“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”

It’s a remarkable exercise to sit and look at your own work over the years.

As the mother of two daughters, I have great respect for women. And I don’t ever want to lose that.

Let’s be realistic, how many people are buying a $2,000 skirt? I love to design things that people can actually buy. I’m staggered by what a boot costs today.

A bride should look at everything she possibly can…just so she can experiment and see what makes her really feel beautiful or glamorous or classical or whatever she desires to be on that particular day.

To me, eyewear goes way beyond being a prescription. It’s like makeup. It’s the most incredible accessory. The shape of a frame or the color of lenses can change your whole appearance.

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.

I don’t live through my kids. But I do know what will happen in life, and I just want them well prepared.

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’m not really a girl who likes to go out to lunch or cocktails or store openings.

My mother was extremely controlled, sort of flawless. And I always tend to be a bit more hippie.

In the end, it’s not about failure, it’s about how much you love what you do.

Success isn’t about the end result; it’s about what you learn along the way.

I’m only waiting for Lindsay Lohan’s fashion collection to come out. Ten years from now, there may be no real designers left.

It takes tremendous will to compete in any athletic endeavor, so it meant going to bed early and getting my homework done in advance. I had to sacrifice things, like a social life, to be a skater at 15. But I loved skating so much that it was worth everything to me.

Brides today are increasingly sensitive to the tastes, feelings and finances of their attendants.

I always see where I didn’t do things the right way. I only see the heavy lifting. That’s a bit of my wisdom, if you want to call it that.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

What do sad people have in common? It seems they have all built a shrine to the past and often go there and do a strange wail and worship. What is the beginning of Happiness? It is to stop being so religious like that.

Love has three kinds of origin, namely: suffering, friendship and love. A human love has a corporal and intellectual origin.

When a mean wretch cannot vie with another in virtue, out of his wickedness he begins to slander. The abject envious wretch will slander the virtuous man when absent, but when brought face to face his loquacious tongue becomes dumb.

There must be a remedy even for such a crying evil as this [abortion]. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?

When you’re lecturing teenagers and they begin to hum and leave the room, you can sense there is hostility.

Humility is the beginning of true intelligence.

The best time for a new beginning is anytime you want it to be.