When I first started designing sportswear, I felt that women weren't represented in sports performance. I felt that men were dressed really well both technically and visually, and women were almost like an afterthought.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't think there's anything that is a greater area of discrimination against women today than the fact that nowhere in the world is there a female role model in team sports that more than half of a general audience would recognize.
There's no doubt about it that my participation in sports allowed me to compete in the business world in a very gender-neutral way.
I don't look so closely at women's fashion, but from the 20th century on, people have had the freedom to express themselves and their individualities, and fashion is one of the most fundamental ways in which they do this, men and women are equally able to express themselves.
I believe that athletes - especially female athletes in the world's leading sport for women - should serve as role models.
When I was really young, the women's national team wasn't on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players.
I love being a woman and I was not one of these women who rose through professional life by wearing men's clothes or looking masculine. I loved wearing bright colors and being who I am.
When I first started designing, all women were dressed like men, and I said, 'Hey, guys, let's be women, put the two together - it's not either/or. Let's celebrate our bodies. Our bodies are different.'
Where is women's sports prominently displayed with the men? Tennis is the only thing I can think of.
Women's fashion is more interesting than men's.
I like the idea of paradox, between the authentic fabrics and sophisticated shapes and between masculine and feminine. I'm not so much for sportswear. I think it's over.