How would you describe the Giambattista Valli aesthetic?
The Giambattista Valli aesthetic is about beauty. Beauty can be everything: it can be a gesture; it can be the body contours of a woman; it can be the textures that I use for the dresses. It’s really a conversation between me and the person who is going to wear the clothes.

What motivates you in design? 
I’m definitely somebody who wants to dress people in happy times. So everything has to be emotional. It’s emotional during the process, it’s emotional when I’m sketching the first silhouettes, it’s emotional when I start to look at the colours and textures, and it’s emotional at the atelier when it comes to life. Everything is about emotions – the final emotions are really in the stitches of the dresses. My biggest muse is my curiosity. She drives me everywhere.

How important is the woman you design for?
I create clothes that come to life only through the final interpretation and personality of the person who is going to wear them. A dress is like an empty apartment. When somebody lives in it, that becomes the personality of the apartment – so that is the personality of the dress. It’s somebody bringing to life one of my creations.