Fashion Designers From France

"It was important for me to express a very broad femininity through this beautiful proposal that required a strong decision on my side to close my house. This is a strong gesture I offered to Lanvin, to be fully there. With this first fashion show I could establish the new codes of Lanvin of this new era that I open"

"Lightness is very important, even in extremely fluid tuxedos, extremely light. It is important to be in a nice comfort but with good appearance."

"bring to Lanvin the harmony and consistency of a fashion designed for women, a fashion of our time."

"An actress who wants to wear my clothes has to come, we have to talk, have a coffee. I have to understand why she would come to see me, and not someone else.With Jarrar, there is no fantasy of finding herself in a harsh spotlight, nor the desire to dress a specific woman:I don't have a muse. I'm claustrophobic, I refuse to lock myself into a prism."

"I've always been comfortable in my skin so I never let anyone look down on me because I am a coloured woman. I would like to accredit my easy journey to the level of education and literacy of the environment I am in."

"I definitely want to continue with the modelling career path that I’ve chosen. I want to be successful enough to make enough money to start my own business."

"happiness is made up of lights and shadows, it is patchy."

"A platonic love always arises between photographer and model. With Inès de la Fressange there was an immediate feeling. I took the first nude photo of her, for Vogue. And it was Inès who inspired the whole series that followed. (Paolo Roversi)"

"It makes me laugh when I see people chasing nonsense, worrying about a delay or things that, seen five years later, seem like nothing. And to women who think that a designer shoe or piece of jewelery is important, I say: most people don't pay attention to these things. Dress not for your friends but for your own satisfaction: wear what makes you feel good."

"Better an hour of sleep or spent making love than Botox. Wrinkles are better than cat eyes. You have to accept getting old, the important thing is to be able to desire, at any age you can be willing to change."

"It is difficult to be strong in those moments [at the death of a loved one]: and when you can't take it anymore, those who love you intervene. On the other hand, it is not even a good example for children to always prove themselves strong. How do you explain to him that you loved someone so much, then he disappears and you are still toned and cheerful? It would have been uneducational and false. I dressed in black, I couldn't bear to see myself in other colors: I would never have imagined it before but at that moment it was like that. Society doesn't allow you to be sad, everyone tells you: "Come on, let's go out"."

"There is a time for everything, at 22 years old you want the handsome, funny, feisty man; to 25 the one who loves books and talks about politics; to 30 choose the father of your children. At 50 you accept that you are not always the winner, at this age you know your defects and your weaknesses; you accept yourself and you also accept the other: you are a bit of a geisha, a bit of an Amazon."

"The Dior display suddenly made me nostalgic for France. What was before me was so clearly more refined than the other displays. And it stood out in my memory. Later when I was given the chance to buy Christian Dior, I remembered White Plains and Bloomingdales. I have no doubt that unconsciously it had an effect on me."

"If my poor maman had still been alive, I would never have tried"

"My mother whom I adored, secretly wasted away and died of grief…; her death…marked me for life."

"I used to have frequent arguments with my father which ended in doors slamming and the ultimate expletive ‘Filthy bougeois’"

"We went from losses to goods seized by creditors, while continuing to organize surrealist or abstract exhibitions…"

"I think I would be more suited to the couture side of the business!"

"Much has been written about fashion, in all its aspects, but i do not think any couturier has ever before attempted to compile a dictionary on the subject."

"Many people dismiss haute couture as being something that is only for those who are very wealthy... simplicity, good taste, and grooming are the three fundamentals of good dressing and these do not cost money."

"Dior is that nimble genius unique to our age with the magical name - combining God and gold [dieu et or]."

"This was certainly at the root of my intense dislike of machinery, and my firm determination never to work in an office or anything of that nature."

"Christian, however, was fortunate having a paternal grandmother who realized very early that this child was very different from his brothers and sisters, if only physically. Raymond was a fighter, Jacqueline a tomboy, and Bernard, who was gentle as a lamb, had an introverted side that caused concern. Christian on the other hand was lively and affectionate, interested in everything – and with such an imagination. He epitomized the wonderment of childhood."

"His greatest delight was in dreaming up a new costume, a talent he displayed early on. .. One year he transformed his sister into King Neptune with a bodice made of shells and raffia skirt …Never without a notebook, he scribbled down ideas as they occurred to him."

"He was very fond of his grandmother, who came to live not far from the family when she sold her home in Angers. She brought with her the handsome Napolean III drawing-room suite with empire chairs that went to furnish Christian’s favorite room, the parlor."

"Dior is like a big adolescent with old- fashioned shyness of as schoolboy and most charming in his childish awkwardness."

"With his rotund ecclesiastical side, Dior was like a cathedral, a repository of countless secrets no one else had access to."

"He gave no sign of any great desire to persevere with music or painting, despite his obvious eye for the latter. The idea of creativity obsessed but not to the point of renouncing his spectator status."

"Misfortune did not make him a poor man, and actually taught him a great deal."

"Come on, do it. You are good and I believe in you."

"We were given a polished theatrical performance such as we had never seen in a couture house before"

"We were witness to a revolution in fashion and a revolution in showing fashion as well."

"It is quite a revolution, dear Christian. Your dresses have such a new look. They are quite wonderful you know."

"Magic...was what everyone wanted from Paris. Never has there been a moment more climatically right for a Napoleon, An Alexander the Great, a Caesar of Couture. Paris fashion was waiting to be seized and shaken and given direction. There has never been an easier or complete conquest than that of Christian Dior in 1947."

"Every year Dior would present a new line – from Oval to Oblique to the Scissors look."

"In 1957, he was consecrated on the cover of Times. The Consensus was that the House of Dior was in a class of its own."

"It is unforgivable to do what one doesn't love especially if one succeeds."

"I'm a mild man, but I have violent tastes."

"I know very well the women. The short skirt was never a good fashion — very vulgar. The American women will accept the new fashions. You can never stop the fashions."

"Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest."

"My dream is to save women from nature."

"Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40, after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves. Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely."

"[Black is] the most popular and the most convenient and the most elegant of all colors."

"I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape."

"Colour is what gives jewels their worth. They light up and enhance the face. Nothing is more elegant than a black skirt and sweater worn with a sparkling multi-stoned necklace."

"Bright reds – scarlet, pillar-box red, crimson or cherry – are very cheerful and youthful."

"We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers. I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla."

"In Shirley Miles O'Donnol American Costume 1915-1970: A Source Book for the Stage Costumer, Indiana University Press, 22 August 1989, p. 153"

"A dress is a piece of ephemeral architecture, designed to enhance the proportions of the female body."

"Women, with their sure instincts, realized that my intention was to make them not just more beautiful but also happier."