We live in a material world. I'm not saying that beautiful things don't enhance our lives. But, in our culture, we're never happy.

In fashion as in life, the right thing at the right time is the right thing. The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.

If my parents had discouraged me, I would have turned out very differently. They raised me in an open-minded, liberal environment.

In my adult life I've understood that if I put an enormous amount of love and honesty into something, usually that shows in the end.

I think the 1970s will always be the decade for me. Obviously, I grew up in that era, but the beauty standard was touchable, kissable.

I believe that when you really want to do something, you should go ahead and do it. I mean, I feel fear, but I never let that stop me.

Part of my family were ranchers. So you were expected to be quite macho. You weren't expected to cry. I was the exact opposite of that.

There is no more dramatic accessory than a perfect lip. It is the focus of the face and it has the power to define a woman's whole look.

When I come home I actually take off all my clothes, and I wear no clothes until I leave. I eat naked. I do everything completely naked.

Glamour is something more than what you put on your body. It has to do with the way you carry yourself and the impact you have on others.

I'm very direct. I don't have tantrums. I don't yell or shout. I do expect an awful lot from my staff, but no more than I expect of myself.

Fashion is very quick. It's very disposable. It's immediately - it tells you exactly where we are in our culture, especially women's fashion.

You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.

When I read about young designers selling 51 percent of their company to someone else, I cringe. I want to say, 'Don't do it - call me first.'

My career in fashion has been very much about sexuality and sex, and I think a lot of people think that's all I can do and what I am all about.

I'm a pretty calm person. That came from living in Italy for a long time. Nothing works, nothing is on time. You have to learn to deal with it.

Perfection is almost an illness with me, but sometimes I have moments where everything is absolutely clear and you can feel, rather than think.

You know that only thing that has made the whole thing worthwhile has been those few times that I was able to truly connect with another person.

I think you should suffer sometimes to be attractive and beautiful, so I cut the clothes very slim because I like to feel the clothes on my body.

In the early Seventies, I had shoulder-length hair, bell-bottom pants, love beads and shirts that laced up at the front. But then I smartened up.

A film should be somewhat personal. I think that whatever you create you have to be true to yourself and create something that feels right to you.

I don't believe that clothes can start a revolution, but I do believe that fashion is often a manifestation of a sociological or political climate.

I love black dresses. I think everyone should own a lot, but black dresses don't sell online because on the computer they don't read like anything.

What's so wrong with vanity? It's different from narcissism, you know? It's not about admiring yourself-it's about taking pride in your appearance.

I swore that I wouldn't be one of those parents who leaves a Bugaboo pram parked in the communal entry hall. Well guess what, ours is there right now.

I was on the train from London to Paris, and all of a sudden it just popped into my head: I'm going to do the Don Loper fashion show from 'I Love Lucy.'

The idea of losing someone that you love could throw you into a situation where you could not see your future and you really would be living in the past.

I never want to retire until the day I drop dead. I want to work and work and work because work, I don't do for money, I do for love. And I love to work.

You can't fake anything. If you're honest and true and you love something, and you put that energy into it, people can usually feel it on the other side.

My real life’s not like the fantasy Tom Ford world – with naked girls pouring perfume everywhere. It’s more staying in and watching Friends on television.

I am not someone who likes cocktail parties or large dinner parties, but I have to attend them often. I much prefer very small dinners with close friends.

Advertising is, of course, important because advertise is the final design. It's the last layer that speaks to the customer, that tells them what you have.

I live, I shop almost exclusively on the Internet. I've bought cars on the Internet. I watch television, I do everything on it. I even watch my son online.

If you don't need to quit drinking, you shouldn't quit drinking. I used to really love to drink, and especially living in London, it's just built for drinking.

I was not good at team sports, I have to say. I'm quite good at individual sports, but I was not good at team sports, so I wasn't good at baseball and football.

I have a driver in London because I am slightly dyslexic and cannot drive in the U.K.; after all, the traffic runs the opposite way to that in the United States.

While fashion is exciting because it changes all the time, it is also fleeting. Film, though, is forever. In a way therefore, film is the ultimate design project.

Part of fashion is newness. It's got to be a new combination of elements that's shocking-stunning-beautiful all at the same time. But it doesn't have any emotion.

A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach.

I haven't had any plastic surgery - despite what people think, this is my nose. I have had Restylane and Botox, but I don't think of that as plastic surgery any more.

I don't do shows. I don't have reviews. I'm not putting the clothes on every celebrity so that by the time they reach the store the customers are sick of seeing them.

You have to look inside yourself and you have to say, well, what am I about? Why does anyone need this? Why does anyone need a 'Tom Ford' jacket? What do I believe in?

As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded.

I went to a fashion show, and this silver-haired guy was staring at me with these piercing water-blue eyes. It scared me because I absolutely saw and knew my entire future.

As a designer, design director or any creative person, you have to hire great people, support them and make them feel comfortable so they can contribute and give you their best.

I was bullied every day at school because I carried a briefcase. I could have left it at home. But I thought it looked great! I didn't understand why anyone else didn't think so.

The Gucci woman - you know what she’s after. The Saint Laurent woman - she’s going to torture you a little bit. You might have sex, but she will drip a little hot wax on you first.

I think that the older you get, the more you become your true, essential self. You find the things that make you happy. You whittle away the parts of yourself that mean less to you.

I suppose, yes, I've been guilty of provocation but it's also just common sense marketing - put a bottle of scent in a woman's cleavage, or between her thighs - and men will notice.

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.

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