Roberto Cavalli's Diary

I love life and I love parties, so I'll be coming to London tomorrow to throw a big party at Battersea Power Station to celebrate the opening of my Sloane Street boutique. London for me means the beginning of my career in fashion, so I'm always pleased to return. I'll have to be nice and charming to everybody and pose a lot, because everybody wants their picture taken with me. I look forward to seeing my beautiful creations on an array of beautiful guests. After the party, I tell you, I will cry for 15 minutes. I suffer from claustrophobia so it sometimes gets too much and I have to call for my nurse and she will calm me down with some pills. Most of the time after my fashion shows I close myself in the bathroom and I cry.

I like to be different from everybody, all the time. I don't tend to go to fashion shows, other than my own, which will be in Milan. The only exception is when I'm invited personally by a designer. I used to be very close friends with Oscar de la Renta and I would go to his shows, but now we've lost touch. I don't tend to look at other designers and I don't really like to be seen out and about on the circuit. That way, I'm not influenced so much by what others are doing.

This week it's back to work after a wonderful summer. I decided to stay closer to home than last year, when I travelled through Africa and Indonesia. Instead I sailed around the Mediterranean on my yacht, RC, beginning in Italy and working my way to Croatia. I love nothing more than to go out to sea in my rubber dinghy, exploring. I haven't held a party on RC since the Cannes Film Festival in May, to celebrate the opening of my Cannes boutique. It was just family and close friends: my wife Eva and my son Daniele, Brooke Shields, Janet Jackson, Bar Refaeli, Carine Roitfeld... A wonderful party with beautiful people.

I've just arrived in Milan from Florence. I'm always up and down between the two cities. I come to Milan to talk about the financial side of Cavalli; when I'm in Florence I work on design. Of course, talking about business isn't as fun as the creative side. I also prefer Florence because it's a city full of life, light and colour. I wouldn't know which colour to give to Florence, but I know which colour to give to Milan - beige.

Nowadays, there's no such thing as a fashion capital. When it comes to fashion all cities are equal. The only city that is a bit different and where I still have a lot of fun is Los Angeles, because there are young designers there who are less well-known and they have a lot of fun. When I'm there I think to myself, 'I used to have fun like that.' I envy them because to be in fashion today isn't as much fun. There's an obligation to sell and you have to make the figures work. It used to be a lot easier, I could create to have fun and everything was more spontaneous. I'll never tire of fashion, though; it's in my DNA. ES

The new Roberto Cavalli boutique is at 20-22 Sloane Street, SW1