“The only thing wrong with architecture is architects.”

Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world.

Nature is the inspiration for all ornamentation.

Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic.

A building should appear to grow easily from its site and be shaped to harmonize with its surroundings if Nature is manifest there.

Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.

Nature is the only body of God that we shall ever see.

Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men.

Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.

I never design a building before I’ve seen the site and met the people who will be using it.

Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves.

The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

Good taste is not a substitute for knowledge.

Wood is universally beautiful to man. It is the most humanly intimate of all materials.

The truth is more important than the facts.

A box is more a coffin for the human spirit than an inspiration.

I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules.

I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules.

I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules.

Design is about point of view, and there should be some sort of woman or lifestyle or attitude in one’s head as a designer.

My bedroom is my sanctuary. It’s like a refuge, and it’s where I do a fair amount of designing – at least conceptually, if not literally.

Sometimes I feel like what’s hard for fashion designers to do is take looks from off the runway and actually put it into existence, into reality. That’s really the hard part.

My closet is organized by tops, pants, and outerwear, but not a lot of dresses. Gowns are in another room because I don’t often dress formally, even though I design gowns. Like most designers, I have a uniform, and mine is a legging.

Design my own line? No, I just like the culture.