Christian Lacroix never "wanted to be a fashion designer".
Christian Lacroix
The 64-year-old star shot to stardom when he created several collections in the 1980s and 1990s but didn't originally see himself as a designer when he was a child because he was so interested in museums and theatre.
He confessed: "I can't really say I wanted to be a fashion designer."
Christian made a name for himself with haute couture house Jean Patou from 1981 onwards and said he "loved" seeing his designs come to life on the catwalk, especially as the outfits were so "outrageous".
He said: "I loved seeing my sketches become reality on the runway. Expressing my own world and fantasies in the most theatrical and operatic side of fashion ... The Eighties was the most outrageous decade for fashion."
However, he largely avoids fashion now and has instead worked on designing a range of things including hotels, tramways, ceramics, stage shows and coins.
He explained: "Nowadays I say I'm a 'sceneographer for everyday life', creating a set for the biggest stage on earth: our lives."
But in 2013, Christian - who was regularly referred to as Edina Monsoon's (Jennifer Saunders) favourite designer in the BBC sitcom 'Absolutely Fabulous' - was lured back to the fashion world for a one-off collection for the relaunch of Schiaparelli which he described as "a dream".
He told The Independent Magazine: "It was a dream. I acted like a stage designer in charge of sketching costumes for a musical about Elsa Schiaparelli, with her as main character, not as a designer in charge of a couture customer wardrobe."
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