PARIS (AFP).- Key quotes from French designer and businessman Pierre Cardin who died on Tuesday aged 98:

Fashion

"The clothes I prefer are those I have created for a life that does not yet exist, the world of tomorrow."

"My aim was the street, that my name and my creations be on the street. Celebrities, princesses were not my cup of tea. I respected them, I dined with them, but I could not see them in my dresses. In any case, they would have looked ridiculous."

"My great stroke of genius was ready-to-wear at a time when there was only haute couture. They told me it would not last two years. I charged on, believing in my idea. I was criticised, made fun of."

Creation

"Form comes first. Then the material that expresses the volumes, the flow, the flexibility. Colour comes last."

"A table leg, a root, a tree, a leaf, all can give me ideas. I am capable of seeing an artichoke and making an artichoke dress!"

"I don't stop, I need it, just like a painter or a writer. I need to express myself. My reason for being is fashion."

Business

"I own 100 percent of everything, I am self-sufficient. I can drink my own wine, go to my theatre, eat in my restaurants, sleep in my hotels, dress, wear my own perfume..."

"If I have made money with my licences, it is to be free, do something other than fashion. By changing profession I distract myself. There would not be a bigger punishment than forcing me to play the game."

© Agence France-Presse