fashion editor of the International Herald-Tribune

Jil Sander is among the best-known fashion designers in the world. She is also among the most private, rarely giving interviews - especially after walking away from the design house that bears her name first in 2000 and then, finally, in 2004. These are excerpts from an interview with the Hamburg-based designer and Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald-Tribune.

Q.You compared your work to the life of a prima ballerina - a dedication, training and struggle for perfection behind an apparently graceful and simple surface. Is that a good description of how you work?

There is an evident difference: A ballerina performs with her body, while I am happy to stay behind the scene. But I feel sympathy with her effort of making the beautiful look simple and easy, and thus encourage others to look and strive for it and achieve it in their way.

Q. You have never made clothes that make women look awkward or ridiculous. Can this be described as secret design that is embedded in fabric and construction but not immediately visible?

Initially, it was the unpractical in fashion that brought me to design my own line. I felt that it was much more attractive to cut clothes with respect for the living, three-dimensional body rather than to cover the body with decorative ideas. I studied proportions, fabrics and their properties, and I learned to master pattern-making. My approach has always been rather sensual. It evolved through multiple fittings and poured back into pattern technique.

I sometimes feel that a pattern is almost a fashion statement in itself.

Q. Can women ever dress in attitude like men, or is there something in the female gene that draws women to fanciful dressing?

Since childhood, I have been interested in men's clothes. Fabrics, cuts, colors - everything there seemed less flimsy and whimsical. This may have given my work an androgynous edge. But I like femininity, not of the devout, but of the self-assured, cool and sophisticated kind. ...

A personal, grown-up style often seems to come with professional success and an autonomous lifestyle. There are times in life when a non-sexualized attitude is important. I hope to provide clothes which underline the attractiveness of character, intelligence and personal charisma.