My mother never, ever told me about evilness. She only saw the beautiful things... she wanted to protect me from it.
— Diane von Furstenberg
The real story is that I am very free, that I've managed to be who I wanted to be without compromising.
When I was young, I lived like an old woman, and when I got old, I had to live like a young person.
Usually, the fairy tale ends with the girl marrying the prince. But mine started as soon as the marriage was over.
Clarity is the most important thing. I can compare clarity to pruning in gardening. You know, you need to be clear. If you are not clear, nothing is going to happen. You have to be clear. Then you have to be confident about your vision. And after that, you just have to put a lot of work in.
I had good legs, and I loved showing them off.
I believe that all women should have children. I think women are made to have children and to be mothers. I also think women have to have an identity outside the home.
I never modeled myself after anyone. The person who had most influence on me was my mother, but it was really for her strength and courage more than her style, even though she had a lot of style. In a weird way, looking at pictures of me when I was 17 or 18, I was dressing the same way. I haven't changed very much.
Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.
Work and children I could have. But the husband was just too much.
As the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, I represent the designers. And while we can by no means take the blame for eating disorders, we can play our part in addressing this important issue.
I'm not tired of who I am. That would be sad!
I was 26 when I invented the wrap dress. It was just a nothing little printed dress made out an jersey, and before I know it, I lived an American Dream making more than 25,000 dresses a week.
All women are the same, really: They are strong, but they are afraid of their own strength.
When I was a little girl, if I didn't eat my soup, my mother would say, 'You have to think of all the Chinese children who have nothing to eat.' But now, for my children, Chinese people make everything, and for my grandchildren, they buy everything.
I gave up on my looks a long time ago.
My biggest vice is playing solitaire on my iPad. It's bad. I mean, it's ridiculous.
The older I get, the more impressed I am with women. I have yet to meet a woman who is not strong. They don't exist.
I don't like to talk about my dreams. I like to make them happen. I prefer to talk about them when they're done.
Women are strong. We can do it all. But not always at the same time.
I loved the seventies.
When you get into a hotel room, you lock the door, and you know there is a secrecy, there is a luxury, there is fantasy. There is comfort. There is reassurance.
I used the aspects of being a woman to my advantage, but I worked for myself, not a big corporation, so I was lucky to have the freedom to behave however I liked.
The best-dressed man is an Italian who is trying to look English, or an Englishman who is trying to look Italian.
I've always been inspired by women, and my mission was to inspire women. I always wanted to become a certain kind of woman, and I became that woman through fashion. It was a dialogue. I would see that the wrap dress made those women confident, and made them act with confidence.
Confidence. If you have it, you can make anything look good.
I was a very young girl and I got into fashion very much by accident, wanting to be independent. What was wonderful was that while I was learning and discovering - learning about the work, discovering myself as a woman - I was allowing other women to feel the same way.
We need to encourage designers and agencies to be responsible. We need to make sure everyone is sensitive to the issues. But to calculate the girls' body mass - I personally think it is demeaning.
Marriage was never a destination with me.
Simplicity and sexiness, that's what people want. At a price that's not outrageous.
The Chinese consumer is everybody. It's very simple.
I've always liked wrinkles. When I was a young girl, I used to make lines on my face with my nails because I loved Jeanne Moreau. I always wanted to be older; I always added years to my life. For the longest time, if people thought I was older, I would take it as a compliment.
My favorite days are the ones where I deal only with my own team, design, marketing, working on the next accessories collection.
I am a fast dresser, 30 minutes max with hair and makeup. I don't have a uniform, but I like to be comfortable.
I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to become.
Everyone knows I married a prince, and then I married a billionaire.
Insecurity is a waste of time.
You need, in your closet, clothes that will - that you can use in many different ways. Clothes that make you fell comfortable, clothes that make you feel 'you.'
There are emerging countries. I mean, there are countries, you know, China, India, and Brazil, and all of these countries that are emerging. They are building homes. They are building - so there is a new lifestyle.
I don't think we should always look at the Chinese like they're taking jobs. They are also bring us more and more jobs. Because, they are the biggest growing consumer. I think what is going on in China is exciting.
I was lucky enough to have it all. To be successful in business, to have children, to raise them on my own, and to travel and live my life. It was a lot of work, but it's a privilege to have been able to do it.
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.
I get ideas about what's essential when packing my suitcase.
I have always been attracted to clothes designed by women. Coco Chanel, Vionnet, Norma Kamali, Donna Karan. They have a little more - how do I put it? - understanding.
I'm all about empowering women. And by lining them up against the wall and weighing them, surely you are making them feel more like meat than ever - even if it's little meat, if you know what I mean.
My best friend is me, and I take good care of me.
What I think I sell with my clothes is confidence, so hopefully all my dresses, my accessories, are friends to the women. When you open the closet, and your eyes are swollen, and you don't like the way you look, you go to your friends.
I always was fascinated with China, because I was born in Europe, and for us, China had this fascination and mystery. The first time I came here was in 1989. They were on bicycles, and the speed of the growth has been incredible.
Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.
I communicate mostly via e-mail and receive hundreds of e-mails a day.
