Carolina Herrera quotes:

I always remember my childhood house with happy memories. There was a beautiful garden, and outside my bedroom window was a jasmine vine which would open in the evenings, giving off a divine scent.

When I was living in Los Angeles, I always booked a moisturizing milk-and-honey massage the day before flying to Spain. It was heaven - I never got dry plane skin or felt stiff from sitting in one position.

The first painting that I realised I liked was 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch, when I was six years old, at the Prado in Madrid. I still find myself returning there every time I'm in the city.

I love books; my suitcases are always full of them. Books and shoes. I read when I am sad, when I am happy, when I am nervous. My favourite British author is Jane Austen, and my favourite American one is John O'Hara.

Money doesn't buy elegance. You can take an inexpensive sheath, add a pretty scarf, gray shoes, and a wonderful bag, and it will always be elegant.

Feeling good about yourself and your life is very important. I'm a happy woman, happy with my husband, my daughters, my grandchildren. We all get along quite well, and that keeps me centered.

Perfection does not exist - only God is perfect.

Attention to detail is of utmost importance when you want to look good.

A wedding dress is both an intimate and personal for a woman - it must reflect the personality and style of the bride.

I was schooled at home, then didn't go to university because I married when I was 17. I didn't go into work until late in my life.

I prefer clothes that are simple, well-cut, but with one major extravagance. Something with the sleeves, with the skirt, but nothing too fussy, too flashy.

Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humour.

We women manage to do many things at the same time. Men, no. Men do one thing at a time.

There isn't a book that has changed me, but I have favourites such as 'Pride and Prejudice' which I often re-read.

My family - my husband, my daughters, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, all of them - are the most important thing in the world to me.

Most people travel with a good book, but I also keep my agenda with me; I'll flip through the pages and take a few moments to organize my life a little - I rarely get the time to do this normally.

Fashion is a dream. It's difficult, and there are many aspects of fashion that are very difficult, but if you love it like I do, because I really have a passion, now, for fashion, it's not easy, but nothing is easy in life.

When you live and work in different time zones, you spend a lot of time on airplanes.

I rarely go into a shop on holiday, because fashion and design are what I'm involved in every day. I need another world.

I love white shirts because they feel like a security blanket. You can wear them with anything. It's the person and the way that they wear it that makes it different. I have been designing white shirts forever, but I don't get tired of it.

You can be very feminine and be a leader. Christine Lagarde, she's very chic and she dresses very well, and she's a woman. And she has a lot of power.

I believe that you have to treat the people who work with you like your family.

Age is something only in your head or a stereotype. Age means nothing when you are passionate about something.

I don't get my inspiration from books or a painting. I get it from the women I meet.

Sometimes you see women that don't realize that age is changing your style, and they don't change.

Thank God my hair is always the same. And I get dressed very quickly. I am not one of those people who spend three hours getting dressed. I never understood that. What do you do for the two and a half hours after the half hour it takes you to get ready?

I've had work done on my eyes in the past. However, I think there are limits. I wouldn't ever have too much done, as it looks unnatural, and I don't think you should do anything to your lips, as it changes the entire shape of your face.

You have to have talent to design and to dress thousands of women or millions of women around the world. And you know very well, the only thing they want is to look more beautiful.

Politics are private. I don't understand people who try to convince you to join one party or another.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of confusion today over what is sexy and what is vulgar. It's horrifying. They say, 'Oh, that girl is so sexy,' and she turns around and the dress is four sizes too small. Or she's wearing so much stuff, you wonder how long it took her to get ready.

Fashion should be fun. It shouldn't be labelled 'intellectual.'

Fashion never stops. There is always the new project, the new opportunity.

Luxury will be always around, no matter what happens in the world.

It's not my aspiration to appear on a reality show. That's the last thing I need in my life.

The red carpet is very important. You have to be very careful to have the right person dressed in right way. For me, it has to be a perfect look.

British and American women have very different styles and a different way of living.

It's important to find what really suits who you are, because style isn't only what you wear, it's what you project.

Elegance isn't solely defined by what you wear. It's how you carry yourself, how you speak, what you read.

I very seldom compromise. I am a Capricorn.

The little black dress must be luxurious, rich, sensual, diaphanous, exotic, severe, lush, demure, demanding, frivolous, amusing, and it must linger in memory, but above all, it must be simple and little and black.

I want women to really look like women from today. It's not from the past and not from the future, because I don't know what happens in the future. It is the woman of today (who) I think is a seductive woman.

I've been dressing Renee on the red carpet for the past three years, ... I think she always looks great. She has the right proportion for my clothes. She has that tiny waist and she loves fashion.

Fashion has always been a repetition of ideas, but what makes it new is the way you put it together.

I don't like trends. They tend to make everybody look the same.

Sometimes the simplest things are the most profound.

People confuse vulgar and naked with sexiness. You want the mystery!

Fashion is to please your eye. Shapes and proportions are for your intellect.

Always choose style over fashion: wear something that makes you look beautiful.

Don't wear excessive make-up as you grow older. Young women can wear whatever make-up they want, but if you are older, you will regret it.

When you're wearing something you feel comfortable in, you move better. That's why the most important accessory you can have is a full-length mirror.

Latinas who come to the U.S. should adapt, learn English and become a part of the community.

You never expect anything when you are 20 because you think that you'll never get older.

I'm not going to say that I'm perfect. I do have fashion crises.

There's a tendency for designers to embellish the size of their business. I never lie.

You feel very romantic when you're in a ball gown. Everyone should wear one once in a while.

Keep in shape: if you look good, you will feel confident.

I have always loved trouser suits. It's something I absolutely believe in for women.

I love myself so much, I simply cannot describe it.

Femininity is a lot of power. It's allure. And the moment you start competing directly with a man, it's not that fun.

You have to be a psychiatrist too, especially in fashion. A psychologist and a psychiatrist together.

If you date someone who isn't very good-looking but makes you laugh, you will never forget it.

Do you know what elegance is? It is not only what you're wearing. It is how you wear it. who you are inside.

It is difficult to read the reviews when you start because you see something in your collection and the press sees something else. That is when you have to be very strong about your own style. They can say whatever they want, but I do what I do because I love it.

I want women to choose something that makes them feel empowered and fantastic and admired by many people.

Fashion is magical, a fantasy. It's madness, and it doesn't last. It's changing all the time.

All women like to have their clothes admired, and those that deny it are lying.

When you work in fashion, you need to work as a team. You cannot do anything on your own.

You never forget people who make you laugh.

Any business is the same in the beginning because nobody knows where it's going to ride.

Just wear what you think looks beautiful.

I don't think women need another black bag. Everybody has a black bag already, so I thought this season (needs) color.

I have a responsibility to the woman of today - to make her feel confident, modern and above all else beautiful.

I think a sense of humor is the most important thing anyone can have.

In anything you do, it's important to have your own personality there.

It's not all about beauty! It's also about a sense of humor.

The '70s were full of creativity. Everybody was so unique. It was a very creative period, and I think to be a designer you have to know a little about art and literature and music because there is inspiration in all of these things. You're looking for beauty but also something that makes sense.

Intuition is a strong feminine quality.

I find that it is much easier now for women to be in any position because, as you see, they are presidents of banks, they are prime ministers, they are doctors. Everything is about women.

For me, fashion begins in New York.

You cannot forget about your femininity. You don't have to compete with men in that respect.

I didn't long to be a designer. I always liked fashion, but it was always a bit sleeping in me.

Glamour is beyond beauty and beyond age. It's like sex appeal.

If you ask me to sew a button, I don't know how to do it! The idea of the whole collection and how you want to build your brand is all about working with the right people. And luck!

You can wear them with anything. It's the person and the way that they wear it that makes it different. I have been designing white shirts forever, but I don't get tired of it.

I am very shy. When I go to a charity ball, I don't mind if people look at my sleeves. I mind terribly if I have to say something.

One thing about my mother is that she has her taste: She knows what she likes and what looks good. It's not studied. There is no insecurity in what she is going to wear, and I think that translates into effortlessness. Her career has been a steady rise, and it hasn't been about the fashion of the moment. It's been because she has kept to her style. She didn't go grunge when it was grunge, or 70's when it was 70's. It's about being secure with what you like and not worrying about what's in fashion that particular day. That's what I admire about her.

I cannot go and tell women what to wear and what not to wear; you have to decide on your own.

I can get ready in 10 minutes.

A man has to have sensibility, wit, mystery, tolerance, and strength... Romance also helps.

You have to have a full-length mirror in your house so you can see what is missing and what you have to add to your look.

Have I ever been horrified to see someone in my clothes? Many times, but I close my eyes and look the other way. That happens to everyone. What can you do? Go and tell her, 'Don't wear that dress again'? We designers always have fantasies in our heads, but the difficult task is to make them reality. Because you can be the best designer, but designing in your own place and with nobody wearing [your clothes], then what happens? You're nowhere.

People get nervous accessorising, but there is nothing wrong with adding a belt or a pair of shoes in another colour.

You can't wait for people to tell you; you have to know yourself.

I was brought up with considerable discipline, and I was taught it wasn't proper to display certain very private emotions in public.

There have been a lot of changes [in the fashion industry], of course. You just have to accept it and be strong.

When you do something that you like, and you think you can keep doing it, you don't think about retiring.

I always let other people describe me because if I describe myself you will not understand.

Work doesn't seem to interfere with my life. I have time for everything, even time to be alone.

Sometimes I'm a psychiatrist and I tell people in my office that my door is open, and if they have a problem to come and talk to me. Sometimes I say, "I have to close the door because I don't want to hear it!"

Fashion is not an investment. If you wear a dress and don't get many compliments, you won't wear it again. It's not like buying bonds.

Mistakes in life teach you how to succeed because you want to try again and do it better.

Life always has a bit of a challenge in front of you, and that's what makes you fight for it.

If you do something for so long, it's really great in your life, right?

It's very important to have a definitive style as a designer.

I don't want the collections to look like a potpourri. It has to have a cohesive idea, and it has to be glamorous and beautiful and fit well.

The difference between fashion and art is that fashion is art in movement.

Fashion has to be worn; otherwise it doesn't exist.

I approach fashion as an evolution. It's always changing. As you know, sometimes it changes in three months.

Something you wore three months ago, maybe you don't wear it again. I am a great believer that if something looks very good on you, you can wear it again, and it's not the end of the world.

I don't like to follow too many trends because trends tend to make women look like they are wearing uniforms.

If you think that you did everything and know everything and that everything has been done perfectly well, then it's time to retire.

Even if it doesn't fit the woman, like, let's say a very short skirt, and the woman doesn't have the legs or the height to wear the skirt, but she has to wear it because it's fashionable. Don't do it! If it doesn't look good on you, don't worry about it.

Don't become a fashion victim is what I'm trying to say.

I think it is good that fashion is a challenge because when something is a challenge, you want to do it better.

You need somebody you respect and admire to back you always.

Queen Elizabeth of England is the real fashion icon of the century. And she has a sense of humor.

Can I tell you who is the most important fashion icon in the world? Queen Elizabeth of England. Think about that. She has never put her foot anywhere wrong and always looks fantastic.

Fashion is not easy. You have to change your eye to look for beauty all the time.

I'm not in the fashion business; I'm in the beauty business.