I am almost a vegetarian, and I meditate, do yoga and love to hike.
— Diane von Furstenberg
The most important relationship you have in life is the one you have with yourself. And then after that, I'd say once you have that, it may be hard work, but you can actually design your life.
I think all races are represented in America much more than in many other places, but it's also nice to remind people about that ethnic mix. I would like to see more black models and women from different ethnic backgrounds, but I also think that when you are casting, you just choose the most beautiful girl you can find.
The way I design generally is very much travel-oriented because that is my life. That's why I make clothes that are so light and so easy to pack and a little bit seasonless.
I never knew what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be.
What's important to me is to share, and being inspired, and inspiring.
I've been working seriously in giving fashion a place that it deserves.
Eighteen months before I was born, my mother was in Auschwitz. She weighed 49 pounds. She always told me that God saved her so she could give me life. I was born out of nothing.
There's design, and there's art. Good design is total harmony. There's no better designer than nature - if you look at a branch or a leaf, it's perfect. It's all function. Art is different. It's about emotion. It's about suffering and beauty - but mostly suffering!
Fashion can be this mysterious thing that you can't explain.
I was born in Belgium. I went to school in England and in Switzerland, then I came to America, so I really feel like I am a citizen of the world.
If you're a good person, the goodness will continue through your descendants.
I'm not the only one; most people's mothers are the most influential person in their life. But my mother survived the camps, and she was very strong. She made me strong, but she wanted me to be strong. That's more important.
Bali and the Aman resorts are all very luxurious, great places to go.
I design for the woman who loves being a woman.
I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are.
Italy will always have the best food.
The most important thing is to be healthy, to drink a lot of water, to fight gravity as much as possible. I am one of the few people who decided I wasn't going to do any invasion with my face.
Women inspire me... so I enjoy women's stories and biographies. I am interested in all women.
I obviously don't feel under pressure to look young, because I have had no Botox or surgery. I don't judge people who choose to have it, but I don't want to erase who I am.
Animals come from nature. They were not designed. All my inspiration comes from nature, whether it's an animal or the layout of bark or of a leaf. Sometimes my patterns are very bold, and you can barely see where they come from, but all the textures and all the prints come out of nature.
I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life - and I became that woman.
I was lucky because I got so successful so early, and when you get successful early, then you can afford to be a little bit humble.
Fashion Week is so important for designers.
The iPad! What is better designed than that? I read magazines on it, I play Scrabble. I use it for everything.
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.
I can honestly say that I understand women very well. If you understand yourself, you understand women, because, in the end, all women are the same.
I always wanted to be a femme fatale. Even when I was a young girl, I never really wanted to be a girl. I wanted to be a woman.
I was terrified the first time that I had a big problem in my business. I was obviously terrified when they diagnosed me with cancer in 1994. I was terrified when my son used to drive too fast. But I do believe in the fact that fear is not an option, so I always try to face it and not be afraid.
I wanted to be an empowered woman, and I became an empowered woman. And now I want to empower every woman. And I do it through my clothes, I do it through my words, I do it through my money, I do it through everything.
Go to a place where you're not going to be stressed, because a honeymoon itself can be a stressful thing.
I had arranged a birthday party for him and my children, who are all Aquarians. Instead, we got married. I ran out of excuses. It was just us and my children.
If you like trekking, go to the Himalayas or Peru. I love those kinds of trips. But it all depends on your own life and what you like and what you expect.
Just don't go to a place where everything is too expensive... it'll put your husband in a bad mood.
I adore dark chocolate.
The fashion industry has a responsibility to represent a healthy image of women, but to start weighing them and putting them against a wall and making them feel like animals? No.
I am a traveler. I am a nomad. I rarely sleep in the same bed more than three or four nights. And I know hotel life better than anyone.
When you come to a hotel room, you want it to be grand, functional and beautiful. But you don't want things that are not useful. Sometimes you go to hotels and there are all these frames and pictures of people you don't know, and you end up hiding everything in the drawer, and then housekeeping come and put it out again.
I'm very good at breaking up with people. Very good. It requires a lot of skill, but what you do is you tell them the truth of why you are breaking up with them, and after that, you somehow compensate with other things. If you have loved someone, I think that somehow they should always be a part of your life. I really do.
I am not allowed to be afraid. My mother made me like that. As a child, if I was afraid of the dark, she would lock me in the closet. Things like this. And she would talk about the time she spent in the concentration camp, but not about being afraid, only about the good side of it.
My mother said that we're so lucky to be women. It's not that men are weak. Men are men. We're two completely different animals.
A challenging economy is always good for design. It unites necessity and functionality. You are forced to be creative with poor materials.
I'm not someone who calculates things.
All I can tell you is that I've never met a woman who is not strong, but sometimes they don't let it out. Then there's a tragedy, and then all of a sudden that strength comes. My message is let the strength come out before the tragedy.
Do I believe in reincarnation? Well, let's say that I believe in karma. I think you make your own karma.
I used to be very insecure about my curly hair, because I lived in a country where everybody had blonde straight hair.
Attitude is everything.
Harbour Island in the Bahamas is beautiful, with turquoise water and pink sand.
I travel in so many different ways; I travel high, I rough it... it all depends on who I travel with.
Ireland is also quite nice. So is Amsterdam.
