When he’s working he doesn’t want to be distracted, while I look for the ironic side of any situation. He is sincere, honest and very sensible.In general he laughs less than me And he doesn’t want me to laugh too much. We have mutual friends and we prefer to talk about books or whatever it is they’re doing.Domenico and I are polar opposites Everything about him is different from me For one, he has less hair And as a character, most people would say I’m harder But Domenico is actually stricter You can get more from me, whereas he won’t budge That’s the quality I admire most in him: that determination He knows what he likes and where he wants to go. And we have the same philosophy when it comes to socialising – it’s better to stay out of the fashion milieu. Our favourite thing is to work together, and we’re steeped in fashion from morning to night So when we go out we usually prefer not to talk about it. We both love it when we’re sketching, but board meetings depress us We find it draining.

I like them at the first stage when we’re designing and fitting them Then it comes to the fashion show and I almost hate them After the show, I regard them as old and stale. And then after a year, I love them again.As far as work goes, the same things tend to make Domenico and I happy or sad. It’s just that we each get attached to an idea – and so the struggle begins.Afterwards, when the struggle is over, I’ll have mixed emotions about our clothes. It’s not that we’re being childish or acting like sulky kids It’s a business and we take it seriously. Then eventually, I’ll say: “Okay, let’s do it long.” But in the end it’s short.In this aspect, I am selfish I want to achieve what I want, no matter what But Domenico knows when to compromise. I say: “No.” So he gets mad because he doesn’t like it when you say no to him I like it with half-sleeves and Domenico likes it with long So we’ll discuss it over and over. This is how it works sometimes – we’ll both be working on a dress and Domenico will show it to me with long sleeves and ask if I like it.

For example, Domenico likes to be physically present, whereas I might obtain the same result in an indirect way. But there was never a “click”, as such, and I never dreamt we would ever work together one day.Now, though, although we have different tastes and varying working styles, we usually end up at the same point. Our desks were facing each other, and I was slightly intimidated by him. He had been working there longer, and in a way he was in charge and represented power to me He taught me a lot, particularly how to sketch. And he’s funny the way he moves, he walks like a tottering child.Early in our careers Domenico and I worked in the same design studio. It was so strange and unusual for me to see this hip fashion- pack dressed all in black Now I like Domenico’s dress sense It’s cute I like to tease him that he looks all baggy and soft.