Diana Vreeland Quotes

Balenciaga often said that women did not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear his clothes. When they wore his clothes, they became beautiful.

When fashion turns over it brings in little tiny creaks and cracks. This is the fascination and that is where you have to watch every step.

Being vulgar is fine, but oh please just don't be boring.

I think part of my success as an editor came from never worrying about a fact, a cause, an atmosphere. It was me—projecting to the public. That was my job. I think I always had a perfectly clear view of what was possible for the public. Give ‘em what they never knew they wanted.

The best thing about London is Paris.

One thing I hold against Americans is that they have no flair for the rain. They seem unsettled by it; it's against them: they take it as an assault, an inconvenience! But rain is so wonderfully cleansing, so refreshing, so calming...

Within every girl is the possibility of arousing emotion. Without emotion there is no beauty.

I think we live only through our dreams and our imagination.

Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.

In a Balenciaga you were the only woman in the room - no other woman existed.

No one had a better sense of luxury than Coco Chanel, She really had the spirit of the 20th Century.

When I discovered dancing, I learned to dream.

I always wear my sweater back-to-front; it is so much more flattering.

The two greatest mannequins of the century were Gertrude Stein and Edith Sitwell - unquestionably. You just couldn't take a bad picture of those two old girls

You don't have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive.

Allure is a word very few people use nowadays, but it's something that exists. Allure holds you, doesn't it? Whether it's a gaze or a glance in the street or a face in the crowd or someone sitting opposite you at lunch... you are held

I never felt comfortable about my looks until I married Reed Vreeland. I believe in love at first sight because that's what it was. I knew the moment our eyes met that we would marry.

Pleasure is everything.

Poor, darling fellow - he died of food. He was killed by the dinner table.

I think when you’re young you should be a lot with yourself and your sufferings. Then one day you get out where the sun shines and the rain rains and the snow snows and it all comes together.

One is born with good taste. It's very hard to acquire. You can acquire the patina of taste. But what Elsie Mendl had was something else that's particularly American––an appreciation of vulgarity. Vulgarity is a very important ingredient in life. I'm a great believer in vulgarity––if it's got vitality. A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste––it's hearty, it's healthy, it's physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I'm against.

The first rule that a geisha is taught, at the age of nine, is to be charming to other women...Every girl in the world should have geisha training.

Balenciaga was incredibleI was madly infatuated with his clothes. His clothes were devastating. One fainted. One simply blew up and died.

Unshined shoes are the end of civilization.

Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked 'female'

Photographers aren't artists, for goodness sake.

I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity.

You gotta have style to get up in the morning

I think allure is something around you, like a perfume or like a scent. It's like a memory ... it pervades.

I have a terrible time remembering exactly when my birthday is. Age is totally boring.

People who eat white bread have no dreams.

You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It's a way of life. Without it, you're nobody.

I always say I hope to God I die in a town with a good tailor, a good shoemaker, and perhaps someone who's interested in a little quelque chose d'autre.

Don't look left nor right and never compete. Never. Watching the other guy is what kills all forms of energy.

Truth is a hell of a big point with me. Now I exaggerate—always.

All creations demand greenery of spirt. 

Peanut butter is the greatest invention since Christianity.

If you think all the time every day of your life, you might as well kill yourself today and be happier tomorrow.

Every girl in the world should have geisha training

You're not supposed to give people what they want, you're supposed to give them what they don't know that they want yet.

Parents, you know, can be terrible.

I was always sort of a loner, I suppose. I always had to think out everything for myself... I suppose that is what you call a loner.

I don't think anyone has ever been in a better place at a better time than I was when I was editor of Vogue. Vogue always did stand for people's lives. I mean, a new dress doesn't get you anywhere; it's the life you're living in the dress, and the sort of life you had lived before, and what you will do in it later. Like all great times, the sixties were about personalities.

A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste-it's hearty, it's healthy, it's physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I'm against.

To be contented—that’s for the cows.

I certainly didn't learn anything in school. My education was the world.

For goodness sakes, beware of curls… It is a great art to do them so that the girls not only look modern - but do not suddenly look very vulgar.

The West is boring itself to death! And talking itself to death!