Quotes from Riccardo Tisci

I brought a lot of the codification of womenswear to menswear. Why? Because when I was a child, I was wearing women's clothes adjusted to me.

My mom and my sisters were amazing; they always see the good in people. My mom, she doesn't know how to write and read much, but she's one of the most fantastic women I've met in my life.

This is very much part of my style, I work a lot on the back ­- I love the back of clothes for men. I love even T-shirts printed behind. I think, "Why do you want to show only the front?"

I was a very nice boy. I was well-educated ... very Catholic family. So I was very respectful, never late at work. I was always the last one to leave. It's always been that way in my life.

I used to hate to go to school, because when it was Friday afternoon and everybody was finished school, I knew I was going to work Saturday and Sunday.

When I started at 9, I was working with plaster. I worked with a florist. It was a little illegal for kids to work. They would give you tips because they couldn't really give you wages.

This is why I decided to work with Nike, too, because it is even more mass-market than Givenchy and could make entry-price shoes and make people dream to be part of the journey.

My definition of beauty is something between extremely ugly and extremely fantastic.

I am interested in beauty when it has something special and mysterious.

These five years as a couturier have really changed my way of seeing fashion and my confidence with fashion. Couture is a dream.