Bridal is always about who you are as a person and as a woman and as a lover and as a mate. People always ask me how a woman can pick just one dress. And the funny thing is they always know.

The intricate engraving, fine lines, beading and milgrain accents echo an era defined by elaborate embellishments.

All those years of skating and dancing have carried over. I can't design anything without thinking of how a woman's body will look and move when she's wearing it.

When brides ask me, "What's the best advice you can give me on my wedding day?" I always have the same answer: "Be yourself." Someone's marrying you, they love you for who you are, and they don't want you to be someone else.

I was an art history major, but never specifically contemporary. I would say where I really stopped were the abstract expressionists in the New York school.

New York for me is about work. If L.A. were to become a West Coast version of that, I'd shoot myself. The climate, the lifestyle - it really fits as the yin to my New York yang.

Don't be afraid to take time to learn. It's good to work for other people. I worked for others for 20 years. They paid me to learn.