I had this wonderful career and thought I would retire as a teacher.

I am a stickler for good manners, and I believe that treating other people well is a lost art. In the workplace, at the dinner table, and walking down the street--we are confronted with choices on how to treat people nearly every waking moment. Over time these choices define who we are and whether we have a lot of friends and allies or none.

The pervasive idea is that if you're a man in the fashion industry, you're gay until proven otherwise. And of course there are lots of men who aren't. But people make certain assumptions.

I've never told anyone this, in an effort to run from my past and disguise it, I got rid of all of the scrapbooks my mother kept going back to when I was a baby. Truly. So that's why whenever talk show hosts or a producer asks for these pictures, there are barely any. My sister had a few, but that's it, and this was before digital. I've never told anyone that, but that's the truth.

With fashion, you really need to understand the aspects of construction. Not just design on an iPad.

In a manner of speaking. I certainly never want to lose my voice as an educator.

If you are going to be catty, you have to be careful with whom you do it, and in what manner! It's the kind of behavior that is best kept behind closed doors.