I just love working with actors, and I love working with writers, working with designers. I feel that I am just a storyteller, and whether I am wearing the director hat or the playwright hat, it doesn't matter. And the rooms I tend to be in are pretty democratic, and the best idea wins.
There's no conversation happening between plus-size women and designers. The door is never open.
The designers, photographers and models I work with, they are really hard-working people who are devoting their lives to fashion. They're kind of like nuns of fashion.
The problem with couture is not designers; it's what happens when the couturier will no longer be there.
I thought, 'It doesn't matter what that woman is wearing,' but then I realised actually it's our job as designers to make women smile; to bring them the chocolate without the calories.
We are being accused that some models are anorexic. But we as fashion designers cannot be blamed, because you know, when I talk to women around the world, rich and poor and young and old and intellectual and not, what they want to be is skinny. You ask them, 'What is your dream?' It's to be skinny. That's all they want.
It's so funny because when I talk about fashion and menswear designers, it's really like a small percentage of my head. I don't mind talking about it, but I always worry that it's gonna seem to the outside world that that's all I think about.
Zegna has the perfect weight fabric. There are a lot of designers who make clothes that are a little too heavy. They feel heavy. They almost feel like a coat.
The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself, too.
If I'm two pounds heavier, I'm fat. If I'm skinnier, I'm sick. It's ridiculous. And that's not coming from agents or designers.
