“You remind me so much of Gianni”

What made you rope in Donatella Versace for your campaign, considering it is a competing fashion house?

I love Donatella Versace. I respect her as a designer and human being. It's easy to say as when success comes, everybody’s your friend. But when I started, Donatella and Karl Lagerfeld were the only two people to send me flowers and welcome me into the fashion business and that, I'm going to remember, forever. Donatella, she knows how much I love Gianni (Versace), she knows that he is a big inspiration in my life. And one day, she looked at me and she said, “You remind me so much of Gianni.” For a second, I think my heart stopped.

L’Officiel India DigitalRead L’Officiel India in the digital libraryEvery issue and every cover story, on TCG Media.Read now

You are opening a new store at Madison Avenue plus new stores in Milan, Rome and London, what about India, does it feature in your expansion plans?

Why not? You know, the defining moment in my career was when I returned from two months in India and did the first Riccardo Tisci collection in Milan. I remember it felt like a miracle had happened, like the beginning of something that would change my life.

You were the first to design for Kim, Kanye and Kendall...

Kim Kardashian is a really good friend. Whatever people think about her, she is an amazing woman and a beautiful girl. She has always been supporting me. She is the girlfriend of a very good friend of mine. Kim, Kanye and Kendall are going to be a family that I am very close to.

You dressed Lea T, a transgender model. What made you decide to do this?

I support transgenders. Before, I was the different one. Then, at one point, suddenly, society thought that I had a voice in capitals, because I was a designer at Givenchy. I got powerful and I had followers. I thought one day, “Why not use this influence in something intelligent and help people who have problems?” So, I started four years ago, with transgenders. I used to have an assistant called Leo and I helped him to go through his journey. Now, she is a very beautiful girl, she underwent a sex change operation. And me, I used this transgender journey in my advertising campaign. And I had everybody against me because nobody ever had the courage to use a transsexual.

Tell us about your collaboration with performance artist Marina Abramovic?

Marina Abramovic and I, we are more than friends. She's been my mother since eight years. I'm her adopted child. Marina is amazing. She is really an incredible woman. Nearly 70, and she's killing everybody. She's beyond everything. Sexually, aesthetically, intelligence, sensibility, everything is amazing in Marina.

Mariacarla has been your muse and friend... Who have been your other muses?

Mariacarla has a very special beauty: fragile and strong, intense and intelligent, extremely feminine yet with an androgynous attitude and a touch of aristocracy. Most of all and perhaps most importantly, she has a deep inner beauty that makes her stand out in the middle of everyone else; a beauty that a lot of women want to identify themselves with.

What is your vision for Givenchy?

I hope that Givenchy stays on the same path as the last five years. I wish for a future with Givenchy growing as a business, full of new, interesting possibilities and projects surrounded by amazing creative people.

What is the one thing, that you think which Givenchy introduced, which is till today loved by women all over the world?

The Givenchy woman is strong and confident. She has a real personality. She knows what she wants. There are many similarities between the Hubert de Givenchy woman and my own vision. When I design, I keep in mind, the codes of the house: the strictness, the play between the masculine and feminine, the austere and the romantic. Maybe today’s Givenchy woman is a little bit more ‘urban’, a working girl with more independence.

What do you know about India; any designer you have liked here?

One of my favorite places in the world is Pune in India.