Encouragement helps you to go one step more, become better.
— Hubert de Givenchy
It's a fabulous thing to give life to fabric, to make something move well, the harmony of colour.
To change just because of change, that is not my idea at all.
As a student, I was more gifted in history and geography. Things like arithmetic were not my strength.
My grandmother had a cupboard where she kept her collections and textile samples of all sorts of things. When I had good grades, I could take out one piece of work to look at.
It's the most beautiful job in the world to give happiness to people.
Life is like a book: one has to know when to turn the page.
American and Italian women stimulate designers to do new things.
Always I remember when I am young, I ask my mother, 'I really want to be a dress designer.' In that time, was quite difficult because, you know, my family always criticize me for it not to be a man's job.
I think all beautiful women have a clean look. They like things that are simple.
If fashion is good, it has no epoch.
I dreamed of fashion as a little boy.
If I had to start over, I'll do the same thing: street clothes are the future; the client can choose two or three things and combine them as she wants.
As time passes, we like to simplify our lives.
Clients become very attached to the fitter who they feel understands them.
Balenciaga was my religion. Since I'm a believer, for me, there's Balenciaga, and the good Lord.
I love to dance, and I love to see people dance. It is good exercise. It gives you a kind of energy.
I think when you sell your company and are no longer the master of driving it, it's quite difficult.
I am of tradition, but that doesn't mean I have an old outlook on life.
I'd love to wear the big pant, like I see on the street, or the blouson, but I'd look ridiculous. I'm not that shape. You must respect yourself.
I had the fortune to evolve at a time when fashion was very important, and women dressed themselves very well. A woman who dressed very well also had a husband who would have beautiful collections of art and decorative objects.
I don't think I am avant-garde. I made a lot of creations and created harmony with my fabrics, but I was not like Balenciaga, for example, although he was, of course, a great inspiration.
Each of my garments is something special in itself. You give all your energy to each piece, to each creation, and I have no favourite. I love all of them equally.
I've stopped making frocks, but not making discoveries.
I really love to work like a machine.
To have lived your dream is very rare in life. I am a very happy man. I have been so fortunate.
I didn't do any designs for 'My Fair Lady.'
When you are a designer, what's important is to be aware of things. Everything should lead to an idea, a line to follow, a movement.
You have to know when to stop - that's wisdom.
Fashion should evolve slowly, without any revolution.
It gives you a good feeling. Each year, you rediscover in a garden the magic of life. A flower arrives, and it is a miracle. The leaves fall in the autumn, and it looks fantastic. There is a tenderness about a garden, and you can't help but be sensitive to that.
You must, if it's possible, be born with a kind of elegance. It's part of you, of yourself.
The little black dress is the hardest thing to realize because you must keep it simple.
To be a couture designer is not only to create dresses but to adapt your line to your private customers. It is why couture is expensive. You are like a doctor.
Fabric is the most extraordinary thing; it has life. You must respect the fabric.
Of course everyone dreams of living in the 17th or the 18th century because of the costumes, but there were so many incommodities.
It is important to work. It is important for my mind.
When you see the best of the best - when you see a Matisse or a Picasso - what interests you is the creativity and harmony.
My mother was a beautiful lady, elegant, chic, and that was the biggest inspiration to me.
Balenciaga taught me everything I know. He taught me to care for the details, that it was not necessary to sew on a button where it had no use or to add a flower to make a dress beautiful... no unnecessary detail.
When I am designing, I keep in mind more the American woman than the French woman.
You work around a body and adapt the clothes to your own customer, and this is the interesting part. This is why the haute couture exists: because in ready-to-wear, you have not too much fitting.
People say I am a classic designer. I don't try to be classic, but I do try to be simple and elegant.
In the early '50s, it was still the time of Christian Dior's New Look. Every dress was big and important, and I thought I must do something completely different. Women needed something for daytime that was wearable.
I had this creativity always with this will for perfection, and I always said to myself, 'Look for what's best.' 'That's your goal, your driving principle.'
A piece of material has a life. You must never upset it if you want the material to speak.
Mine is one of the most beautiful professions in fashion: making others happy with an idea... I am happy because I did the job I dreamt of as a child.
I haven't really got a green thumb, but I love gardens and their architecture.
It was always my dream to be a dress designer, and my mother accepted that decision.
You never finish learning.
