Natalie Massenet Quotes

People ask if I walk around and pinch myself. Yes, I do.

The British Fashion Awards gives us the chance to commend not only the winners but celebrate all of the individuals that contribute to the incredible achievements that make London the best fashion destination in the world.

I realised at a certain point that if I was going to have the kind of life that I fantasised about, I needed to get my act together.

I believe all positive things and negative things are valuable because they shape you.

I cry at anything remotely touching - smile at me warmly and I'm off ... television also does it, everything from 'X-Factor' to cereal commercials. I cry when I am tired. I also cry when I laugh.

The fashion cycle is outdated.

I'm the laziest person I know.

Net-a-Porter offers catwalk fashion and trend-driven shopping, but for Mr Porter, while fashion is still important, style is key.

Work means independence. It allowed me to shape my life on so many levels.

Don't let the American accent fool you. I am British.

I think fashion is actually very good training for being in the tech world, because it's all about moving on to the next thing, looking for the next thing, not getting stuck in the past.

British fashion is a serious business. The British fashion industry is worth £21bn to the U.K. economy and employs 819,000 people across the country.

I'm supporting the School for Creative Startups because the project's ambition - to boost innovation and the culture of entrepreneurship - is something I feel strongly about.

What seems like a crazy idea today eventually grows. It's a 'with hindsight' thing. One day, someone will turn around and say, 'That was genius.'

The only time I can't sleep is on a plane, when I am literally keeping it in the air with my brain.

You can get a slouchy woman's tunic at different price points. But if you want a great pair of trousers or a dress with delicate pleating, you're going to have to spend a little more.

Audrey Hepburn has influenced me.

People always ask is it hard being an entrepreneur and a mum, and the answer is 'yes.'

Net-a-porter is an environment where a woman can really indulge, browsing through more than 160 brands in our fashion playground.

I love that I love my job, and from what I'm told, that others who I work with do, too.

When I'm working, I have a hard time switching off, and when I'm not working, I have a hard time thinking of ever wanting to work again.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not always trying to stand out.

Customers want new things, and the way that they get them isn't written in stone.

You cannot underestimate the impact the Internet has had on British fashion.

I am honoured and excited to be taking on the role of chairman of the British Fashion Council.

Brands will increasingly handle their own e-commerce and rely less and less on local distribution partners. Why should they give away their profit margins?

Even without an economic downturn, women sometimes want to keep their shopping habits to themselves.

Part of creating the future is to follow this consumer. Women are working; we've moved the store to the desk. Now though, she's is in the back of a cab with her iPhone or her iPad, she's tweeting an outfit that her friend is wearing and desperately trying to find out where she got her shoes online.

I graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with an English literature degree and travelled for a year before going to work.

You can no longer just have a magazine that shows you this glossy impervious image of women - in the studio, artificial, wearing a push-up bra.

My personal ambition remains the same - to be creative, to be modern, to stay one step ahead, to enjoy life.

I just wear what I like, and lots of it is British.

I think I'm a better mother because of work, because I'm happy. If I wasn't working, I would just be waiting for the kids to come home every day, and living vicariously through their lives.

When I started Net-a-Porter, I knew nothing. And I was pregnant. Starting a new venture and being pregnant for the first time are pretty similar in many ways. If you knew what was going to happen to you, you wouldn't venture down that road.

Touching clothes is just shopping foreplay, but it's changing. After all, you don't need to try a Mercedes to know that you'd like one.

It is a changing world with changing opportunities.

I borrowed a creaky laptop from my husband, went into the web, and never came back.

To be a designer today is to be an entrepreneur. Whether you're a two-man operation in Shoreditch or a 3,000-person, vertically integrated brand, you need to have the wherewithal to run your business through investment, considering everything from start-up funds to your exit plan or what it takes to go public.

Twice I let people talk me out of good ideas.

When I was at U.C.L.A., I decided I was going to go to Japan and learn Japanese.

The power of your thoughts can influence how events turn out. I'm a positive person - when bad things happen, I can see the silver lining. As a result I think I am very lucky, even though I probably have as much bad luck as anyone else, and that translates into seeing opportunity.

Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression - with investors, with customers, with PR, and with marketing.

I attended private Catholic schools in Paris and Los Angeles through high school.

Grown-up clothes are more appealing because customers need to be able to project themselves into them.

I think the fashion industry was slightly put off by people they didn't know. They were presented with things like 20-gatefold color brochures.

I have donated money to campaigns. And I have been known to take to the street in protest. But I am more committed to my immediate politics than general politics.

It's a false assumption that people with a lot of money have a lot of free time to shop.

We're seeing a crazy appetite for people to acquire and invest in British businesses.

My dad taught me never to be afraid of what's on the other side of the mountain.

I think there will be an increasing convergence between content and commerce, that it will be about following consumers instead of making consumers come to you, and I am especially excited about the various platforms that will allow more and more access to customers.

Point out the problems, as long as you have a solution. I don't like critics who aren't doers themselves.

I love contemporary culture. Even the stuff I don't like.

The United Kingdom has traditionally been a very small market, and even though you had such a creative group of designers, they represented a risk to department stores.

Dear London, British fashion is a serious business. The British fashion industry is worth £21bn to the U.K. economy and employs 819,000 people across the country. With your help, we would like to see these numbers rise for the good of our industry, our talented designers, and our reputation worldwide.

When you love something, it doesn't feel like work.

If you're a teenager in Palo Alto launching an app, you know from the outset how you plan to finance your business.

The Internet is a gift to fashion.

I've taken the love of fashion from my mother, and journalism from my father.

In order to stay relevant, you have to stay open to new trends and keep educating yourself. You have to keep evolving.

Pre-Internet, maybe it took six months for a fashion message to get across to a customer base. Fashion messages are now being sent out overnight, simultaneously, to every market in the world.

Anna Wintour has guided me.