Carine Roitfeld quotes:

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  • To see yourself on the big screen, you're big, you hate your voice, your vocabulary. You say the same words, you speak bad.

  • I think that each woman, whatever age, needs to recognize something good in her body. Someone has beautiful legs, someone has beautiful hair, someone else has beautiful decolletage or a beautiful waist or beautiful hands. Everyone has something great.

  • I think it's less common in France that a man at the age of 50 buys a Porsche and gets a young girlfriend.

  • Becoming a grandmother brought me back to the things I forgot to love. Nature. Playing. Seeing animals. A new way of looking. A rejuvenation. A cycle of life - things come back to you. The details.

  • I keep my old friends, and get older with them, but push young. It's good to be surrounded by kids, because they keep you young.

  • Pregnancy is something that I always love. It's about hope and the future and a new baby.

  • In Japan, you can learn how to make a bunch of flowers. This is an art. Tea ceremony, it's an art.

  • We are very luck to be women, so even if we're wearing trousers, I always wear them with some lace underwear or a very feminine bra - I like that.

  • London Fashion Week isn't the most organised, but I don't mind that. It's such an exciting place - it's small and cool.

  • When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby's. It's very nice.

  • I'm so tired of this vision of fashion of a diva with a big ego, and you think of big dark glasses to be pretentious and keep far away from the people.

  • You can't put yourself into competition with a magazine like 'Vogue.' You have to create something new, something different.

  • I am very surprised by someone like Alexander Wang. I am amazed how he is good with fashion, with business, with public relations himself, with an attitude in his clothes that is spoken immediately.

  • When you go to a show, Americans in New York are very proper, much more so than the French. Everything is perfect. Their hair, the nails, everything. The look. Everything is perfection.

  • When I was young, no one got married. Now, all the young people, they want to get married, they want security. Now that my children's friends are getting married, I go to more weddings than I ever did when I was young.

  • When I was a little girl, my mother tried to make me dance, but I did not like it then.

  • Each morning I do my ballet class for one hour; after that, it means one hour less to get ready.

  • My name has become a brand - it could be make-up, clothing, perfume.

  • It is very wrong to sleep in your make-up, but when you wake up the next morning, I think it looks very good.

  • In a way, I envy the freedom artists have. Artists can push themselves beyond their limits, in pursuit of their ideas and their vision, even if they are inhabited by demons that can also play tricks on them.

  • People might think I'm very hard, what with my black make-up, my hair over my eyes, etc. My innocence didn't always help me, but it did preserve something in me that maybe others don't have anymore. I'm inside my bubble, you could say, and thankfully so, because I don't think daily life is always great. It protects me.

  • You can be beautiful with big breasts; you can be beautiful in your 40s. If you don't have perfect ankles, still you can move your legs in a certain way and look very sexy.

  • My hair and make-up secret is 'the messier the better.'

  • I started as a writer for magazines, and soon they asked me to illustrate my stories. I started from the bottom of the bottom. And I climbed the stairs, one by one.

  • I think beauty can be everywhere.

  • I am not a celebrity. I work with celebrities, and it is very difficult. When a celebrity wears a dress, it's good for business, so brands fight for the red carpet. Me? I don't like it, because fashion becomes a job about dressing celebrities. And it's a bit boring.

  • If I'm doing something in fashion, I will try to respect the 'laws' of the business, but I will try to keep my integrity and my respect for the designers and for my readers.

  • I want more women to run countries. There'd be more peace on Earth.

  • I know that people in fashion and people in general hate to be filmed.

  • I am just doing photo shoots. It's not something that extraordinary. I'm not a great artist, I'm not writing books, I'm not a painter, and people in the streets ask me for a picture or a note, and I say, 'Why?'

  • The true test of a man's style is the haircut. There are some men who look good no matter how their hair is styled, whether it's trendy or not. A man can change his haircut many times, but to pull off any haircut, you have to be very chic. Like Brad Pitt.

  • Look at someone like Steve Jobs. His look wasn't very special - black turtleneck and jeans - but he had style. He looked the same, and you knew it was him when you saw him. Plus, he was a very smart person, which is also very attractive. His style was simple, not distracting, and very strong.

  • I started wearing high heels when I first worked with Mario Testino. He is tall; I had to be at his height. And I have never stopped since then.

  • Blogs are quite a new development - now, everyone wants to know you, everyone wants to know everything about you. And you can build a following that way. In a way, it's a good thing if you want to create a buzz around yourself.

  • I have a lot to say about fashion - not just about fashion, but beauty, art.

  • I love black lingerie and white shoes, and I love knives.

  • If you don't want to get bored with what you're doing, you have to change.

  • I mix talents and friendship, which is not very professional, but it's my way of thinking. So I love Azzedine Alaia, because I've known him for 30 years, and he's making my dresses most of the time.

  • As you get older, you see life is very short, so you have to appreciate more and more and to enjoy it.

  • If you are a reader of 'Harper's Bazaar,' to me, you are a woman who loves fashion, but not just fashion; you love fashion, you love travel, you love art, you love music.

  • You know it's very important, the role of a mother... I don't know, but it's feminism to me to love your kids.

  • I could live very quietly, do advertising to earn money.

  • Sometimes pressure can be good, and it gives you a lot of energy to do something.

  • My private life is a lot more ladylike and less sultry than the fashion photos I imagine.

  • I don't think because you have money you have taste... Education and money - this is quite rare. No?

  • Thinking differently is my strength.

  • I miss my parents. But still, my granddaughter, my daughter, my grandma, you know, so it's very important for me. You lost your parents, but a new baby comes. It's like the cycle of fashion.

  • I'm not a business girl. I will never be a business girl, but I will say, for Anna Wintour, that I respect successful people; I like things that are success.

  • I am very excited to be able to work more with young designers and support them.

  • When you're writing, you're on your own, and I like to work as a team.

  • It's funny, everything is so much easier when you do it yourself.

  • Only buy clothes that you plan to keep forever. It's important to see trends for what they are: a game.

  • I hate mules. I hate the noise when someone walks with mules. Clomp, clomp, clomp. I think it's very not chic. I don't even like a flip-flop. I don't like this noise.

  • Working with Barneys, and choosing the looks, I was thinking about whether a real woman would buy this outfit and feel beautiful and comfortable.

  • When I don't know what to wear, I wear black lace.

  • People think I only wear new clothes, that I'm very trendy, but I like classic things on me, to mix with a trendy pair of shoes.

  • One time, a burglar came to my apartment, so we called the police. My son was here, so I think they left before they tried to steal something. So the police come to my apartment, and they say, 'Oh my God, did they steal everything?' I was like, 'No, it was like that!'

  • It's always fun when people ask you for advice.

  • I think I have character, and that is what people like in me.

  • I think it is good when something can stay interesting for a long time. It's not just a trend for one month.

  • The hair and makeup is very important in a fashion picture. When I create a look for a girl, it starts with the makeup. Sometimes it takes an entire day to find the look.

  • I love ballet because you can see how beautiful the body is.

  • Paris is mostly retired people - I love it, and it's a beautiful city, but it's quite slow.

  • Fashion is one big family.

  • You lose attitude when you feel too comfortable, so I prefer to wear clothes that have a certain edge to them.

  • It's very difficult for designers today. How can someone produce so many shows? Now the minimum is four a year.

  • A magazine is not just one person. And a fashion shoot is the same!

  • Fashion isn't something you can buy; you need to have the sense of it, and most people don't.

  • I do think fashion is fun! Much more than people think.

  • Sometimes, when you go to airport and look at the people, you see the worst looks - but the worst looks can give you more ideas than the best looks.

  • The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you're working with a really good photographer.

  • Fashion has a political role insofar as following it can give you the impression to belonging to a certain social group or a private club.

  • It's true I always like to mix femininity and something a bit masculine. It's the reason I love skirts with high heels and tights, and no handbag because I love having my hands in my pockets.

  • I think that ballet is very good for the body. It's very similar to yoga, because you have to hold a position.

  • We are very lucky to work in fashion and not work in a hospital or something where the biggest deal we come across is perhaps the length of a skirt.

  • I'm not bad-looking, but I'm not a beauty, either.

  • There are so many magazines and so many editors out there that you have to be different.

  • When you're editor-in-chief of a big magazine, you cannot be a cover girl for MAC; you cannot be the face of Givenchy - of course you can't; it's doesn't go with the job.

  • Vogue' is a bigger name than my name.

  • I am afraid of blood, but for some reason often I put blood in my photos... I don't know why.

  • I'm not a nostalgic person: I never look back; I always forget.

  • I'm not the girl next door.

  • There are too many 50-year-olds dressing as 20-year-olds.

  • You discover yourself through the research of your work.

  • At the start, I had no idea to go into fashion, because I thought people would think I was stupid. I don't worry about those things anymore.

  • French 'Vogue' was always a photographer's magazine.

  • Vogue' is a very beautiful magazine, an institution, and I learned so much working there.

  • When you have a magazine like 'Vogue,' you know a lot of kids are going to follow your pictures.

  • People ask me 'Why you want to do another magazine - 10 years at 'Vogue,' a great magazine? Why do you want to make a new one? It's so difficult and there's already so many.' I wanted to do something new, bring a new vision.

  • Grandmother' doesn't mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.

  • To be a good model, you have to be very smart.

  • It is good to be in front of the lens to appreciate more being behind the lens.

  • I think when I became a grandmother my life changed a lot, and I think I changed personally.

  • I love the noise of my wooden clogs on my wooden floor. Dancers wear clogs. They're good for you.

  • Fashion is a completely international business.

  • Anna Wintour is the most powerful woman in the global fashion industry, the first lady of fashion. She's a politician; I'm a stylist. They are two very different jobs.

  • Bleaching eyebrows makes me crazy.

  • I think you are born chic. You cannot be chic. It is something you cannot learn.

  • Yves Saint Laurent liked women to put their hands in their pockets, or to hold cigarettes, and act a bit like boys. It was to give an impression of composure, some self-assurance, and to counter the feminine appearance.

  • "Grandmother" doesn't mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.

  • I hate people who over intellectualize. It bores me deeply.

  • I think that when you're taking pictures with my principles, you can try anything. Dare to do a lot of things - dare with sexuality, dare to break taboos as long as it remains photogenic. As long as I find an elegance and beauty in it, I am not afraid to tackle anything.

  • I think that something needs to be weird in order to have real beauty.

  • Today there is too much retouching, and I don't like it, except on me.

  • I think that most of the women when they dress in the morning, they try to be someone elseToday there is too much retouching, and I don't like it...except on me.

  • 'Vogue' is a bigger name than my name.

  • When I left French 'Vogue,' New York welcomed me with a big, big hug.

  • Dancing is the last sport with no sponsor.

  • Vogue' is a very specific world. You are 'Vogue,' or not 'Vogue.'

  • I have good legs, so I prefer my skirt lengths and my high heels. It's like my uniform.

  • I always love to push myself, because I am not so self-confident.

  • A lot of rumours on the Internet are wrong and horrible.

  • I think that something needs to be weird in order to have a real beauty.

  • I like to provoke. I'm very French.

  • I am not a good professional of fashion. I am not an expert about how clothes are constructed or the history of fashion. I never start with fashion. I always think of the girl and her personality - because all that matters to me when you look at a page is, "Do you want to be that girl?"

  • In photo shoots, I rely on instinct. Which is not to say I don't bring ideas to a project or consider it beforehand.

  • Either you are a good Virgo or a crazy Virgo! The good Virgo side of me is educating and raising the children - being there for them.

  • Like this. The wristbands you get at nightclubs next to all the bracelets? It's always the details that give me the ideas. It's fun to play with fashion because it is a fantasy. Each morning you dress to become a different woman. Fashion helps.

  • I need a lot of black on my eyes and a little shot of vodka to be brave, because you're beautiful when you relax.

  • Amidst globalisation, trends are becoming worldwide, so it's important to take a unique approach to what fashion has to offer. Be yourself in the middle of it all; fashion shouldn't be 'try hard.'

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