Ann Demeulemeester quotes:

For me, Gothic is something from my youth, when I had a heavy metal phase.

I became a fashion designer by accident. I loved to make portrait drawings when I was a teenager, and from that came the interest in what people were wearing and why they were wearing it.

I can make 10 jackets of the same colour, same two pockets and same length, that will look like 10 completely different jackets when you put them on. It's about the way they are cut - it makes them look and feel completely different and move differently, and that's a never-ending study. People who wear my clothes will know exactly what I mean.

Those that think my clothes are androgynous also still believe that women should look like Barbie dolls. That's precisely the problem, the deep-rooted assumptions about what is feminine.

When you see or hear something beautiful, it's like that thing is transmitting a kind of energy, and if that energy helped create the work, the only thing I can do is play it when I finally show the work.

It's too easy to say that orange is happy and black is sad. To me, black is perfect. You can fill it with the emotion you want to express.

As a young girl, I dreamed of having a voice in fashion.

Beauty of mind creates freedom. Freedom of mind creates beauty.

Fashion is silly. Perhaps I should say fashion in general is silly. But then everything is, in general. If you talk about music in general, it's silly; about magazines, in general, they're silly.

Jewelry is something that has to do with emotion. That aspect of jewelry really interests me.

I always followed my own path.

My work has always been about authentic feeling, and I think we live in a time where we need that.

Good fashion is like rock music: all anarchy and revolt.

Black is not sad... Black is poetic.

I work for men that I would love to meet, somebody who I could fall in love with, someone who intrigues me.

Creating is a lonely thing in a lot of ways.

The future is open, and I never make plans. As long as it's interesting to me, I try to live my life to the fullest.

I need human feelings to fit garments. I couldn't do it just, like, on an object - it's too close to our body. It's like a skin you are making, so you need one's feelings to make a garment.

Black is not sad. Bright colours are what depress me. They're so... empty. Black is poetic. How do you imagine a poet? In a bright yellow jacket? Probably not.

Fashion has a right to exist, because it permits the people to define themselves over and over again.

A new time is coming both for my personal life, and the brand Ann Demeulemeester. I feel it's time to separate our paths

I want to put a soul in a garment. I don't want my clothes to be perfect, because human beings are not perfect.

For me black is not dark, it's poetic. I don't think of gothic I think of classic - it's a big difference.

I want to put a soul in a garment. I don't want my clothes to be perfect, because human beings are not perfect. You can meet somebody in one of my jackets and it can all look a bit wrong, but also human and beautiful. Cutting nonchalance into a garment is difficult, because you can't just make an oversized or an asymmetric garment - it will look ugly. Making it look natural is delicate work. If it's too obvious, then it looks fake. Balancing the garment is a painstaking task, because you have to keep in mind how the clothes move.

Who could imagine a poet wearing anything other than black?

I've always been intrigued by cutout silhouettes. They are so intriguing, so poetic-the shadow of a soul. They tell everything about a character and they are open to be filled with one's own imagination.

Good fashion for me is like rock â??nâ?? roll â?? thereâ??s always a little rebellion in it.

Fashion has a reason to be, because in fashion you can find new kinds of expression about human beings. It's my way to communicate.

I'd like to cut an attitude into clothes.