Alber Elbaz thinks modern clothes are mostly "awful and ugly."

The Lanvin chief - who is renowned for his love of simple styling - believes many outfits for the 21st century woman are too hard to wear, and wants to think of modernity as "beautiful, emotional and comfortable."

"Every time I think about modern, I always think about something awful and ugly, and all I am trying to do is think that modern can be beautiful. Modernity is not black leather, and modernity is not 17 zippers and modernity is not rock 'n' roll or heavy metal. Modernity for me is beautiful and emotional and comfortable and timeless. I mean, to see a woman sitting on 50 meters of tulle, I am not sure it's modern."

The Israeli designer reveals he wants his clothes to be worn by women who have a busy lifestyle and need function over fashion: "I think that I was very alert to women, and I am seeing more and more that women are changing. Their lifestyle is becoming more and more complex and more and more difficult on a daily basis. So I was trying always to simplify their life. For instance, dresses in the first collection, a lot of people said they were very romantic, I didn't see the romantic side of the dresses; I saw the easiness, the simplicity."