Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Being from a very traditional Chinese-American family, my parents believed the only options to have a successful life were to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or a business person.
My goal is: I'm not trying to be snobby, but my clothes are not for everyone, not for every Hollywood celebrity. There is a designer for everyone, and a celebrity for every designer.
It's for all the women who embrace my aesthetic, but can't afford a Vera Wang dress. If women can get anything out of it - a little bit of me or a lot of me, that's what's important.
I do think I know more about clothes than any 500 designers, because there's nothing like wearing them. You buy them, you study them, and you start to understand how they're crafted.
My clothes have a story. They have an identity. They have a character and a purpose. That's why they become classics. Because they keep on telling a story. They are still telling it.
I was still interested in the youth rebellion but never-the-less I stopped being a victim. Stopped trying to attack the establishment realizing that it takes too much of your energy.
The most significant pieces for me are the ones that come from my drapings. It's emotional because they are created by my hand and then become a collaborative process in the atelier.
Can I tell you who is the most important fashion icon in the world? Queen Elizabeth of England. Think about that. She has never put her foot anywhere wrong and always looks fantastic.
Everything I know, see or hear, every part of my life is transformed into dresses. They are my daydreams, but they have passed from dreamland into the world of everyday items to wear.
I worked in a boutique after work, my second job, selling women's clothes. And that was a way of not just making money but meeting women. That was very exciting job. I loved that job.
When I was younger, I never laughed. I was always sour. If I look at pictures of me from the past, I never see a smile. I think it came out of my insecurity. I had a lot of complexes.
Today we no longer live in a way that is constrained by simple working or leisure environments - we travel, we work on laptops in coffee shops, we go out to dinner straight from work.
With the rise of the Internet, fashion did become part of the global entertainment industry in the last ten years, and will follow the digital evolution of the music or film industry.
Sometimes people have questioned whether I was making fun of the industry or just at myself. I'm just trying to raise a smile. Clothes aren't meant to be worshipped at a church altar.
Lana del Rey is not bad at all. She looks very much like a modern-time singer. In her photos she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants? She's not alone with implants.
People shouldn't notice what you're wearing before they notice you. You want people to register you first. 'Oh, what a nice jacket' should be an afterthought if you're doing it right.
I feel unbelievably fortunate. How many people get to do what they always wanted to do and do well with it and continue to be surprised and see amazing places and meet amazing people?
I remember Grace (Coddington) looking at me and said, 'Can you do something?' and I was like, 'OK, how long do you give me?' and she said 'Half an hour?', I said 'Forty-five minutes?'
Besides being responsible for myself, I'm now responsible for someone else. And I have to set the right examples. I have to really be someone that I would want my child to look up to.
I'm not only passionate about dressing women and helping them feel and look their best, but also about helping to give a stronger voice to women and children in need around the world.
When it comes to shoes, you don't really need more than a few pairs of wing tips or oxfords. They're classics. And I wear only black shoes in the city. Brown ones are for the country.
I don't believe in playing around much with suit cuts. I like a fairly classic shape that gives a man strong shoulders, a fitted waist, and long legs. Classic simplicity always works.
Do you know how rare it is in parts of America to actually see 'an outfit'? France? I don't want to be anti-French, but there isn't a more unattractive group of people on the streets.
I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules.
I always thought we had an environmental problem, but I hadn't realized how urgent it was. James Lovelock writes that by the end of this century there will be one billion people left.
Colour disturbs people. I am confident in black, not in light. This dark side of life is attractive to me forever and from the beginning. I am a lazy designer when it comes to colour.
Everybody wants to be a star right now, to be heard, to have a voice, so you have to give the confidence for people to have that ability - and give them the wardrobe to become a star.
I like films that probe emotional questions and inspire you to get creative and get writing, get draping, painting, cooking, whatever that thing is where you have that kind of output.
I thought, 'It doesn't matter what that woman is wearing,' but then I realised actually it's our job as designers to make women smile; to bring them the chocolate without the calories.
Women must tell men always that they are the strong ones. They are the big, the strong, the wonderful. In truth, women are the strong ones. It is just my opinion, I am not a professor.
In 1919 I woke up famous. I'd never guessed it. If I'd known I was famous, I'd have stolen away and wept. I was stupid. I was supposed to be intelligent. I was sensitive and very dumb.
My heart has always leaned towards England, and with the close friendship of Winston [Churchill], the hero who brought hope to the world, I could not imagine a happier life for myself.
The little black dress is the true friend...she travels with you...is patient and constant...you go to her when you don't know where else to go and she is ALWAYS reliable and timeless.
I don't even know what my natural colour is. Natural? What is natural? What is that? I do not believe in totally natural for women. For me, natural has something to do with vegetables.
I do remember how sexy my collection was after I first got involved with Stephan [Weiss]. That's one thing I don't have in my life now and...if anything, that's one thing I would love.
The designs are more about the whole thing rather than the details, and if I were to do the big shapes I do, color would maybe be too much. Pink or red would push it all over the edge.
I don't do many social events in the fashion industry. Instead, I go to things like the MTV awards because that's where I fit in - wearing a yellow tuxedo and no shirt on a red carpet.
I think fashion takes itself way too seriously. It's just fashion, people. It's just clothes. It should be frivolous and fun. You're not meant to see it as church and pray to a blouse.
I imagine the world from my window ... Traveling, I think it's a nightmare today. The airports and things the people in the street with the selfies ... I like to stay at home and read.
My entertainment was going to the local dollar movie theatre on the weekend, where I watched old black and white movies. If you wanted current movies, you had to drive to the big city.
I like spending time at home. In Paris, people drop by and have a bite to eat, or they drop by and watch Friends on TV. I take my dog to the office there, and I walk to work sometimes.
I wanted to create a bridal collection that is both a natural extension of the mainline eveningwear but, at the same time, reflects the opulence of such an important celebratory event.
Craziness in a shoe is great - you can have much more freedom, you can exaggerate and it doesn't feel stupid. But to have too much craziness near your face, that would just feel weird.
I decided if it was going to be a mistake to come to New York and try and make a career in fashion, then it was going to be my mistake... But the American dream is real. I'm living it.
I identified very much with punk, not only in the fashion sector, but in every other sector. The very nature of doing something new and free meant something that was against authority.
I've always been obsessed with things that are half animal and half human - like mermaids and Minotaurs - because they are trapped in an animal body. And I felt trapped in my own life.
Most little children's obsessions are robots and Barbie dolls. My obsession as a kid was the Versace house. I used to save up my pocket money to buy Versus shirts. I was that obsessed!
From an early age, I was very interested in all things fashion... and the change from tomboy to ultrafeminine glamour in old films. There was a Doris Day film I loved: 'Calamity Jane.'
Because I am untrained I approach my designs in an unconstrained way and I feel a freedom in this. It is unconventional but it means outcomes are not limited by traditional boundaries.
Go to the source for ideas, go to the Metropolitan Museum, find your inspiration in nature, go to the Museum of Natural History, but never rely on something that someone else has done.