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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

Fashion Week is so important for designers.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

I'm not someone who calculates things.