I’m a fashion designer, not a shoe designer. I like to design clothes.

For me, it’s really like, okay, if you go far with the unexpected materials and unexpected proportions or volumes, then keep the colors quite simple and straightforward for men.

Clothes is just something you put on to cover yourself… fashion is a way to communicate.

I prefer to see a good exhibit sponsored by a brand than a bad exhibit due to lack of funds.

I love the journeys of research and discovery their development takes me on. I see prints as less ‘decorative’ than many might, and more fundamental to a garment’s core.

I was a kid at the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, so a lot of things changed. You had pop music coming up, with David Bowie, you had new television programmes...

For me, restrictions are not always negative. Restrictions can push creativity. I like restrictions.

I try to be as independent as possible.

People get this very romantic vision of a fashion designer who in one night makes 25 sketches and in the morning throws them on the table and there are a lot of women in white...

For me personally, there’s too much fashion around in this world.

All my collections are very personal. It’s also because I’m so involved in making the collections.

One of the big luxuries of being in Antwerp is that I can easily walk in the city. In Paris and New York, I am more recognized.

I like it when you have something happening by coincidence. Just something in a book is enough. But I prefer a fragment of an image so you are far more free to bring in elements...

I don’t design for myself. I design something keeping in mind that it has to please a lot of women.

Coincidence is important, the convergence of different ideas.

I think by my father owning a store, I was definitely aware of the commercial aspect of selling clothes. His shop was a place I enjoyed spending time in as a boy, so I learned...

I’m a very big fan of winter-flowering shrubs and bulbs. You have the smell, you have the color – it’s really like a present from God when something like that is in flower in the...

I have a responsibility to the people who work for me, the manufacturers I work with. There is no point to clothes that don’t sell.

Fashion shows are really my way of communication.

I’m really hands-on. My team brings in elements, but, every season, it’s kind of a personal struggle to find the balance and to see how far I want to push the elements.

I’m part of the fashion system, but I don’t want to follow all the rules. I don’t want to be contrarian – I just want to do my own things, which are most honest and...

I have nothing against glamorous dressing.

I like to choose my own way forward. I really do want to create something that I personally like a lot.

Sometimes, to stimulate your imagination you have to be careful you don’t have too much information. You can Google something, and it’s in your face, pow! You don’t have time to dream any more about...

I prefer a scruffy atmosphere.

I make clothes people can wear; I don’t make art.

When we were studying at the Royal Antwerp Academy, we were taught to seek inspiration from everyone, everything and everywhere. My parents and grandparents were also a great inspiration for me a very young age.

To create a collection, you need a narrative – an explanation to tell the team.

I’m known for color and prints and embroideries.

When I get very stressed, I make jam. I like things that produce a quick result, because fashion has such a long lead time. With jam, you start, and two-three hours later, you have 36...

I have my own office, and I’m there during the evenings and weekends. But during the week, I’m sitting in the middle of my studio, talking with everybody, deciding together every detail, every pallette, every...

In the design process, there’s a need to be culturally comprehensive.

I prefer ugly things. I prefer things which are surprising.

When I have to do something fast, I wear the most unflattering rubber pants over my pants and a big easy sweater. I can get on my knees in the garden in whatever condition, and...

My childhood was very, very, very, very traditional.

Various different people have inspired me throughout my career. From Francis Bacon to Vassareli, Coco Chanel to Christian Dior, Cecil Beaton, musicians, architects… the list is endless.