It goes back to Zen Buddhism literature, samurai writing and texts, and the colour RED. The starting point for the garments was the idea to make experimental padded winter kimonos that have a special cotton padding. The mood was the BEFORE AND AFTER – thoughts become actions and things (such as clothes and looks in my case).

Tokyo and its strong link to postmodernism influence me – there is no real centre any more, call it decentred universe. I had a trip to Koyasan in Japan before we made the collection. We strayed in a temple with the cook and the monks who brought us in. The morning ceremony took place in a shrine. You woke up with the sound of a gong at 5.30am in the morning. The decoration in the temple was a still-life of yams – I named it ‘’the magic potato,’’ the delight of Buddha’s shrine.
Right now I’m doing the collection and fabric selection in Topanga. LA can be very spiritual if you want it to be. I realize now that I don’t work with many references anymore, but develop a BW language that comes more and more from the inside. It’s that simple idea of having your two hands and a piece of fabric. When developing a collection, I spend most of the time draping on the little doll. Madeleine Vionnet did the same – I look up to her and to Japan in many ways. My collection is produced in Japan and the knitwear collection in Belgium, so you can see both roots. Working between different time zones –LA, Tokyo and Paris– is interesting and challenging. It’s very postmodern. Time turns in multiple circles.

There has always been a link to Californian aesthetics and colours in my collections. Here I can see and feel different colours and colour interactions. There are different places I like from an aesthetic point of view, such as Venice Beach, Malibu, Hollywood, The Valley, Downtown… past and present, and of course NATURE in general – my speciality. I collect plants and I like bird and whale watching. It calms me down and gives me the feeling of time and the seasons. I started to collect cactus when I was 16 years old in Germany and my mother still takes care of them. In Paris I have a big collection of roses on my terrace and here in California I have a small cactus and a succulent-plant collection on my terrace. ALSO my collection of gay Californian nude mags from the ‘80s and ‘90s is getting bigger. Memphis design and the east and west coasts had a lot of influence on the graphics and layout of those magazines, and still gives me inspiration.

We had a very good start here, as we work with three important shops: Opening Ceremony, Mameg and H. Lorenzo. People here are more receptive and clothing is more respected as an art form. Last year we did a big show at the MOCA Pacific Design Center. We still sell the collection in Paris during Paris Fashion Week and afterwards in Tokyo, so it’s all in between different places and cultures.

For me it’s not a statement of gender – unisex is pure, as you wear what you like. Streetwear is like that too.

NO to dull shoes
Lower tights
Reduce waists
Abolish bad hair
Secure our wigs
No gender ID
Embrace LGBTs
Ru Paul president for 2022? Or let him be in peace in his ranch…

Fashion has now a role in identity, status, and many kaleidoscopic meanings and possibilities. For you it can only have a warming or protection function, or it can be a substitute for your own failures and a correcting element for a not-perfect body. Here we go with a long chain of determinations as centre, like substance, essence, subject, energy, ego, consciousness, God or man (spiritual thoughts). There is a constant discourse that makes fashion alive and still relevant. It’s for everyone.