Do your best and become as successful as you can because the more powerful you become, the smaller the other person gets, right? So it's like the bigger you are, the better you become, the less power other people have over you. The best thing to do is to always compete with yourself and not to compete with others.

People should just express themselves and not worry about trends - try to use fashion like a compass, an indicator, examples of things that you can be. It's not to be taken so seriously. It's just clothes.

Most fashion models do not look good in bikinis because they're too thin.

People want to express themselves - that's what fashion is for. You can go to Target and get something that Rodarte designed for $34, but would you want to go buy the higher version for $3,400? I think most people would say no.

Society has a hyper emphasis on thin, and that trend comes from the consumers - it does not come from the fashion industry. The fashion industry needs to make money; that's what we do. If people said, 'We want a 300 pound purple person,' the first industry to do it would be fashion.

There are a bunch of different ways to look at the fashion industry. Is it shallow to work in fashion? Yes, it can be. But does fashion transform a woman who might feel like nothing and unimportant to glamorous and gorgeous? Yes, it does. Does it employ a huge sector of America? Yes, it does.

When you believe in something and truly go after it with all you have, amazing things will happen.