8.30AM I wake up naturally. I’m pretty organic that way. The sad truth is that the first thing I do in the morning is check my e-mail. I live in Los Angeles, so all of Italy, New York, and my family in Kansas City have called or e-mailed by that time, and everyone’s frothing at the mouth for an answer. It’s like waking up to a gunshot. Sometimes I get my laptop and crawl back under the covers to reply.
10AM Breakfast is delivered by MoyerMeals. I am a vegetarian, almost vegan, so it helps me maintain the amount of protein I need. Today it’s six egg whites with sweet potatoes and spinach, tiny button mushrooms, a green juice, and a sweeter brown one. I don’t even know what’s in them, I just drink.
11AM I live in pyjamas; I’m always wearing them as clothes. I’ll transition from day to bed to morning to day again. I have a pair from the ’50s that I’ve had since I was 14. I wore them in high school. I have a strong relationship with all my clothes. I had to turn my master bedroom into a closet. I couldn’t sleep in there because my clothes were all talking to me. I also have an absolutely ridiculous amount of shoes – boxes and boxes, probably about 600 pairs. Every season I get the whole portfolio that I design for Adidas, plus the ones from the show. It’s a bit obsessive. Lil Wayne was the first to wear the teddy bear shoes I designed, after he got out of jail. I’ve never met him, but I love his voice, I love his flow.
11.30AM I check out Twitter and Instagram. I do my own posts. I’m not one to share the food I’m eating or bombard people with stupidity. I share editorial or moments with my diva girls, Nicki, Miley, Rita, Rihanna, and Katy. Miley and I were text buddies for a long time and finally met at Madonna’s Oscar party. She was like, “You better be ready.” We did dance, but there was no twerking. I follow about 150 people on Instagram, almost all friends. A lot of the time there’s Nicki posting pictures of herself in my outfits.
12PM Every weekday I go to SoulCycle in Beverly Hills. I leave my house in the Hollywood Hills an hour before class – being late for SoulCycle is my biggest phobia. I also work out with my trainer, Irina, who’s Russian and pretty hardcore, at a private gym near my studio. There’s always someone like Shia LaBeouf or Zoë Saldana there, but it’s not a scene; no one’s preening in the mirror. Sometimes I do two SoulCycle classes and a session with my trainer in one day. I love pop and hip hop, so I’m usually working out to one of my girls. It feels like they’re there spurring me on.
2PM I’m covered in sweat after class, so I shower and switch back to my pj lifestyle – DJ PJ in the house. Then I drive to my studio in my Mercedes G wagon. I also have a Smart car. I listen to music or talk hands-free with Pablo, my PR director, or my mother or sister. I’ve been known to talk to my mum five times a day, but she just gave me hell, as it’s been less lately – my schedule has been an insane nightmare. I’m finishing a book with Rizzoli, I moved house, had Fashion Week, and I’m being filmed for a documentary. In today’s age, when everything is on Google, I wanted to share things in the book that weren’t available, such as personal Polaroids from the ’90s of Isabella Blow, Devon Aoki, and Björk. When people ask me who my favourite photographer is, I say Cindy Sherman, but when they ask who my favourite artist is, I say it’s Steven Meisel, who shot my first Moschino campaign. I proposed that we do something very couture, which he knows so well. Linda Evangelista was an immediate to put in the mix – we first met at a furniture store and struck up a little friendship. The shoot was fun and funny and epic. When we were wrapping, Pat McGrath, who did the make-up, was playing with the milk-carton-shaped bag and wearing the McDonald’s-inspired fur and posing, and Linda came down in the SpongeBob look and bumped her off the imaginary runway. Karen [Elson] was hooting and hollering from the back. It was really cute.
2.30PM At the studio I am a moving target for the pack of wolves rushing at me with questions. I spend the afternoon approving the strike-offs of the prints, the new toiles, and the graphics for the knits and screen prints. I’ll usually check Susan Miller’s Astrology Zone website. I’m a textbook Leo, although I’m not as showy as some – but then again maybe I am. The quality that Madonna, another Leo, pointed out to me is, we have a hard time asking for help. It’s good to get life lessons from Madonna, as she has experienced a lot. On my desk are my laptop, lunch, green tea, water, protein balls, car keys, and sunglasses, which are these weird wraparounds that look more cyber-hick than Armani.
3.30PM I eat lunch at my desk. Today it’s orange tofu stir-fried over quinoa, with corn and broccoli. I also have lunch and dinner pre-prepared, and there are little snacks, maybe salty almond balls, if I’m hungry. I drink a lot of Perrier. I just love the way Perrier tastes, and how sophisticated it is. It also counts as one of my snacks. I drink about 14 glasses a day – I’m a big proponent of hydration. I’ve never drunk coffee in my life. I don’t like the taste, even in tiramisu. I’m more of a green tea guy.
10PM I’m at work until 10 or 11, as Italy opens again, and sometimes I’m dealing with them until 3am. I don’t really have a social life. People think because my work is so exuberant, I must be mad, but I’m a farm boy and quite sedate. I don’t do drugs or smoke cigarettes. For my birthday this year, I went to SoulCycle, though I did go to see Rihanna in concert after. She had worn my clothes on her own for a few years before I started making pieces for her tours, and we became friends. She is such a love. I’ve always been a collector, and these days I tend to collect pop stars. I also collect quilts, salt and pepper shakers, and those weird Smurf glasses from the ’80s. Every now and then after work I’ll go off my food plan to have dinner out with a friend – I like Hugo’s and Café Gratitude, and Alegria has Mexican food that is still healthy. French fries are still one of my guilty pleasures. When I have them I try to do sweet potato, but McDonald’s fries are just so good. I love the movies, especially sci-fi. I could watch Blade Runner over and over. And I just saw Lucy and the new Saint Laurent film, which was really beautiful but so sad. Even with all that success, he seemed so miserable.
2AM To unwind, I watch TV in bed. I lull myself to sleep like a baby, except the baby is me. I love True Blood and The Leftovers and devoured Orange Is The New Black, and The Daily Show makes me laugh and forget about everything. I’ve also restarted reading a biography on Walt Disney, who, like me, was from Kansas City, so I feel a kinship. I’ve been reading it for years, embarrassingly, and am determined to finish it. I work really hard, but I’m so inspired by what I do; it makes me happy. I just don’t get enough time to sleep or floss, and that’s a big regret.
