Designer Influence Quotes

I don't think it ever does any harm in any business to feel that there is someone there who cares about it. If you look at any business, fashion being the most obvious, the aura, or the reality of the designer, is part of what creates it. It's true in luxury goods stores and in good food stores. It leaves a palpable sense that someone cares.

I wouldn't say there is one specific designer I rock. It's more of the look of the shirt and what occasion and where I'm wearing it to.

I saw young women in the street dressing in a way that I thought was influencing the designers. Fashion was being influenced by all sorts of different people, and culture and also across the street. So I saw more as a trickle up, than a trickle down influence. When I came to Vogue, that's what I wanted it to reflect.

My style comes from a very masculine point, and Valentino has a very masculine fit. It's built for corn-fed guys like me.

The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself, too.

Balenciaga was incredibleI was madly infatuated with his clothes. His clothes were devastating. One fainted. One simply blew up and died.

My biggest inspiration in 'fashion is definitely Miss Victoria Beckham.

For a 'GOT' premiere, I wore a white dress by Antonio Berardi, which fitted beautifully. And I felt empowered by the Jenny Packham gown I wore for 'The Last Witch Hunter' premiere. That is the beauty of the designer - to help a woman or man feel that way.

I'm lucky to have met Nicolas Ghesquiere, the creative director of Vuitton. He understands me and knows me, and I admire his sensibility and talent. Karl Lagerfeld is another huge designer and artist for whom I feel affection and admiration.

I choose my outfits based on the shows on a particular day. If there's an edgier designer, it might be a slightly edgier outfit. I don't think it matters, but still that's how I think about it.

We are devastated to learn of the death of Alexander McQueen, one of the greatest talents of his generation. He brought a uniquely British sense of daring and aesthetic fearlessness to the global stage of fashion. In such a short career, Alexander McQueen's influence was astonishing - from street style, to music culture and the world's museums. His passing marks an insurmountable loss.

Designers have a reputation for setting the tone for what people - and especially women - are supposed to wear. How long their skirts should be, things like that. I have a different philosophy: put something out there with humour; let people see that and come around to it on their own.

It's one of those magical acts that is so poly-sensorial and culturally enriching that as a designer one is naturally drawn to the cult of the object

Yves Saint Laurent gave women power, Chanel liberated them and when I joined Lanvin, I thought 'what do I bring to women? One day, I received an SMS from a friend in New York - she was in a taxi on the way to court to face her arsehole ex-husband, and she said to me 'Alber, I am wearing a Lanvin dress, and I feel so protected.' That to me was the biggest compliment I ever received. To have a 500 gram piece of silk make her feel protected - that made me very happy indeed.

I always have separated myself from my critiques of collections. My judgment is not about whether I would wear it - but how the collection stands in the lexicon of an established designer. As I am a maximalist, not a minimalist, I don't wear Armani or Celine - but I so appreciate what they have achieved.

Fashion is what you're offered four times a year by designers. And style is what you choose.

The most powerful element is that a designer has to reflect the times. So often you can only sense a change, and not really understand until much later its significance.

When I do read something about a designer it doesn't alter my thoughts about their collection when I see it in person.

I am honoured to be a part of H&M's designer collaborations. The work with their team is an exciting, fun process. They are very open to pushing boundaries and to set a platform for creativity. This will be a great way for a wider audience to experience elements of the Alexander Wang brand and lifestyle.

I mix talents and friendship, which is not very professional, but it's my way of thinking. So I love Azzedine Alaia, because I've known him for 30 years, and he's making my dresses most of the time.

We were both very much the same. We were both very impulsive. We both loved life. We both loved shopping. We both had a love of clothes, obviously, because he was the designer that I kind of wore forever and ever.

All designers have a platform, an audience. Whether it's one or a million, it doesn't matter.

Balenciaga was my religion. Since I'm a believer, for me, there's Balenciaga, and the good Lord.

In the nineties, it was common to see people who expressed themselves through one designer - the Jil Sander woman, the Martin Margiela woman. You saw her on the street, and you knew who she was.

I don't understand the fashion industry and the appeal of it. I understand that there are some people who think it's important to them, and they're designers, they're artists, but there seems to be a disproportionate amount of our culture that's caught up in that and the red carpet stuff. It seems like there's a disproportionate amount of attention placed on that.