"Frankly, I do think, without sounding like an old soldier, that before AIDS and other crisis, everything was easier. Everyone was more open-minded and had a fresh way of looking at life. Being 16 or 17 during May of 1968, there was a little revolution in Paris. It felt like the world, the city and the country were having the same seismic thing."

And all these side projects stand to enhance his fashion business, he insisted. "For me, it's the same universe whether I'm working on a bag, a lamp, lace or a dress. I have the same enthusiasm, the same excitement."

At this stage in his career, Lacroix said he is not looking to add any new licenses to his company. In fact, after the Falic Group bought Lacroix's company from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton more than three years ago, the new owners weeded out ancillary licenses like children's wear in order to focus on Lacroix's signature and couture collections. Lacroix was the only fashion company LVMH has started from scratch, but under its tutelage the label was said to be splintered with diffusion lines.

Lacroix said around the millennium he became disenchanted with LVMH and needed to express himself more. "It was a little asphyxiating. I wanted to prove I was able to work as an adult human being," he said. "Some said I was very talented, a kind of a genius but so difficult and sometimes immature. But I'm not. I wanted to prove to people that I could compete for and deal with very difficult and important companies such as the French Railway. It was not as though they said 'Just give it to Lacroix to be nice.' I had to compete and fight against other good designers for the trains, for the movie theaters....That gave me a more confident way of being and made me more dynamic in fashion."

While popping into a few art galleries and shops last week, Lacroix took note of the street fashion. "I felt it was a little less eccentric and a little less 'Wow!'" he said. "But I'm from the generation of Ladies Who Lunch. It's changed a lot."