Dress simply—in black when I feel too fat, in navy when I feel slimmer, and in a bathing suit when I feel perfect.
my personal assistant, Bruno, about my schedule and then my studio head, Isabelle, about the collection. Right now, we are finishing fittings of the last pieces for the launch of the Spring 2014 collection. When I am working on the couture, I do the fittings every day, and the pieces evolve in my atelier in-house. I have lunch in a little kitchenette at work. I have an Italian cook, Michele, who makes delicious light meals. I try to eat fish or poultry, and to skip desserts, but food is one of the great pleasures in life, so I don’t always succeed. When I was little and they would ask me cheese or dessert, I thought of that as punishment. Why not both? Today’s lunch is with Jelka, my communications director. We are discussing the Brooklyn exhibition, as it is now very close. After lunch, I work again. I discuss casting with Tanel; he has worked with me since the ’80s, and he is still one of my muses. This time I am looking for girls who know how to dance, so the casting will be quite special. I have a desk that I rarely use. I usually work standing up—doing fittings, choosing fabrics. Most of my day is planned in advance, but there are also things that happen by chance. As I go through the studio, something can catch my eye. There are no rules at all in the studio—everyone can speak to me when they need to, and I try to be available as much as I can. I don’t use e-mail; I talk directly to my collaborators. I don’t understand why everyone around me is on their phone checking their e-mails constantly. I do exchange text messages with my friends, but I don’t use the phone much otherwise. I drink water during the day, and when I prepare the collections, I like to drink freshly squeezed fruit juice. I stay in the office until 8:00 p.m. at least, often later, and when I can I go to the cinema afterward. I owe my vocation to cinema and to the film Falbalas (1945) by Jacques Becker, because it was upon seeing that when I was 10 that I decided to be a couturier. I love Fellini; Satyricon (1969) is my favourite. I also like The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). I saw the theatre piece first in London in 1973—it was a shock. I love Pedro Almodóvar, and I had the honour to work with him three times. Another film I like very much is My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) by Stephen Frears. I always look for a strong visual emotion from a film. Afterwards, I’ll have dinner at a Japanese restaurant, often Takara, which was the first Japanese restaurant in Paris and where the food is as good as in Japan. Tonight is different; I will have dinner with my boyfriend and with Jelka and her boyfriend at Paradis Latin, a cabaret where my next show will be held, so still work in a way but pleasure. I get back home after 11:00 p.m. and go straight to bed. I turn on the TV and see as much as I can. I don’t watch series—I have no patience—but I love Pop Idol or Dancing with the Stars. Around 1:00 a.m., I sink into sleep with Linda by my feet. I have a beautiful view from my bedroom of the garden and a 17th-century hôtel particulier. But most important, I have a big bed and a big TV. The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier is on at the Brooklyn
Museum till February 23, 2014