I don't speak Italian, but I do speak Moschino.
I follow my inspiration to wherever it goes. I do want the fans to feel the fun and excitement about it, and I like for people to be able to make their own interpretations about my work. I don't like to overexplain it.
Nowadays, individual style isn't just much more understood, but much more appreciated; that there's not one forced look that we're all supposed to adhere to, and everyone can find their place that way.
I won't work with people who won't give me the freedom to be me.
When I first started my own brand, when I needed an icon, I had no other icon but myself. I had to create that.
I have to birth those ideas. Those designs have to come into the world. It's not only my goal, it's my reason for being on the planet. If I'm not doing them, then I'm not fulfilling my calling. It's very instinctual for me.
If you want me to shine, you need to give me the parole to do that.
People think I'm being stupid or false humble. It's not. I don't think I always fit in. Maybe it's a complex you get as someone who has always been fighting on the outside.
I think as humans we're nostalgic creatures and that's what we do. We go back to things that have a semblance of something comforting, or enough time passes that it seems cool again, or maybe it's something that some people didn't even experience.
The world has changed around me. I've been me, and continuously being me in a constant, steadfast way.
I think when people think of something as basic, they think that it's boring.
I always love trying to put my arms around more people. As a designer, it's a great compliment when people wear your clothes or buy your products, so to do things that are more affordable and have more of a distribution is always very exciting - especially when I can still bring my personality in complete, heavy doses. It's not a diluted version of me; it's a very clear extension of my personality.
I love what I do, and I only want more. I love the whole process. I love designing, I love figuring out how to make the clothes happen, I love the ad campaigns.
I guess I always think of myself as more of the people. I always feel like a bit of an outsider.
I've always loved plastics and rubber, and it's such a specifically unique material that you have to have the manufacturing abilities to make it.
Working with Moschino, a real high fashion Italian brand, maybe I'm under tighter deadlines, but sometimes under tight deadlines you do your best work.
When I'm hell-bent on something, there's no way around it. I can be a very stubborn.
I think I'm one of few American designers doing a house in Europe, and I think I've been proving myself there very well.
I have so much to be thankful and grateful for, and I just think about my fans, who did put me to where I am. I can promise you this: my appointment at Moschino did not come from anyone but them.
I think the way the world has evolved, it's maybe caught up to me. It makes more sense and it makes it click on a larger scale.
Madonna is the ultimate pop star of all time, hands down.
I just love the ideal of the surreal quality of putting it on a shoe.
Working at Moschino has been great because I just have to deliver when I have to deliver.
There are the great people who have grown and loved me, like Katy [Perry] - who started as a fan and told me that one day she hoped I would dress her, and asked for a picture with me at a fan meet and greet. Now she's became one of the world's most important pop stars. I've supported her since the beginning, out of believing in a spark in her and giving her a chance because she was a girl who obviously seemed very passionate about what I am doing.
The fact that people look at pictures so tiny on Instagram - people ask me about it popping on Instagram, but I didn't alter myself to be that. I didn't change for the screens, I've just been doing me.
