I prefer to stay poor.

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

Even if I was in prison, I could be free in my head. I can adapt easily.

When you have one idea per year, it’s already a miracle!

In modelling, it’s very hard to keep in touch with the people you knew when you started.

I’ve been wearing Chinese clothes since I was 14. I can’t wear a suit. I’m small, and when I put on a suit, it’s not possible.

Fashion will last forever. It will exist always. It will exist in its own way in each era.

I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement.

As I said many times, the fashion world, its system, can be disturbing.

When I was growing up, I never heard the word ‘racism.’ It was only in Paris I encountered that.

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.

If I don’t have a model in front of me, I don’t have an idea.

I have total confidence in Beaute Prestige International to accompany me in creating a perfume that interprets my work and my world.

I’m always telling young designers to take the time to surround themselves with women.

Ballet costumes are easier that opera because they are designed for movement.

You have to take things with a lot of laughter. I laugh with everyone; this way, I will be able to die happy.

I like black, because for me it is a very happy color.

It’s important to make women feel confident, because I think they are more important than men.

Who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one.

I’m happier about my friends than I am about my work. I still have a long way to go with work. My friends, that’s the one thing I’m sure about.

I am always in doubt; I am never sure of myself.

Beyonce is a beautiful, elegant woman who is also a wonderful dancer. And her voice is sublime. Just like her husband, Jay-Z, Beyonce has real talent. They are both the kind of truly great artist...

There was a woman in Tunisia called Madame Pinot. She was a midwife and had helped in the birth of my siblings and me. I assisted her. I helped women give birth to a lot...

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

My father could be very strict, but very fair. His father was the same. We all respected my grandfather; he was the head of the clan. Every morning, we all had to say good morning...

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 am very curious. Every day, I say: ‘What am I going to learn today, and whom am I going to meet?’

I want to create a foundation, like a maison, in my home in the Marais. I am going to leave everything there. I am only passing through. I’m not a proprietor of anything, even if...

I am never sure that anything’s good enough. Something that is good today will not be good tomorrow.

Who can really say who invents something first in fashion?

I learned French in Tunis, along with Arabic. I also learned French history. I knew the entire history of the kings of France. And I was fascinated by Versailles.

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

I even do my ready-to-wear samples like couture.

The present fashion system is too hard – there are too many collections. The designers have no time to think! Money is too important. Schedules are too crazy.

I don’t wear perfume, and I don’t like the air to be too saturated with scents.

I put myself on the same level as everyone else around me – from the directrice to the workman, everyone. Except my pets – they are the Kings; you must treat them like royalty.

There is a sensuality about fabric. I think all materials should be inviting when they touch the skin. When I watch children stroking their mother’s clothes, I feel that I have succeeded.

As for success, I don’t care for it. It is a fragile thing.

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.

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.

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

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

Women must know themselves better than anyone. If you have ugly legs, wear long dresses. If you have long, great legs, show them.

Bill Cunningham… he knows fashion better than anybody.

I love American girls. They’re audacious. They put more outrageous things on their bodies than anybody.

You know Sarkozy offered me the Legion d’honneur medal? I refused. People said I refused because I don’t like Sarkozy, but that’s ridiculous. I refused because I don’t like decorations – except on women.

If you’re sad about what you see in the mirror when you wake up every morning, you must change it.

‘Vogue’ remains while its fashion editors come and go.

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.

I love film – it’s like painting.