I had arranged a birthday party for him and my children, who are all Aquarians. Instead, we got married. I ran out of excuses. It was just us and my children.

I wanted to be an empowered woman, and I became an empowered woman. And now I want to empower every woman. And I do it through my clothes, I do it through my words, I do it through my money, I do it through everything.

Work and children I could have. But the husband was just too much.

I am not allowed to be afraid. My mother made me like that. As a child, if I was afraid of the dark, she would lock me in the closet. Things like this. And she would talk about the time she spent in the concentration camp, but not about being afraid, only about the good side of it.

A challenging economy is always good for design. It unites necessity and functionality. You are forced to be creative with poor materials.

I was terrified the first time that I had a big problem in my business. I was obviously terrified when they diagnosed me with cancer in 1994. I was terrified when my son used to drive too fast. But I do believe in the fact that fear is not an option, so I always try to face it and not be afraid.

I don't like to talk about my dreams. I like to make them happen. I prefer to talk about them when they're done.

I always was fascinated with China, because I was born in Europe, and for us, China had this fascination and mystery. The first time I came here was in 1989. They were on bicycles, and the speed of the growth has been incredible.

I've always been inspired by women, and my mission was to inspire women. I always wanted to become a certain kind of woman, and I became that woman through fashion. It was a dialogue. I would see that the wrap dress made those women confident, and made them act with confidence.

I adore dark chocolate.

My mother said that we're so lucky to be women. It's not that men are weak. Men are men. We're two completely different animals.

I travel in so many different ways; I travel high, I rough it... it all depends on who I travel with.

My clothes are great for a honeymoon: They're light and sexy, colorful and pretty, and not expensive.

I gave up on my looks a long time ago.

Women are strong. We can do it all. But not always at the same time.

I can honestly say that I understand women very well. If you understand yourself, you understand women, because, in the end, all women are the same.

The most important thing is to be healthy, to drink a lot of water, to fight gravity as much as possible. I am one of the few people who decided I wasn't going to do any invasion with my face.

I am almost a vegetarian, and I meditate, do yoga and love to hike.

I'm not someone who calculates things.

Women inspire me... so I enjoy women's stories and biographies. I am interested in all women.

I'm all about empowering women. And by lining them up against the wall and weighing them, surely you are making them feel more like meat than ever - even if it's little meat, if you know what I mean.

My favorite days are the ones where I deal only with my own team, design, marketing, working on the next accessories collection.

Bali and the Aman resorts are all very luxurious, great places to go.

I'm not the only one; most people's mothers are the most influential person in their life. But my mother survived the camps, and she was very strong. She made me strong, but she wanted me to be strong. That's more important.

The iPad! What is better designed than that? I read magazines on it, I play Scrabble. I use it for everything.

Fashion Week is so important for designers.

I've been working seriously in giving fashion a place that it deserves.

I was lucky because I got so successful so early, and when you get successful early, then you can afford to be a little bit humble.

What's important to me is to share, and being inspired, and inspiring.

I'm very good at breaking up with people. Very good. It requires a lot of skill, but what you do is you tell them the truth of why you are breaking up with them, and after that, you somehow compensate with other things. If you have loved someone, I think that somehow they should always be a part of your life. I really do.

I obviously don't feel under pressure to look young, because I have had no Botox or surgery. I don't judge people who choose to have it, but I don't want to erase who I am.

The fashion industry has a responsibility to represent a healthy image of women, but to start weighing them and putting them against a wall and making them feel like animals? No.

I am a fast dresser, 30 minutes max with hair and makeup. I don't have a uniform, but I like to be comfortable.

I communicate mostly via e-mail and receive hundreds of e-mails a day.

When I was a little girl, if I didn't eat my soup, my mother would say, 'You have to think of all the Chinese children who have nothing to eat.' But now, for my children, Chinese people make everything, and for my grandchildren, they buy everything.

The Chinese consumer is everybody. It's very simple.

I was 26 when I invented the wrap dress. It was just a nothing little printed dress made out an jersey, and before I know it, I lived an American Dream making more than 25,000 dresses a week.

We need to encourage designers and agencies to be responsible. We need to make sure everyone is sensitive to the issues. But to calculate the girls' body mass - I personally think it is demeaning.

As the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, I represent the designers. And while we can by no means take the blame for eating disorders, we can play our part in addressing this important issue.

I have always been attracted to clothes designed by women. Coco Chanel, Vionnet, Norma Kamali, Donna Karan. They have a little more - how do I put it? - understanding.

I was a very young girl and I got into fashion very much by accident, wanting to be independent. What was wonderful was that while I was learning and discovering - learning about the work, discovering myself as a woman - I was allowing other women to feel the same way.

Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.

I never modeled myself after anyone. The person who had most influence on me was my mother, but it was really for her strength and courage more than her style, even though she had a lot of style. In a weird way, looking at pictures of me when I was 17 or 18, I was dressing the same way. I haven't changed very much.

I was lucky enough to have it all. To be successful in business, to have children, to raise them on my own, and to travel and live my life. It was a lot of work, but it's a privilege to have been able to do it.

The best-dressed man is an Italian who is trying to look English, or an Englishman who is trying to look Italian.

I believe that all women should have children. I think women are made to have children and to be mothers. I also think women have to have an identity outside the home.

I don't think we should always look at the Chinese like they're taking jobs. They are also bring us more and more jobs. Because, they are the biggest growing consumer. I think what is going on in China is exciting.

I used the aspects of being a woman to my advantage, but I worked for myself, not a big corporation, so I was lucky to have the freedom to behave however I liked.

There are emerging countries. I mean, there are countries, you know, China, India, and Brazil, and all of these countries that are emerging. They are building homes. They are building - so there is a new lifestyle.

You need, in your closet, clothes that will - that you can use in many different ways. Clothes that make you fell comfortable, clothes that make you feel 'you.'