The last thing I want to become is one of those talking heads where everything is satiny smooth and you know what the next question is going to be

Even though I grew up as a Sephardic Jew in Brooklyn where we ate Syrian food and went to temple, it was still America.

I don't want to offend people.

If you feel something in your heart, if you have a vision for it, then it's no longer a risk.

To me, you can't have style without being inspired. When I design a collection, I am inspired by so many things. The color of a flower. The shape of a butterly's wing. The juxtaposition of an old tenement building next to a shiny new skyscraper.

You know what makes me teary? Goya. Goya makes me cry.

Color is like food for the spirit - plus it's not addictive or fattening.