“A man has to have sensibility, wit, mystery, tolerance, and strength... Romance also helps.”

“A wedding dress is both an intimate and personal for a woman - it must reflect the personality and style of the bride.”

“Age is something only in your head or a stereotype. Age means nothing when you are passionate about something.”

“Attention to detail is of utmost importance when you want to look good.”

“Elegance isn't solely defined by what you wear. It's how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read.”

“Fashion has always been a repetition of ideas, but what makes it new is the way you put it together.”

“Fashion is a dream. It's difficult, and there are many aspects of fashion that are very difficult, but if you love it like I do, because I really have a passion, now, for fashion, it's not easy, but nothing is easy in life.”

“Fashion is not an investment. If you wear a dress and don't get many compliments, you won't wear it again. It's not like buying bonds.”

“Fashion is to please your eye. Shapes and proportions are for your intellect.”

“Fashion never stops. There is always the new project, the new opportunity.”

“Feeling good about yourself and your life is very important. I'm a happy woman, happy with my husband, my daughters, my grandchildren. We all get along quite well, and that keeps me centered.”

“For me, fashion begins in New York.”

“I always remember my childhood house with happy memories. There was a beautiful garden, and outside my bedroom window was a jasmine vine which would open in the evenings, giving off a divine scent.”

“I am truly happy with what I've got. But if I could alter something, it would be my hands. I've never been satisfied with them - I would love longer fingers.”

“I believe that you have to treat the people who work with you like your family.”

“I didn't long to be a designer. I always liked fashion, but it was always a bit sleeping in me.”

“I don't get my inspiration from books or a painting. I get it from the women I meet.”

“I don't like trends. They tend to make everybody look the same.”

“I have always loved trouser suits. It's something I absolutely believe in for women.”

“I love books; my suitcases are always full of them. Books and shoes. I read when I am sad, when I am happy, when I am nervous. My favourite British author is Jane Austen, and my favourite American one is John O'Hara.”

“I love white shirts because they feel like a security blanket. You can wear them with anything. It's the person and the way that they wear it that makes it different. I have been designing white shirts forever, but I don't get tired of it.”

“I prefer clothes that are simple, well-cut, but with one major extravagance. Something with the sleeves, with the skirt, but nothing too fussy, too flashy.”

“I very seldom compromise. I am a Capricorn.”

“I was brought up with considerable discipline, and I was taught it wasn't proper to display certain very private emotions in public.”

“I'm not going to say that I'm perfect. I do have fashion crises.”

“Intuition is a strong feminine quality.”

“It's important to find what really suits who you are, because style isn't only what you wear, it's what you project.”

“I've had work done on my eyes in the past. However, I think there are limits. I wouldn't ever have too much done, as it looks unnatural, and I don't think you should do anything to your lips, as it changes the entire shape of your face.”

“Keep in shape: if you look good, you will feel confident.”

“Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humour.”

“Luxury will be always around, no matter what happens in the world.”

“Money doesn't buy elegance. You can take an inexpensive sheath, add a pretty scarf, gray shoes, and a wonderful bag, and it will always be elegant.”

“Most people travel with a good book, but I also keep my agenda with me; I'll flip through the pages and take a few moments to organize my life a little - I rarely get the time to do this normally.”

“My family - my husband, my daughters, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, all of them - are the most important thing in the world to me.”

“People get nervous accessorising, but there is nothing wrong with adding a belt or a pair of shoes in another colour.”

“Perfection does not exist - only God is perfect.”

“Sometimes the simplest things are the most profound.”

“Sometimes you see women that don't realize that age is changing your style, and they don't change.”

“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?”

“The first painting that I realised I liked was 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch, when I was six years old, at the Prado in Madrid. I still find myself returning there every time I'm in the city.”

“The red carpet is very important. You have to be very careful to have the right person dressed in right way. For me, it has to be a perfect look.”

“There isn't a book that has changed me, but I have favourites such as 'Pride and Prejudice' which I often re-read.”

“Unfortunately, there's a lot of confusion today over what is sexy and what is vulgar. It's horrifying. They say, 'Oh, that girl is so sexy,' and she turns around and the dress is four sizes too small. Or she's wearing so much stuff, you wonder how long it took her to get ready.”

“We women manage to do many things at the same time. Men, no. Men do one thing at a time.”

“When I was living in Los Angeles, I always booked a moisturizing milk-and-honey massage the day before flying to Spain. It was heaven - I never got dry plane skin or felt stiff from sitting in one position.”

“When you do something that you like, and you think you can keep doing it, you don't think about retiring.”

“When you live and work in different time zones, you spend a lot of time on airplanes.”

“You can be very feminine and be a leader. Christine Lagarde, she's very chic and she dresses very well, and she's a woman. And she has a lot of power.”

“You feel very romantic when you're in a ball gown. Everyone should wear one once in a while.”

“You have to deal with the fashion egos. You know, there is a lot. It shouldn't be treated that seriously because fashion is only making dresses to make women look beautiful. We're not inventing anything new.”

“You have to have talent to design and to dress thousands of women or millions of women around the world. And you know very well, the only thing they want is to look more beautiful.”

“You never expect anything when you are 20 because you think that you'll never get older.”