Raf Simons

“We all know and we all perceive Christian Dior in a very specific way.”

“In my opinion, Christian Dior was never, ever theatre.”

“My own brand will stand or fall because of me. Dior won't fall if I fall. It will also still stand if I'm not there. I'm coming in there, and it's like a - I don't know the English word - li...”

“I was raised in a very happy nest by very happy people, and I like to think that those are enough ingredients to make me succeed at Dior.”

“If I see a fashion show with literal influences, it doesn't make me think any more. It doesn't make me dream.”

“I see there is a lot of behaviour in men's fashion, which is systematic. It's a lot about all these kind of clothes that can be easily combined with each other, and it's less and less, I thi...”

“The fashion world doesn't know the word 'stop,' so you have to make sure there are sublime moments every day.”

“One of the first things I picked up when I was very, very young out of a record store was work from Peter Saville - the early things he used to do for Factory Records.”

“I couldn't go now to a brand that had a niche attitude like... gothic. I couldn't do that. Well, I could do it, but I wouldn't find it interesting, challenging.”

“My dad only ever talked about two things: bicycles and Mercedes.”

“I fantasise about what the future could be in terms of aesthetic and psychology. It's the most difficult thing to do because you have to start from the past - your favourite architect, your...”

“In the nineties, it was common to see people who expressed themselves through one designer - the Jil Sander woman, the Martin Margiela woman. You saw her on the street, and you knew who she...”

“Fashion is such an octopus. You're connected to so many people: suppliers, pattern makers, production teams, marketing teams, vendors.”

“I am somebody who focuses on a dialogue between generations - that's the drive of my work. I believe the young generation take the power; they'll take over at one point, but the older genera...”

“I was growing up in the New Wave period, but that wasn't allowed in school. I remember moments when they wouldn't let four people dressed in black stand together on the playground.”

“I'm not so rock and roll. I'm more techno.”

“For me, Warhol made so much sense.”

“Computers let people avoid people, going out to explore. It's so different to just open a website instead of looking at a Picasso in a museum in Paris.”