"I will never sell because I don't need to and I don't want to," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published on the day of the autumn/winter menswear show for his Emporio Armani line. "And I'm not stepping aside either, as long as I can, touch wood, keep up this pace," he added. "I don't give a damn about a super-golden pension, I wouldn't know what to do with it."

The white-haired designer who started his own collection over 30 years ago is one of the best-known designers in the global fashion industry and his business also takes in interior design, hotels and perfumes. "This is my life, I don't have any other and I don't want any other. If I could, the only thing I would change is my age," he told Corriere della Sera.

Armani told the newspaper that the hotel he designed in Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, was "a special thing ... a sort of monument to what I have done in my life." The hotel spans 36 floors and includes five restaurants, Armani said.

Gaultier's accomplished tenure at Hermes has been governed by critical runway acclaim and tremendous profitability, cementing the brand's enviable status as one of the most recession-proof luxury houses. In July, the company released exceptionally positive earnings reports, announcing a 12% increase in second-quarter sales ($607.4 million at current exchange) in the 3 months ending June 30. Leather goods were up 33.4%; ready-to-wear and fashion increased by 12.7%.

Hermes' courtship of Gaultier began in June 1999, when the brand invested $23 million into the designer's eponymous collection for a 35% stake. "I believe," said Hermes' then-CEO Jean-Louis Dumas at the time, "that Gaultier has the capacity to be what Hermès has become."
Gaultier began his career in 1970 with an after-school job at Pierre Cardin, and in 1978, he received financial backing to launch his own line. Gaultier has worked extensively with Hollywood and its starlets, from outfitting Madonna in her 1990 "Blonde Ambition" tour to dressing Marion Cotillard in a pailette-encrusted white gown for the 2008 Oscars, where she took home the Best Actress statue for La Vie en Rose.