Diane von Furstenberg

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.

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.

My son loves the Hotel du Cap, in the south of France.

There's design, and there's art. Good design is total harmony. There's no better designer than nature - if you look at a branch or a leaf, it's perfect. It's all function. Art is different. It's about emotion. It's about suffering and beauty - but mostly suffering!

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.

Animals come from nature. They were not designed. All my inspiration comes from nature, whether it's an animal or the layout of bark or of a leaf. Sometimes my patterns are very bold, and you can barely see where they come from, but all the textures and all the prints come out of nature.

If you're a good person, the goodness will continue through your descendants.

When you come to a hotel room, you want it to be grand, functional and beautiful. But you don't want things that are not useful. Sometimes you go to hotels and there are all these frames and pictures of people you don't know, and you end up hiding everything in the drawer, and then housekeeping come and put it out again.

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

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

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

Italy will always have the best food.

I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are.

All I can tell you is that I've never met a woman who is not strong, but sometimes they don't let it out. Then there's a tragedy, and then all of a sudden that strength comes. My message is let the strength come out before the tragedy.

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

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 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 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 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 important thing is to take your time and not get stressed.

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 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 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 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 get ideas about what's essential when packing my suitcase.

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

Insecurity is a waste of time.

I always wanted to be a femme fatale. Even when I was a young girl, I never really wanted to be a girl. I wanted to be a woman.

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'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.

Clarity is the most important thing. I can compare clarity to pruning in gardening. You know, you need to be clear. If you are not clear, nothing is going to happen. You have to be clear. Then you have to be confident about your vision. And after that, you just have to put a lot of work in.

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.

Ireland is also quite nice. So is Amsterdam.

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

I think all races are represented in America much more than in many other places, but it's also nice to remind people about that ethnic mix. I would like to see more black models and women from different ethnic backgrounds, but I also think that when you are casting, you just choose the most beautiful girl you can find.

When you get into a hotel room, you lock the door, and you know there is a secrecy, there is a luxury, there is fantasy. There is comfort. There is reassurance.

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.

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

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.

Fashion can be this mysterious thing that you can't explain.

All women are the same, really: They are strong, but they are afraid of their own strength.

The most important relationship you have in life is the one you have with yourself. And then after that, I'd say once you have that, it may be hard work, but you can actually design your life.

I never knew what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be.

I gave up on my looks a long time ago.

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

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

Just don't go to a place where everything is too expensive... it'll put your husband in a bad mood.

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

Go to a place where you're not going to be stressed, because a honeymoon itself can be a stressful thing.

Usually, the fairy tale ends with the girl marrying the prince. But mine started as soon as the marriage was over.

Eighteen months before I was born, my mother was in Auschwitz. She weighed 49 pounds. She always told me that God saved her so she could give me life. I was born out of nothing.

I'm not tired of who I am. That would be sad!

My biggest vice is playing solitaire on my iPad. It's bad. I mean, it's ridiculous.

I adore dark chocolate.

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

What I think I sell with my clothes is confidence, so hopefully all my dresses, my accessories, are friends to the women. When you open the closet, and your eyes are swollen, and you don't like the way you look, you go to your friends.

Simplicity and sexiness, that's what people want. At a price that's not outrageous.

I was born in Belgium. I went to school in England and in Switzerland, then I came to America, so I really feel like I am a citizen of the world.

I design for the woman who loves being a woman.

Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.

I never like to think that I design for a particular person. I design for the woman I wanted to be, the woman I used to be, and - to some degree - the woman I'm still a little piece of.

I've always liked wrinkles. When I was a young girl, I used to make lines on my face with my nails because I loved Jeanne Moreau. I always wanted to be older; I always added years to my life. For the longest time, if people thought I was older, I would take it as a compliment.

I'm not someone who calculates things.

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.

My best friend is me, and I take good care of me.

I used to be very insecure about my curly hair, because I lived in a country where everybody had blonde straight hair.

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.

Harbour Island in the Bahamas is beautiful, with turquoise water and pink sand.

Attitude is everything.

The way I design generally is very much travel-oriented because that is my life. That's why I make clothes that are so light and so easy to pack and a little bit seasonless.

Fashion Week is so important for designers.

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

Do I believe in reincarnation? Well, let's say that I believe in karma. I think you make your own karma.

If you like trekking, go to the Himalayas or Peru. I love those kinds of trips. But it all depends on your own life and what you like and what you expect.

Marriage was never a destination with me.

I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life - and I became that woman.

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

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.

I am a traveler. I am a nomad. I rarely sleep in the same bed more than three or four nights. And I know hotel life better than anyone.