“I like being a woman, even in a man’s world. After all, men can’t wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.”

No, I’m not a drug addict, and neither is my husband. If that were so, you’d get a lot less work out of me. It would show in the performances and in the work.

I almost wish I could be more exciting, that I could match what is happening out there to me.

I’ve never felt like this in any other country. I feel at home, I feel wonderful.

I’ve got some good saints out there – that’s right – that pray for me constantly. You’ve gotta have that! You do.

Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let’s get that straight. OK? We don’t do crack. We don’t do that. Crack is whack.

Learning to love yourself, is the greatest love all.

I am not self-destructive. I am not a person who wants to die.

There can be miracles when you believe.

My mother was the first singer I had contact with. She sang constantly to us around the house, in church.

I broke my heart for every gain, to taste the sweet I faced the pain.

Sometimes you’ll laugh. Sometimes you’ll cry. Life never tells us, the when’s or why’s. When you’ve got friends, to wish you well. You’ll find your point when. You will exhale.

When the night falls, my lonely heart calls.

Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to do. It’s my decision. So the biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy.

You can fool people. You can fool anybody anytime of the day, but you can’t fool yourself. At night, when you go home, you’ve got to be straight up with you.

If I fail, if I succeed, at least I live as I believe.

I have priorities. Maintaining my daughter is my first.

Years are only garments, and you either wear them with style all your life, or else you go dowdy to the grave.

I do think I know more about clothes than any 500 designers, because there’s nothing like wearing them. You buy them, you study them, and you start to understand how they’re crafted.

I want people to see the dress, but focus on the woman.

People get very trapped where they are. When they hear ‘fashion’ they get intimidated, particularly at the upper end because it’s so elitist.

The main thing is the YOU beneath the clothes and skin–the ability to do, the will to conquer, the determination to understand and know this great, wonderful, curious world.

When I decided to get married at 40, I couldn’t find a dress with the modernity or sophistication I wanted. That’s when I saw the opportunity for a wedding gown business.

Ready-to-wear is what I’ve wanted to do since the beginning. I’m not a girl who spends my life in a ballgown

I was struggling to find a way to make evening clothes more deconstructed. I like to think that I translated the Latin concept in a more modern way. I don’t think that I was that literal.