Internet Fame

The main people for me when I started to look at fashion were Martin Margiela and Helmut Lang. I also had an obsession with Stephen Sprouse. Historically, Dior and Balenciaga influenced me the most. Nothing in fashion, though, has had more emotional impact on me than Martin Margiela’s third show. It was 1989, and I was an intern for Walter Van Beirendonck. He took me to two shows: this huge Jean Paul Gaultier spectacle, with the girls dressed as nuns and Neneh Cherry sitting on a Thonet chair; and Martin’s show, which was in a playground. They’d asked the kids’ parents for permission to use the playground, and they said, “Yes, but only if our kids can come.” The models appeared in long white clothes, and suddenly the kids started to play with them. It was so moving. Everyone was crying. Me too. Martin is the one who made me decide to do fashion—and when he left fashion, I decided to collect his clothes. I know his collections inside out, so I started to build an archive of them alongside my own.