I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I always knew the woman I wanted to be.

I really have fun making up. I have a good face for making up, good bones. I do the shapings, then the eyes. Then I put on mascara and I do something else. Then I put on mascara again and do something else. Then I put on more mascara and my whole face is completely made up.

I must have books everywhere. They're the soul of a room-they reveal the taste, the interests, and the secrets of whoever lives there.

The other day I went to a school in Harlem to talk to some 7th graders [12-year-olds] and I said, ‘If I have to give you some advice, the most important thing is: the sooner you become your own best friend, the better your life will be,’ 

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 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.

Italy will always have the best food.