There are some very creative people out there who are like Steven Meisel, and that is why their work is so extraordinary.

I think the reason for vulgarity is because of the freedom that there is now to do certain things, and a lack of sophistication on the part of some people who, in their work, like to give the impression of, "Has there been intercourse or not? Are they about to?" But they take it into a realm that has a vulgar touch to it.

One day, Sally Kirkland said to Diana Vreeland, who was the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar at the time, "I have a young woman I want you to meet. She's very young, but I think you should meet her." When Sally Kirkland told me this, I said, "I can't possibly do that! I'm going to throw up! That's the scariest thing I've ever heard! I can't do that, Sally. I'm not ready to do that!" But Sally said, "You let them make that decision." I was absolutely terrified.

You cannot squelch what's happening at the moment - you cannot put a lid on it and squash it down.

I like people with guts. I want to feel in the clothes what the designer is really feeling when they're alone with themselves and their fabrics and they're drawings, and what happens when they let the creativity that they have been blessed with come forward. That's why they are who they are.

A lot of women say to me, "Polly, why aren't there more clothes out there that we can wear?" And I don't agree with them! There are clothes out there that they can wear - it's just that they don't dare to wear them.

I wear all my T-shirts from Helmut Lang with the holes in the elbows, which people always speak of. When my husband gets a hole in his sweater, at his elbow, he says, "It's very Helmut Lang!"