I learned quickly that if the student’s perception is that you’re not listening to them, and not understanding them, they discredit you.

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.

I'm constantly correcting young people and fashion students in this nation when they say "Well, I do couture." By definition, you don't. You have to be licensed by the government of France to do couture. So don't use that term. You can say that you do one-of-a-kind, you can say it's custom, but you can't say it's couture - because it's inaccurate.

We can wear whatever we want and get away with it. Just be confident about being who you are and dressing for that person.

I have a very Socratic approach - I pummel the designers with questions, so when I get them to step back from the work and look at it with me, they'll eventually see what I see, coming to it fresh and unencumbered. That's always very gratifying because they feel a responsibility and an ownership of a solution.

I'm really not a trend promoter because I feel that people push trends on people they shouldn't.

At all costs, avoid clothes that are too big. The more volume your clothes have, the more volume you appear to have.