I think I'm just really in love with women, and I love to see them looking incredibly, truly beautiful. I think every time a woman wears one of my dresses, you know, in a matter of speaking, I'm having a little love affair with her!

Girls who wear certain kind of dresses, who show certain areas of the body, are not going to like my clothes. You can't please everyone.

I decided if it was going to be a mistake to come to New York and try and make a career in fashion, then it was going to be my mistake... But the American dream is real. I'm living it.

A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman, but a beautiful woman with a brain is an absolutely lethal combination.

It saddens me to see the reality-television shows that are getting so much fanfare that are a celebration of stupidity and the degradation of women. And those women are consistently wearing too short, too tight dresses. I hope the trend of aging gracefully returns.

I'm constantly thinking about design, shapes, patterns and colors, so I just want to be more of a blank canvas. But there is a comfort in knowing what you're going to wear, and that probably comes from Catholic school, where I wore a uniform for 10 years.

I truly believe that a beautiful woman is a beautiful woman, but a beautiful woman with a brain is an absolutely lethal combination. Women of integrity, depth, sensuality and strength have always been my source of inspiration, the reason for what I do and how I got to where I am today. They are all my muse. If my quest, in what I do - to make women look and feel beautiful - reflects even a tiny fraction of my deep-rooted respect for them, and succeeds in celebrating these lives of strength and substance, then I will consider it a job well done.