Carine Roitfeld Quotes

I'm not a business girl. I will never be a business girl, but I will say, for Anna Wintour, that I respect successful people; I like things that are success.

I think, in many ways, certain people sought me out maybe because they liked my body language or they liked the way I wore a slit skirt, the way I cross my legs or carry my purse. It's quite inspiring to play the seduction card.

Always wear high heels. Yes, they give you power. you move differently, sit differently and even speak differently.

It is good to be in front of the lens to appreciate more being behind the lens.

Look at someone like Steve Jobs. His look wasn't very special - black turtleneck and jeans - but he had style. He looked the same, and you knew it was him when you saw him. Plus, he was a very smart person, which is also very attractive. His style was simple, not distracting, and very strong.

I started wearing high heels when I first worked with Mario Testino. He is tall; I had to be at his height. And I have never stopped since then.

You can't learn how to be elegant; you can only learn how to avoid mistakes. The rest is instinct. Elegance is about the way you cross your legs, not the label or the newest clothes from the latest collection.

We are very lucky to work in fashion and not work in a hospital or something where the biggest deal we come across is perhaps the length of a skirt.

Karl Lagerfeld looks very tough because of the glasses, and he has all these rings and the leather gloves, and he's so smart. But he's a very nice person ... when he comes into a room or studio, he is going to say hello to each person, and the same when he leaves.

I hate people who over intellectualize. It bores me deeply.

I like to provoke. I'm very French.

My name has become a brand - it could be make-up, clothing, perfume.

There are certain models who might not be considered beautiful. I think personality is more important than looks.

I love the noise of my wooden clogs on my wooden floor. Dancers wear clogs. They're good for you.

Fashion is not about clothes, it is about a look.

When in doubt, wear a suit. Look at male politicians: you see them in a suit, and they look fine. But if you see a picture of them on the weekend or on vacation, there's a good chance they look terrible and unstylish.

Each morning, you dress to become a different woman. Fashion helps.

I'm not a nostalgic person: I never look back; I always forget.

I don't like Botox. It makes a very strange forehead.

One time, a burglar came to my apartment, so we called the police. My son was here, so I think they left before they tried to steal something. So the police come to my apartment, and they say, 'Oh my God, did they steal everything?' I was like, 'No, it was like that!'

You can be covered and be very sexy. It's not what you show; it's what you have in mind, the way you cross your legs, the way you talk to people.

I am not a celebrity. I work with celebrities, and it is very difficult. When a celebrity wears a dress, it's good for business, so brands fight for the red carpet. Me? I don't like it, because fashion becomes a job about dressing celebrities. And it's a bit boring.

Designers have told me that their collections are so me, but I don't always recognise it because if you ask me what my style is, I'm really not that sure.

I definitely want to work on a project with young designers, not just French but international.

You're not on your own. You're doing things with other people. This is very important for me.

Like most Russians, I am very superstitious, and if I don't get married, I don't get divorced.

I am very obsessed with ballet now because it is a very difficult sport and a beautiful one because it is not about money. It's not like playing football or tennis - dance has no sponsors, it's just for the beauty. Maybe it is the only last pure sport.

In Japan, you can learn how to make a bunch of flowers. This is an art. Tea ceremony, it's an art.

Fashion is a hard business.

I'm so tired of this vision of fashion of a diva with a big ego, and you think of big dark glasses to be pretentious and keep far away from the people.

Coco Chanel was always doing things with ballet, so it is a tradition clashing fashion and ballet.

I was never conscious that I was becoming an icon or I'm not an icon, because my family, my kids, my husband keep me down-to-earth.

People say I look like my father. My son is very much like him.

I think it's good that [my granddaughter] here because I lost my parents and now it's great that there's a new generation. And she's taught me new things that I've forgotten. Like, when you're on holiday and see what it's like to see a shell or go into the water for the first time.

When a designer creates, he looks at the world around him.

I know that people in fashion and people in general hate to be filmed.

It's very difficult to know when you're crossing the boundary. I hate the word boundary because I never think about it when taking a picture. Very often it doesn't mean anything because it depends on who's looking at the picture more than the content of the picture itself.

I do think fashion is fun! Much more than people think.

I always try to be nice to the paparazzi because finally, maybe one day, they won't ask for me, and I will regret it.

I don't have a big appetite. I don't eat a lot, to be honest - never. I'm a bit like a little bird, picking all day long, but I'm not getting pasta or getting all those things, you know?

I think that ballet is very good for the body. It's very similar to yoga, because you have to hold a position.

A lot of rumours on the Internet are wrong and horrible.

Sometimes pressure can be good, and it gives you a lot of energy to do something.

Just because someone is holding a gun doesn't make an image controversial. It all depends on where you put the gun, who is holding it.

When I don't know what to wear, I wear black lace.

I think that life has brought a lot to fashion, and fashion brings plenty to life. I took my children on photo shoots, at the same time, I borrowed my father's sweater for a photo shoot and, then, I am inspired by a Russian princess because of my Russian roots. Everything is all mixed in together.

What a women reads makes her more attractive and more elegant than what she wears.

Working with Barneys, and choosing the looks, I was thinking about whether a real woman would buy this outfit and feel beautiful and comfortable.

Each morning I do my ballet class for one hour; after that, it means one hour less to get ready.

Yes, I can speak a bit and I can read and write in Russian. I learned it from my grandmother who raised me with all the Russian fairytales.

If you are a reader of 'Harper's Bazaar,' to me, you are a woman who loves fashion, but not just fashion; you love fashion, you love travel, you love art, you love music.

When Tom Ford asked me to consult for Gucci, I had never consulted in my life. I didn't know what consulting was, and look, we made something amazing.

It is very wrong to sleep in your make-up, but when you wake up the next morning, I think it looks very good.

Imitation always stinks. When I take photos, I don't go back. I don't look at the past. I'm always original.

When you have a magazine like 'Vogue,' you know a lot of kids are going to follow your pictures.

When I was young, no one got married. Now, all the young people, they want to get married, they want security. Now that my children's friends are getting married, I go to more weddings than I ever did when I was young.

I believe in the Yves Saint Laurent woman who either has her hands in the pockets of her pantsuit or is holding her lover's hand. She doesn't need a bag.

Monsieur Saint Laurent was pathologically shy, and he made the Saint Laurent woman in his own image. Like her, I am shy. And to protect myself, I adopted something of an androgynous look, just as his women did.

I think that each woman, whatever age, needs to recognize something good in her body. Someone has beautiful legs, someone has beautiful hair, someone else has beautiful decolletage or a beautiful waist or beautiful hands. Everyone has something great.

I'm still like a butterfly going from one job to another job. But it's quite lovely - I hope to keep this freedom, to have fun.

There are people who give you the confidence that you're lacking and once you have confidence, you're free and finally you can let out what's inside of you.

I think you are born chic. You cannot be chic. It is something you cannot learn.

I made a big family when I was working at 'Vogue' for ten years, and I'm still friends with a lot of them.

My private life is a lot more ladylike and less sultry than the fashion photos I imagine.

I think that Americans, they love comfort more than Europeans. Americans created the T-shirt, the sweat pants, and they create the best sporting shoes.

I think it is good when something can stay interesting for a long time. It's not just a trend for one month.

I'm not a Facebook girl. Even though there is a fake Facebook with my name, it's not me. I'm not on Twitter; it's not me.

I love black lingerie and white shoes, and I love knives.

We are very luck to be women, so even if we're wearing trousers, I always wear them with some lace underwear or a very feminine bra - I like that.

When you're writing, you're on your own, and I like to work as a team.

Anna Wintour is the most powerful woman in the global fashion industry, the first lady of fashion. She's a politician; I'm a stylist. They are two very different jobs.

Let the others have beauty. I've got the charisma.

When everything is good, maybe I think it's the time to do something else.

What I hope I would do is something new, but I still love print. I love to touch paper. I'm not sure if I will ever do a magazine again, but I have plenty of ideas on the subject.

There is always a bit of seduction to it when one person is clothed and the other is naked, which can be a little weird. Everybody should be naked. In that case, it would be easier. Let's do a huge naked photo shoot!

Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It's exactly like doing ballet. It's hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it's just the pleasure of dancing.

I think that something needs to be weird in order to have a real beauty.

In photo shoots, I rely on instinct. Which is not to say I don't bring ideas to a project or consider it beforehand.

'Grandmother' doesn't mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.

The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you're working with a really good photographer.

There are too many 50-year-olds dressing as 20-year-olds.

Makeup can help you capture a moment.

Fashion's about extravagance, and everyone needs a bit of that.

For me, fashion is not about reality.

I miss my parents. But still, my granddaughter, my daughter, my grandma, you know, so it's very important for me. You lost your parents, but a new baby comes. It's like the cycle of fashion.

I was the muse of Tom Ford and Gucci for years, but that was a long time ago.

If I'm doing something in fashion, I will try to respect the 'laws' of the business, but I will try to keep my integrity and my respect for the designers and for my readers.

When you're getting old, obviously you try to put on the best cream, you have massages, you try to stay beautiful, but I think wrinkles can sometimes be more beautiful than having none.

There are so many magazines and so many editors out there that you have to be different.

I get on well with models, and I like to treat them well.

When you're editor-in-chief of a big magazine, you cannot be a cover girl for MAC; you cannot be the face of Givenchy - of course you can't; it's doesn't go with the job.

I don't like intellectuals, or, at least, people who call themselves that way, because I am under the impression that there is always something condescending in their demeanour, and I don't like condescending people.

Sometimes you think you aren't a good mama; you always feel a bit guilty when you're a mom. You want to be everywhere.

People might think I'm very hard, what with my black make-up, my hair over my eyes, etc. My innocence didn't always help me, but it did preserve something in me that maybe others don't have anymore. I'm inside my bubble, you could say, and thankfully so, because I don't think daily life is always great. It protects me.

At the start, I had no idea to go into fashion, because I thought people would think I was stupid. I don't worry about those things anymore.

Pregnancy is something that I always love. It's about hope and the future and a new baby.

I think it's less common in France that a man at the age of 50 buys a Porsche and gets a young girlfriend.

I have a lot to say about fashion - not just about fashion, but beauty, art.

I want to be the Joan of Arc of fashion. I want to be the link between the runway and the real woman.

I love if someone invites me to a restaurant, so I don't know if that's a feminist.