I don't like dirty. That's why I hate cigarettes. A little bit of alcohol is O.K., but no drugs. And I like to sleep alone because I wake up, I walk around, I bring my computer with me to bed, I have a great time.
Every five years, I decide to learn something new.
In the last 20 years of collecting contemporary African art, I have been bombarded by incredible shapes and colors that I now want to translate into clothes.
I have very long legs and I hate driving anything unless it's a boat or an ATV in the jungle. I like to sit in the back of a car, where I can look out the window, answer my emails on my iPad, or hold hands with a pretty girl.
I feel when you walk into somebody's apartment on Fifth Avenue or house in Malibu and you see a Basquiat, a Warhol, a Richard Prince, you say to yourself, '$700,000, $2.2 million, $350,000...' To me that is completely uninteresting. I'd rather go to a house where there's great art and I have no idea who the work is by.
When you take a picture of someone, never show it to them right away. If they don't like it, they may erase it.
Sense of humor is important in life, not just in clothing. How boring to live a life in beige.
Obviously if you are an accountant, a criminal lawyer, a president, or a senator, or if you work in a funeral parlor, you have to wear a tie, but more and more people are wearing very casual clothes.
It would be much easier to just make black, brown and beige clothes. But I do not see the world in black and white and beige. I find colors incredibly important.
As a kid I collected stamps, pebbles on the beach, anything. I liked to have at least 10 of something.
If I had done what I was programmed to do, I would now be sitting in a car factory looking at the sizes of wheels, or wondering how to get credit to start a new factory in Russia.
I'd love to open a private museum in Paris, London, or New York, but I don't have the money. If I were Bill Gates or Paul Allen, the first thing I would do is build a museum.
I think 'tradition' is in the past - and how can someone really 'fear' a color? A man may prefer navy to turquoise, but a self assured man could wear any color and he knows that. It's a distinction of confidence.
I like what I see now in China, but I think the Japanese are a step ahead into craziness and weirdness. I go to galleries there that are the size of a New York elevator, and every time I'm surprised by the amazing things I find. I really hope I'll be able to promote some of these artists, to show their work in the West.
I never wear very serious suits. I don't have to because I don't go to an office, so it's fine.
I'm always interested in finding the new trend. If you love pizza every day, after 22 years of eating pizza, you want to try sushi.
If I take pictures at a party, I never get bored.
For me to be pompous is the most horrible thing in the world. It's like putting a wall around you. It screws you up. You'd better be willing to change your views or adapt and be modern.
Before I started LimoLand, I mainly bought my clothes in Harlem, where I found clothing my size in fun colors. I still like to go there and see the vibrancy and colors of the neighborhood. I am also very influenced by the colors of my contemporary African and Japanese art collections.
The moment when I press the shutter is fantastic, orgasmic, so charged with the hope that this will be a great, original, interesting, and perfectly composed photo. But like any other exciting thing in life, it is usually spoiled by some ridiculous, unpredictable, and annoying detail.
