I still appreciate individuality. Style is much more interesting than fashion, really. Attitude is everything. It’s really easy to get colors right. It’s really hard to get black – and neutrals – right.

• Never in my wildest dreams did I entertain the idea that I would become a fashion designer. I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style.
• I’ve treated the waistcoat as if it were a corset, so that it becomes the first layer in the process of putting clothes on the body. There is constant motion between layering and revealing.

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

I always thought what you wore underneath was as important as what you wear on top. Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.

War taught me that not everything is glamorous. I didn’t want to be a fashion designer, and for a good half of my career I didn’t like it. I always wanted to do other things.

When I was young, I lived like an old woman, and when I got old, I had to live like a young person.

We must never confuse elegance with snobbery. Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity. Design and style should work toward making you look good and feel good without a lot of effort so you can get on with the things that matter.

I’m an accomplice to helping women get what they want. I never like to think that I design for a particular person. I design for the woman I wanted to be, the woman I used to be, and – to some degree – the woman I’m still a little piece of.