“You can’t fake anything. If you’re honest and true and you love something, and you put that energy into it, people can usually feel it on the other side.”

I am a perfectionist. This job is a total ego thing in a way. To be a designer and say, ‘This is the way they should dress; this is the way their homes should look; this is the way the world should be.’ But then, that’s the goal: world domination through style.

Dressing effectively is a kind of excellent manners.

I do struggle because I’m attracted to beautiful things, yet at the same time I am actually very aware, in some sense, their lack of value and that the most important things in life are your connections to other people.

If I were straight and I were trying to seduce a woman, I could do it just by standing up at the table when she came back from the bathroom. It works. Every time I do that, all the straight men are sitting at the table and their wives are kicking them. “Look at that!” “You never do that for me!”

When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was to escape what I thought was the country and get to a city. Probably film and television had influenced me so much, I really thought the key to happiness was living a very artificial life in a penthouse in New York with martini glasses.

What’s so wrong with vanity? It’s different from narcissism, you know? It’s not about admiring yourself-it’s about taking pride in your appearance.

There are no right or wrong answers, There is only intuition.

Keep your jacket buttoned. Always. It’s just really flattering—it will take pounds off you.

Both film and fashion are businesses where the audience doesn’t feel or see the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Men don’t wear fashion any more except in Italy and London. Americans have lost that.

I am really a loner after all; I am really not a social person. Because of my job, people think I am out every night, but I really hate all that. I am somebody who likes to be alone and see some close friends. I am a shy and introspective person.

Only hire people you want to have dinner with.

British people still wear clothes. By clothes I mean actual clothes: jackets and shirts and ties and suits. English men make an effort. We’ve lost that in the US. Everyone is more concerned with being comfortable.

A film should be somewhat personal. I think that whatever you create you have to be true to yourself and create something that feels right to you.

I understand that I have a certain look that can be used to my advantage. I know the power of that when I walk into a room and talk to people, and I can use it as an advertising tool. Now I am actually selling me, my face, my thoughts. So I am my guy.

If I’m sending emails, and I get all wound up and stressed and don’t know what to do with myself for 20 minutes, I just go soak in hot water and lie there, thinking, ‘What should I do?’ So it’s meditative.