Women have to embrace ambition if they want to. I had a lot of trouble taking compliments in the beginning, and it's really important for women to embrace their title.

When I started my company, many people said I shouldn't launch it as a retail concept because it was too big a risk. They told me to launch as a wholesaler to test the waters - because that was the traditional way.

The easy glamour of the French Riviera in the late 1960s - inspired by Romy Schneider's character in La Piscine - mixed with garden elements. Blueprint, botanical, lattice, Queen Anne's lace and folly prints are paired with cleaner silhouettes and proportions in a fresh palette of green, white and coral.

I wanted stores that would feel like a comfortable room in my apartment, cozy and colorful and different.

I am always interested in designing things that have a great price point attached to it.

It's a gift to be able to give access.

Each job I had wasn't necessarily the perfect job, but I always talk to young women about how you really have to take certain things from each job and learn from that and then move on to something you really want to do.