I was born in Japan, so for me, Uniqlo is a family brand. My granny used to wear Uniqlo. And my Italian dad wore Uniqlo. I wore Uniqlo, of course.

I'm not a designer, I'm a creator.

I'm not a designer, I'm a creator. To me, it's always been about collaboration, I've never studied styling or fashion. As far as I'm concerned, it boils down to common sense: have fun, more importantly have fun with your friends and keep a global view on what you're doing.

The Internet shapes my life and work so completely that I couldn't imagine living without it.

Uniqlo as a company has always developed new fabrics and is always trying to be innovative. The design is simple, so the fabric is important.

I want young people to be able to buy into what I design. When I was young, I wanted to buy designer brands even if all I could afford was the cheapest wallet, the cheapest pen, the cheapest T-shirt because I wanted to be a part of it.

I'm not an elitist. I hate the fashion industry sometimes because it becomes so focused on the elite.

Social networking inspires me a lot and how we are related and connected to each other.

I am terrible at making food. I love eating, but I can't make anything.

There are so many young designers who need stock, who need my push. With the commerce, the one thing I knew is that I wanted to have things that were affordable. I was always one of those customers that would go to an amazing store and be like, Um, what's the least expensive thing?

My uniform is usually just comfortable clothing. Being a stylist, you spend most of the day at photo shoots covered in safety pins.

I like places where you can dance to crazy music, like Bedlam or Eastern Bloc in the East Village.

Fashion is such an insider's club, but slowly, the playing field is evening out. Through social media, everyone can have a front-row seat.