I feel like I have to go back to Paris every so often. It just grows on you - the look of the city, the way people hang out there. If you're in Europe, it's good for that.

I spend tons of time on the music for the fashion shows. I work with this DJ, Jeremy Healy, and we do, like, four or five sessions during the week leading up to the show where we put the music together.

I'm incapable of functioning without music. I've always had it in my life. I played the violin when I was a kid, and my mother was a violinist at that point, so it's always been important to me in one way or another. When I work, there's always music cranking.

I think my biggest muses in fashion are probably rock 'n' roll girlfriends, like Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull and Bianca Jagger - and then maybe Patti Smith a bit as well.

When I make a dress that someone wants to put on and somebody else wants to take off, then I know I've got it right. Because when someone looks good on the outside, they'll feel good on the inside.

Florence is probably one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. It's very quiet as well - there's not much nightlife - so it definitely keeps me focused on the work.

I'm really working on trying to get that lifestyle aspect of the Emilio Pucci house to be as strong as possible.

Working for an older house is a great opportunity, but it's also a big responsibility. The fortunes of a lot of people and families are based on what the results of my collections are, and how successful they are on a commercial level, and how big an impact they have on a trade level as well. So I think I'm a little bit more chill about that.

I'm not intellectual at all as a designer. Whatever I'm into at the moment is usually what becomes the collection.

That's always my downfall - when I start not having fun or not feeling passionate about what I'm doing. But that's why I love Emilio Pucci. There are some design houses that operate on a more intellectual level, but the way Pucci has always worked is more spontaneous and instinctual.

Things are moving quicker and quicker. The internet age has made everything so immediate that what you're doing can start to feel outdated. That's probably the single thing that will most affect the fashion system in the near future. Time is the biggest subject matter in fashion today.

In order to be successful, you have to honor what's in old fashion house, but you also have to play with it and push the limits of it.