Success needs to be measured according to the ambitions and the resources of each designer. And many aren't interested in being a megabrand.

The fit of jeans can be worlds apart from brand to brand. If you can find the right fit, skinny jeans can be very flattering.

When it comes to my vocabulary, I felt a responsibility when I was teaching to raise the bar of conversation in my classroom. And with my own students, I refused to let them use the phrase "I like" or "I don't like" when we were engaged in a critique.

I don't know if people have gotten ruder or if my tolerance level has declined.

What's important to a fashion designer? It's much more than learning how to make clothes. In fact, that merely makes you a dressmaker. It doesn't make you into a fashion designer.

My advice to the 10 year old daughter is: fashion happens in a context. It's societal, it's cultural, it's historic, it's economic, and it's political. So all of her studies, everything that is happening in the world, all needs to be channeled through her in order to be a good designer.

I just don't like conspicuous consumption. I find it distasteful.