So that show happened and it was good, really good. Then, we had this party. Perry Farrell DJ’d and Ben Harper was there and this really mixed New York crowd: I mean Grace Jones, Donald Trump, Veronica Webb. It was a situation. It was great.
And back in Italy suddenly there were a lot of meetings happening, and people coming into the factory to see things, and a lot going on. At the same time, I’d been working with Manuela Morin inside Bottega Veneta — she was the shoe designer there and had become like my work sister — and we’d started thinking about developing something ourselves. The idea was a collection called ‘Le Flesh’. We were on no type of exclusivity contract back then. The idea kind of was that it stretched our other muscles and that it was the opposite to Bottega.
And then I remember an article came out that we were launching the collection. I remember it coming into the fax machine in the office, Cooper showing it to me, and then Laura seeing it — she freaked out. And as I understood only later, why she really freaked out is because they were in negotiations with Gucci Group about selling the company. And at that point, we were part of what the company represented. She got really angry, but it blew over. We continued to work at Bottega Veneta and also on Le Flesh. However, Giles Deacon came in, too, with Katie on design and worked on a show for a season. I knew around then that it was time for me to do something else. I loved the brand and I’d learnt everything there. And I know Laura cared for me, and I cared for her. But then I got offered a job by Iceberg. A really good consultancy. So it was time to go. And I did. Manuela left, too, for a gig at Stella McCartney as the accessories designer. So we had our money jobs, and we could work together on Le Flesh. When we told Laura we were going, the Gucci deal hadn’t happened yet and was still a secret — but I think she was relieved because she knew that if the deal went through and the brand was majority sold, she couldn’t protect us. Not long after, the deal with Gucci went through.
