My mission was that I wanted to see people on the street that I don't know wearing my clothes. That excites me.

Take people's advice and guidance in the beginning, but always follow your instincts first

A lot of designers get caught up in the creativity, but you've got to think about the legs of your collection - essentially, how the line is going to move forward.

The great thing is that young talent isn't tied to a how-to model for starting a line; we get to find new ways to go about doing things. And don't let people tell you you can't. Go find a way to show that you can.

In the beginning I pushed toward perfection, but it takes time to get to certain places.

I think everyone shares a fear of failure-that you're only as good as your most recent collection.

Designing a product and understanding how it filters through into the market and into the rest of the company is very important to me.