com/ + harpersbazaar.com/ + zimbio.com/ + wireimage.com/ + vogue.co.uk/ + frankiskye.wordpress.com/ + fabsugar.com/

 

[Dkammern]

WOW! fantastic selection.
good to remind us how (VERY) elegant the man is

 

[modela]

He is one of the best dressed designers .

 

[mikeijames]

here's a recent blurb from nymag.com

Rumors: Stefano Pilati’s Fate at YSL Uncertain

* 10/5/10 at 6:20 PM

Rumors about Yves Saint Laurent replacing Stefano Pilati have been around for some time, but apparently they've picked up steam again in Paris. Godfrey Deeny writes in Fashion Wire Daily:

However, it was ironic on exiting such a powerful show to recall that Paris has been flooded by rumors that Pilati’s position is under threat, and that headhunters have been actively interviewing potential replacements, which says something for the nervousness of the times. For, in effect, Pilati just underwent a very public test of his talent, which he passed with flying colors.

In a season where roughly one three designers in New York and in Europe made some reference to YSL, Pilati’s was unquestionably the best interpretation. It’s a strange way to fight for your job, but these are strange, and straightening, times in fashion.

Pilati has been rumored to be heading to Armani in the past.

Yves Saint Laurent’s Ruthless Refinement [FWD]

 

[mistress_f]

^ i've been reading about this, but hasn't this rumor about him being fired been around for a while now? or am i totally confused?

 

[balmain1914]

Am I the only one considers Pilati is hot?

 

[mistress_f]

Am I the only one considers Pilati is hot?

no! i've always found him insanely sexy, and if you look at the hottest male designer thread, many people seem to agree.

 

[TaylorBinque]

^I am firmly with you

 

[balmain1914]

This season he wore so less pieces at the end of YSL show, I mean, God, what a sexy hunk up there...lol

 

[ogepma]

This is a very down to earth interview with Stefano Pilati. It is very interesting how he thinks. We need more people like him in fashion I especially like what he said about how people see YSL and why he went back to catwalk shows for menswear.

THE END OF ELEGANCE
YSL’S STEFANO PILATI EXPLAINS WHY FASHION MAY NEVER BE FASHIONABLE AGAIN
By Costantino Della Gherardesca

Photos by Carlotta Manaigo


It’s not hyperbole to say that Yves Saint Laurent is the greatest, most evocative name in the history of fashion. Stefano Pilati has been the company’s creative director for the past decade, defining yet another era with his analytic eye for design and plainspoken opinions about fashion’s place in modern culture. Before taking the helm at YSL, Stefano worked closely with Tom Ford and Miuccia Prada, perhaps the most innovative figures in Italian fashion of the past 20 years.

While Stefano was the most suitable candidate to take over the billion-dollar fashion house after Tom Ford’s departure, that doesn’t mean he didn’t piss off a lot of people in the process. And while writing about and interviewing those in the fashion industry can very quickly veer into pretentious nonsense, to be honest, for people who—like me—live fashion the same way others live music or art, Stefano’s as real as it gets. So far he’s managed to keep YSL economically viable while flying the banner of elegance and weirdness first raised by his mentor and master, Yves—a psychotic genius whose madness created a new way of communication. But things are changing for designers; times are tough and battles must be picked carefully. As Kim Jong-il used to say, “He who is afraid of a challenge will never be a good revolutionary.” Stefano is undoubtedly a revolutionary figure, and he’s not afraid of provocation—whether that means serving up controversy or sitting back while fashion bloggers b*tch about him.

I conducted the following interview with Stefano via Skype. He was sitting in his office in Paris, dressed to the nines, while I wasted away on my bed like a Nan Goldin photograph.

VICE: The vision you brought to Yves Saint Laurent is much different—and some would say more daring and perverse—than your predecessor, Tom Ford. Were there people in the fashion industry who weren’t happy with your ideas and whose opposition you had to overcome?
Stefano Pilati: Of course! I came across many difficulties, and at times still do. Mine has been a serious, respectful, professional path, based on the fundamental idea of elegance at YSL. Some of the choices I make in my collections, however, are ultimately due to business, but I think they can still be seen as glamorous choices nevertheless. Some of this has to do with the fact that when I started, the company was losing a lot of money—75 million euros a year. I didn’t start from scratch, I started at negative 75 million. I had to strike a balance. I was asked to be innovative while respecting the tradition of the maison, but I also had to be commercial and salable. People were expecting fireworks, but I never gave them any. I had to lay the foundation first.

Would it be fair to say that your influence was subtle but significant?
Yeah, I created a new silhouette. In 2004, everybody was hanging around with low-waisted pants and skirts. It was disgusting! You’d walk down the streets and see fat ***es in low-cut jeans. So I said to myself, “Maybe we don’t have to keep on seeing that.” That’s when I raised the waistline and tightened it up with belts and stuff. It’s a silhouette that’s still the basis for many things today; it’s still working. And in fact, despite the initial criticisms, I was given the credit for it.

What kind of difficulties did you have to go through when you joined YSL?
You know, YSL—unfortunately for me—is already strongly defined in people’s imaginations. Pretty much everyone has an opinion about it. You make flounced skirts, they ask for capes; you do capes, they ask for tuxedos; you do the tuxedo, they want it more 70s; if you go 60s, no, you should have gone to the 80s. My hardest challenge was putting all this bull**** aside. When I create a piece of clothing, I think of today’s life—dynamism, the role of women in society, and her behavior in given situations. I’m speaking of women who play leading roles in our society, not just the big-spender wife or lover who spends her days being ****ed by her rich boyfriend. I try to include all of society in my creations. That’s the most challenging thing. Saint Laurent is maybe the most complex brand in the fashion system, because you have to face people’s imagination, which is infinite, just as infinite as Yves’s work was. He was maybe the most prolific designer in the history of fashion. From the 60s to the 80s—I’m talking about the birth of prêt-à-porter—that’s when he was most active, and it’s also when the fashion industry reached the next level.

Perhaps the epitome of women and glamour, at least in mainstream culture, is the red-carpet outfit—women in LA, wearing long gowns at 4 PM, all made up as if they were an anchorwoman on a newscast, with 1930s hairdos. It’s one of the most inelegant things imaginable. We have no icons of elegance; we don’t have a Grace Kelly. Are there any contemporary women whom you would consider exemplars of elegance?
Generally speaking, or referring specifically to Yves Saint Laurent?

In general.
My idea of elegance—and this refers to women as well as men—is that someone is elegant when he or she shows a good knowledge of what fits them, where you can find naturalness and self-esteem. Not showing off. Elegance is the idea of showing an optimistic depiction of oneself, and to lose oneself in the frivolity of style and fashion. Nowadays nobody gives a **** about being elegant, or chic. If you’re doing it, you’re doing it for yourself, because it’s your way of being. When you’re not thinking, “This is fashion,” and you’re not buying clothes to create statements, you’re on the right path. If fashion goes low waisted and you’re fat bottomed, well, forget it; don’t put slim-fitting jeans on. They’re going to look awful on you. You should dress in black; it would be better.

But seriously, it’s not easy to find elegant women. There are a few, the majority of whom are old—and there are one or maybe two in the world who created a new style when they were young. Today when I go to New York and survey art and fashion, I see smart women and the level is high. But there’s a difference between this and saying a woman is elegant.

Are there any particular artists or other creative people from whom you draw inspiration?
I’m not like that. My culture is self-taught and based on curiosity. I grew up in the 80s and my iconic artists are Cy Twombly, Hermann Nitsch, and… there are a whole bunch of them. But I’ve never found myself leafing through the pages of an art book and thinking, “Now let’s do a collection inspired by Rothko.” Maybe architecture. For my next collection I showed my assistants some of Gio Ponti’s interiors in the University of Padova. They have a strict, linear form combined with traces of originality. Sometimes I take the cue from some master who inscribed in his work a general aesthetic sense that inspires me. You have to remember that I work in a highly inspirational environment. Our archives are insane. Yves created a lot of different work. He made Mondrian dresses, Picasso jackets, etc.

Is the idea of fashion as part of contemporary culture—alongside music and art—still valid? Or has the market transformed the reality and perception of what is fashionable into some sort of abstraction?
Fashion is not fashion anymore. I am sure of this, but nobody realizes this because the world is full of romantics like me—people who continue to believe in it. Now “fashionable” can mean anything. Everything is fashion. Anything can become fashion. A while ago, things were more elitist, and this allowed it to be more aspirational and directional, and this would inspire others. It might have even—to use a horrible term—“taught” others. Nowadays, what can you teach? I might make a collection in flannel, and then the next guy makes a collection using technical see-through nets. If somebody doesn’t know much about fashion, what can he draw from this? What can he learn? It makes no sense! He can’t use fashion as a road map, he’s lost. Nowadays, it’s all business.

The other problem is that fashion, as a system, is very insular and introverted. We constantly recycle the same concepts and express them through the same modes of representation. The moment you start making videos or move off the catwalk, most journalists will have no ****ing clue what you’re doing because they don’t have the time, willingness, or culture to really understand something new. You’ll be misunderstood, and you’ll have no choice but to return to doing the things that follow the language everyone understands.

Yves Saint Laurent brought street fashion to the catwalk with his Beat collections in the 60s, and then he created prêt-à-porter. Over the past 20 or so years, I can’t think of many designers who crystallized youth culture in their work like he did. Maybe Raf Simons or Junya Watanabe. Is high fashion’s relationship with streetwear officially over?
The real question is: What can you take out of streetwear? Girls are all wearing miniskirts and leggings and leather jackets. We’ve already seen all of this. Streetwear never taught me anything. Consider this: Yves Saint Laurent was one of the first designers to revisit vintage. If you read his biography, you’ll see it. He used to go to London to the first secondhand markets and find clothes from the 30s. That’s how he invented the tuxedo. He bought a man’s smoking jacket and put it on one of his muses. That’s how most of his innovations began. Today you can do that type of research, but it’s hard to create a story like that, because too many have already been told about almost everything. Personally, I view my work like that of an artisan. I am very egocentric in this sense. I work in fashion to express my own self, because it’s the only way I know how.

Do you think fashion is misunderstood because the people who create it speak a different creative language from those who consume and analyze it?
When people enter our store they imagine cashmeres, silk cravats, shirts in crepe de chine, crocodile shoes. Obviously, we make them, but it’s like hitting myself in the balls. I have 800 cashmere coats and 900 silk cravats. My point is, your work can’t just be a selfish journey. You’re working for a brand, not your brand. You have to adapt. I like to let myself go with some ideas, but you have to have the rest of the company on board with you and deal with those dickheads who are only businessmen—the ones who ruined fashion, people who move from Danone to YSL like it’s the most natural transition in the world.

In the 70s, at his peak, Saint Laurent lived a very exciting life, or at least it seemed this way from the outside: drugs, rent boys, etc. Do you think a contemporary designer in today’s fashion landscape could ever get away with behaving like that?
I don’t think you can, because today it’s a real office job that goes beyond any normal conception of what time one should devote to work. I work 24 hours a day, essentially. I have to make a collection every two months. You have to be in shape; you have to be more athlete than rock star. The real problem is that fashion isolates you. When you go outside that world and meet the 90 percent of society who have no clue what you’re doing, you end up choosing to go back home with your friends. Or maybe you run away for ten days and party like an animal, and then it takes you ten days to recover and you hope nobody noticed. Today, excess has to be kept within the private sphere. But you know about my past and that I used to get high. When I used to really use, at Prada, a guy found out, and he told me, “Well, David Bowie made his best records when he was using.” That was maybe the last time I felt that there was a slight acceptance of what I was doing. Today that kind of stuff is just impossible. Without getting right into the dirt of it, John [Galliano] really kind of put an end to that sort of option.

His behavior may have seemed inexcusable at the time, but I’m still shocked that Galliano was expelled from Dior. His couture shows were among the best and most incisive I’ve ever seen.
Absolutely.

What do you think of that whole mess?
I think it was a tragic situation, both for him and for the maison. The truth is, going back to what we said before, about excess: Let’s not forget that we aren’t pure creators with rich boyfriends who fund our work and take our hands to lead us along while we do whatever we want. We work for corporations, with hundreds of people who go home at 2 AM on the subway, not with drivers. There are whole factories full of people who create our stuff, and in a way there is a public media system that puts us at the center of it all, a system for which we are the face of an entire corporation. You have to come to terms with your responsibility and choices. If you’re a guy who has his own little things going, you can do that, but then you can’t expect to stand next to Charlize Theron in front of millions of people. If you stand on that stage next to Charlize Theron, you have to be able to stand up and talk coherently. ****, if you can’t even talk normally, and you arrive two hours late ****ed out of your mind just to leave after ten minutes after two glasses of wine, well, it might be best if you just stayed home.

We have to understand that people are there for us. Our creations have a power, and we have a power, which we transmit to others. People want to give you that power, and in the moment that they give it to you they expect to see a person standing in front of them who can at least appreciate it. In a way, it makes me think about how you make your own bed. You can do what you want, at home. But when you go out, keep it together. Look, it was a tragic situation, and I’m not justifying anybody’s actions. If I must choose sides, I might justify him, but I do so with sadness. It’s just sad. I don’t feel bad for him, though.

 

[ogepma]

Would you consider yourself more of a Scott Walker or a Truman Capote type, with respect to social life?
I don’t like flattery. I don’t care about it at all. I think I might be so extremely egocentric that I just don’t care what others think. If I do something I like, I think it’s valid. The first few years I was in this position, I have to admit, when I found myself in an elevator with Kathryn Bigelow and Richard Gere riding up to Mick Jagger’s flat, I mean, when I got home I used to slap my own face just to confirm that I was really me. Of course I am fascinated by that kind of social life, but I prefer staying home, relaxing, watching television, or spending time with my partner. But consider that I work like a dog, and most of the time when I get home I am so beat I can barely do anything at all. Right now I just go to my own openings, and I might go out for a pizza with friends on a Sunday. The bare minimum of what’s expected to function as a social being. And then it all becomes work, work, work. You go to these things because they ask you to, because you have to—it’s part of the job. I don’t have a great relationship with high society and social types. But I love this experience, and I love my job. I’m more grateful for the lifestyle this job has bought me than for the fame or the recognition. If I walk the streets and somebody recognizes me and asks for my autograph... well, it stuns me. I ask myself, “What did I do?” I mean, are you sure you want my autograph? Because, if we lived in Picasso’s time, what would this person do if they met Picasso? Would they ask him to kill them? I’m a designer. But then again, I understand—you’re somebody who feeds people’s dreams, you live surrounded by beauty, and you’re seen in that context, as a privileged person. Unfortunately the figure of the “designer” continues to be deified.

Source: Vice magazine (www.vice.co.uk)