When I was young, about six, I was very jealous of girls because I wasn’t one of them. I was so sad to be a boy. A girl in my class told me that, in America, you can have a sex change, so I read everything there was about it, and told my friends at school that I would have this done. Wanting to be a girl was my first impression in life; I was not interested in boys’ stuff. I even did ballet, though I left because I was the only boy in the class. I remember experimenting with cheap make-up with my sister. I was very attracted to all beautiful women — actresses, singers, but it was like a girl who loves these women, not a boy. I was always imagining what it is to be a beautiful girl. And I was drawing pictures of women all the time — I diverted my energy into the pictures. The moment I had a pencil, I was creating women, paying a lot of attention to details. This picture was, of course, not complete without a dress, so I was designing fashion as a small child. I always knew I wanted to be a fashion designer.

I was very lucky to have open-minded parents. They were very permissive, but not in a weak way — they were mad at me when I fell down the stairs in a crazy dress, and trying on my mother’s clothes was forbidden. They never bought my brother, sister and me prescriptive things like Batman and princess costumes. Their view was that it was important for a child to be free, creative and imaginative. I was allowed to express what I wanted to express. They were happy for me to wear dresses in the street. They even allowed me to go to school in pyjamas, as long as I went — Belgian schools don’t have uniforms. After a few times, my brother and sister were telling me I was boring wearing dresses. I don’t even remember the details, because there was no trauma. I had no fear as a child.

I would have not have been happy as a girl, however. I realised this when I was about 9 or 10 — my shoulders began to get wider, and I knew I would not become the beautiful woman I had dreamt of. Because I am a perfectionist, it put me off the idea. So I quickly became Olivier. I am very happy to be a boy and I never think about that any more. Having played a lot at something, after a while you don’t want to play any more. When I started fashion school, I had gay friends who were experimenting with high heels, but because I had played so much with that as a kid, I had no need to revisit it, and it has never been a problem since. … Continue reading