The 57-year-old fashion designer gets candid about self-care and pearls as therapy—and his own struggles with self-acceptance, which led to his latest fragrance, aptly named Perfect.
1. Social media has a creative impact on my sense of well-being. I have this urge to express myself, and I kind of feel well by letting it out.
2. My definition of a mental-health day is prayer and Transcendental Meditation.
3. I unwind by sitting on the couch with the dogs and petting their ears.
4. My happy place is with my husband and friends, anywhere. Happiness is an inside job.
5. On a good day, I deal with rejection by accepting it; on a bad day, I deal with rejection by reflecting on it.
6. The not-so-great coping mechanism I had to abandon was taking drugs and alcohol.
7. When I’m being pulled in many directions, I kind of freak out. It sort of short-circuits my brain.
8. I pray, meditate, drink juices, and vape every day to help me feel grounded.
9. If I’m stressed before bed, I take melatonin and trazodone; if I’m stressed when I wake up, I stay in bed.
10. When my partner/kid/family is driving me crazy, I take a breath or step away, but I very, very often fail. I tend to fly off the handle.
11. When I was in rehab, the concentration on mindfulness and well-being really put things into perspective. They gave us elastic bands that said “Perfect.” And what I got from that was that I can be true to myself and my true self is perfect as I am.
12. In my time of need, I turn to [my colleague] Nick [Newbold], and my shrink, Dr. Richardson, and [my husband] Charly, and, above all, the power greater than myself—what I call God.
13. My comfort food is pepperoni pizza.
14. The song I put on for positive vibes is “I Say a Little Prayer,” by Aretha Franklin.
15. The TV show I watch to de-stress is “Love Island (UK).”
16. I combat stress by getting dressed and feeling good about myself and honoring the things that I love, my indulgences, and my whims.
17. I first realized I needed to take care of my mental health when my father died and I went to see a psychiatrist for the first time. In the last 16 or 20 years, I’ve come to know how important [my mental well-being] is.
18. My security blanket is my pearls.
This story appears in the Fall 2020 issue of Marie Claire.
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