I don't pay attention to things like the talent for style. I don't meditate on things like that. I just do whatever I think I should do and go with it, and if people like it, then I'm very happy about it. And if not, I always figure it's their problem not mine.

I do have a dominant shopping gene but, unlike a reasonable person, I never plan for what I need each season. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the discovery and the endless search. In another creation I was, perhaps, a hunter/gatherer. After all these years, I’ve learned that it’s not the end result or finished product but the process I most enjoy. If my experimenting, searching and juxtaposing turns into an exciting outfit well, it’s just a big fat bonus!

If you can't be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all the pretty girls I went to high school with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways. Don't you think?

In my view you can't go to the future if you haven't come from the past.

You have to look in the mirror and see yourself. If it feels good, then I know it's for me. I don't dress to be stared at, I dress for myself.

There are so many empty headed people in the fashion business who take themselves way too seriously and I don't think I am at all like one of them. To me there are lots more important things in the world than just having the right shoes!

I’m a great believer in common sense, and the older I get I see that common sense is not that common