Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I think it took me a little while to be true to myself as a designer, and in some ways I'm still trying to do that. I have to choose things that come naturally to me. Whenever I challenge something too much or try too hard, it never quite works out.
I try to concentrate on quality clothing and accessories that are worth having, and to get my people to take fewer trips by air and stay longer each time they travel. It’s more human, especially if they take time to visit an art gallery while there.
The hat is not for the street: it will never be democratized. But there are certain houses that one cannot enter without a hat. And one must always wear a hat when lunching with people whom one does not know well. One appears to one's best advantage.
I think it's important to incorporate everything into all parts of your life. I don't separate all the things - during the day, I talk to my kids; they come and visit. On weekends, we go crazy and do lots of activities. I'm just not good at relaxing.
Boys have been wearing skirts for some time now. My three assistants wear mini skirts. They come to work on their motorcycles wearing mini skirts. The French saw the idea on the streets and have done it in better fabrics, and now everyone says, 'Ah!'
I don't collect things per se, but I do pick up things as I go. Like, in my studio I have an old sewing machine from Germany that my dad gave me, and then something else that I got from a friend in India, and a piece of flooring from one of my shows.
The place I am always looking for - because in order to keep the business, I need to make a little compromise between my values and customers' values - is the place where I make something that could almost - but not quite - be understood by everyone.
I love to leave, to be ready-for, to be on the run! That's my boyish side, it's the pant's me! Pants which allow for the attitudes, gestures and movements of a man but that are still female in taste and free enough so that I can slip my hands inside!
I want something mouthwatering and tasty which reminds me of childhood. The scent of a fairground, candy floss, little cakes, chocolates and caramels. Perfume must not be linked just to fashion because that means that one day it will go out of style.
I hate to say it, but the truth is that the upscale line is where I get respect as a designer. The higher the price range, the higher the respect level from the industry, even though it's much easier to make a great $500 dress than a great $100 dress.
The wrap dress is the most traditional form of dressing: It's like a robe, it's like a kimono, it's like a toga. It doesn't have buttons or zippers. What made it different was that it was jersey; therefore, it was close to the body and it was a print.
Let's be honest: not everybody can afford to buy £5,000 dresses, so the jewellery is a nice of way of getting the Giles product out into the world and introduce it to people not familiar with the label. QVC is a really good partner to help us do that.
I like the ritual, the liturgy of a well-crafted, emotional fashion show. I will never be jaded with this side of fashion. The catwalk is pure anthropology, something like an esoteric encrypted parade. It can totally be replaced but it will be missed.
The best fragrance is the scent of water, the fragrance of dew and rain falling on plants. Water is the essential element, a source of life and energy. A perfume that, like a garment, moves to suit the woman, her skin. A perfume that embraces a woman.
Fashion is always connected to manual work, previously at least. That's what couture is all about. Today, this is giving an opportunity to people with those skills, but who don't really have those jobs anymore - it's something I always make sure I do.
I'm always kind of contradictory to what people want and what's selling. But maybe I should care now because I have two or three more outlets. I have to be more adaptable color-wise to what people want. It's usually just black and pink, and that's it.
When I was young, watching historical movies made me feel absolutely sublime. But the first few times I visited costume museums, I was really disappointed because it was not at the level I saw in movies. It was not the level of the image I'd imagined.
I don't think that there is one "authentic" element of American style to identity - it's about a sense of freedom, individuality, and embracing personal style. Fashion also has a bit of mystery, which is part of the allure, and yet anyone can partake.
I understand that I have a certain look that can be used to my advantage. I know the power of that when I walk into a room and talk to people, and I can use it as an advertising tool. Now I am actually selling me, my face, my thoughts. So I am my guy.
All the young people in fashion worship the people who have been around a long time. I think it is about keeping something going through the generations. Take my work: Just because I'm not 20 anymore doesn't mean that people don't appreciate what I do.
For me, haute couture is a necessity. I never would have done this job were it not for haute couture. It is a comfort, a security. I almost feel it is our duty to continue. Haute couture is France. We have to keep all the skills and craftmanship alive.
I think people need to see Prince live to really understand how remarkable he is. He has always been inspiring because he is never afraid to break rules or barriers or invent something new - and if you love fashion, then you need to be able to do that.
I am not in the stock market. I am beholden to no one in what I do. If I spend billions on a fashion show, I spend billions. It's not public. And if I am in the stock market, I am obligated to account for things, and to show what the business is doing.
I’m like a rock singer with one-night stands on the road. I’m here for two days in New York; I leave in the morning early. I come back for Anna Wintour’s party at the Met, then again at the end of May for a prize I get from the Gordon Parks Foundation.
I think it's really important as a creative director, to always keep your ears on the ground and always surround yourself with people who've been in the business longer than you to really think of new and creative ways to present your designs to girls.
Prints can absolutely be investment pieces. I've seen prints from my collections from five years ago on the street now. It's totally possible. If the colors don't age and if the fabric is beautiful, then of course people should wear it year after year.
In my early 40s I started to feel that I had neglected the spiritual side of my life. It had always been there, but I'd neglected it. In fashion, that's really easy because we live in the future, and we can place too much importance on material things.
Fashion is much more collaborative than one might think. You have to have an idea and vision and you have to communicate that vision to a team of people and you have to create an environment that allows those people to give the best that they can give.
I really don't like women who try to be men. All these politicians, I think they're horrendous. We could have a brilliant future, but we have this terrible male vision of destroying everything. They'd better sort themselves out and become more womanly.
Thank God my hair is always the same. And I get dressed very quickly. I am not one of those people who spend three hours getting dressed. I never understood that. What do you do for the two and a half hours after the half hour it takes you to get ready?
I don't believe in a recipe for success. You have to work hard; you may not always get it right - you have to bounce back from situations, and you have to be really focused and determined. It's important to have fun as well. Work shouldn't be a torture.
Through fashion I have shown my interpretation of the competitive spirit by dressing sportsmen and women, choosing to work with both those who are among the world's most renowned athletes and also those who are yet to achieve fame in the arena of sport.
You don't want to be stopped. But it happens to everybody, like if you bump into an old friend or something. Luckily with an old friend, you can be like, "I'm having a diarrhea attack. Can I call you later?" And you can't really do that with a stranger.
Madonna is the ultimate pop star of all time, hands down. She wrote the playbook for it. There is no female pop star - and probably few men today, for that matter - who are not indebted to her in one way or another for her contributions to the industry.
I love what I do and I adore this whole world. I'm able to meet fantastic people. I meet fantastic writers, I meet architects, I meet incredible talent. Fashion is really a world, besides the creation, that I think is super interesting, super inspiring.
Whatever someone told you, you can never be sure of what they said. Whatever someone said, you can never be sure of what you were meant to understand - so if it's really this complicated, what's the point of trying to infer things when you can just ask.
Look at some of the most iconic pieces from Prada and Marni. Every time you pull them out, even if it's five years later, they're still iconic! And then your kids can wear them, and probably style them in a different way. Well-made prints age very well.
Unfortunately, the greatest photographers don't pay extreme attention to the clothes. If they decide to put a dress in a bathtub or in front of a cow in the countryside with dirt everywhere, well, the dresses come back... ready to be put in the garbage.
Even if it doesn't fit the woman, like, let's say a very short skirt, and the woman doesn't have the legs or the height to wear the skirt, but she has to wear it because it's fashionable. Don't do it! If it doesn't look good on you, don't worry about it.
I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of fantastic people, from royalty to rock stars. I've also been known to be a bit of a daredevil, so I've tried to explore extreme travel and adventure - scuba-diving in an arctic glacier and camping in the Himalayas.
My parents loved me, and I think they realized that I was probably not going to have a normal 9-to-5 job. For the longest time, my dad thought that I was just going to be home until I was, like, 35, which, weirdly, is completely normal in Asian families.
I guess when I look over my shoulder at other designers, I feel like people are so definitive. It's so clear to me what their aesthetic is, what they're projecting. And I look at my own work and I think, Who could ever decipher what the hell is going on?
I mean I constantly had security guards around me when I was younger and I wasn't allowed to go to the mall with a lot of my friends and stuff like that. And so, when I finally was able to sneak out, I would just really, really take it to the next level.
I always said that I want to write a book about success and my story and my brand and everything that goes with it, as a woman, as a leader, as someone who has stepped up to the plate and who opens the door for the rest of the women from the Middle East.
The Dover Street Markets bring brands of all disciplines together to sell their products in an open atmosphere that, most importantly, incites creativity. They are, along with the 'Comme des Garcons' stores, usually located in areas off the beaten track.
I hate the word feminine! I mean, there is a woman and a man and when I say "woman" it suggests all that is radiant, tender, fascinating, gentle, demoniac, exaggerated! Feminine makes me think of somebody who is spindly and over-sweet: I don't like that!
Fashion is much more collaborative than one might think. You have to have an idea and vision, and you have to communicate that vision to a team of people, and you have to create an environment that allows those people to give the best that they can give.
I had eight brothers and sisters. Every Christmas my younger brother Bobby would wake up extra early and open everybody's presents - everybody's - so by the time the rest of us got up, all the gifts were shredded, ribbons off, torn open and thrown aside.
The value of the sport and the value of sports in general, with the life lessons, the ups and downs. The depth of the life experience, what athletes are actually offering to us when they come out and play, if you look at a season and go moment by moment.
I have to say, I grew up with fashion because my mother was a seamstress, and she had an atelier. She would cut the first pattern, and then she had people working for her. So I grew up in an atelier, watching people all around me sewing. I was fascinated.