Phillip Lim quotes:

I started in college as a business major and finally transferred to home economics and studied making clothes.

You can make jeans and a t-shirt super stylish. It's what you make of it, you know?

Being from a very traditional Chinese-American family, my parents believed the only options to have a successful life were to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or a business person.

I try to always have flowers in the house. I have a florist in Chinatown, and they deliver orchids every two weeks. I like living with living things.

You know, for myself, my personal journey has been a very fortunate one and I would say to people it's like the stars lined up and the skies opened up and the sun shined and I met the right people - was at the right time. And, most importantly, you know I love what I do.

I love crazy, gaudy bling.

When I say that I'm a businessperson and a dressmaker, it's the truth. I run a business, and I make dresses, I make blouses.

I always try to appreciate the most fleeting moments. The idea of the acrobats constantly tumbling and trying to adjust - I think that is what we do with aesthetics. It is a cyclical rhythm

My mother has become my daughter and I've become her guardian.

I don't have a life where it's galas, posh affairs. It's me, my dog and a sofa. And a TV.

My mother was a seamstress, so making clothes was not something you would willingly go into.

When people ask about inspirations, and you're like 'oh, it was a flower or a mountain or a pony', some people just think you're insane. I'm worried to come across that way.

I'm really a classicist at heart - with a bit of madness!

I swear by the invigorating shampoo and conditioner by Como Shambhala. When you're in need for a quick mental vacation, it does the trick

I think my parents were immigrants, you know, so I guess I would be first generation. Growing up in California.

Since an early age, I've been intrigued by the idea of design evolution,

Just because you work in the fashion industry, it doesn't mean you live your life in fashion.

There is a secret hippie within me.

I have always had a relationship with clothes.

I'm not such a public person.

I'm such a technophobe.