CARINE ROITFELD

I never think I have to prove something.

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.

When I was working with Tom Ford, he would just look at me and ask, 'Will you wear it?' I'd say, 'Ah, too long, too short, lower waist, deeper V, unbutton' - that sort of thing. I don't create clothes, but I definitely know how to make them come alive.

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

If you don't want to get bored with what you're doing, you have to change.

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

The hair and makeup is very important in a fashion picture. When I create a look for a girl, it starts with the makeup. Sometimes it takes an entire day to find the look.

I love ballet because you can see how beautiful the body is.

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

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.

If Kate Moss hadn't been booked when she was 14, Kate Moss might not exist.

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.

It's funny, everything is so much easier when you do it yourself.

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.

Fashion is supposed to be light and not try too hard.

French 'Vogue' was always a photographer's magazine.

Blogs are quite a new development - now, everyone wants to know you, everyone wants to know everything about you. And you can build a following that way. In a way, it's a good thing if you want to create a buzz around yourself.

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.

Becoming a grandmother brought me back to the things I forgot to love. Nature. Playing. Seeing animals. A new way of looking. A rejuvenation. A cycle of life - things come back to you. The details.

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.

I love the free spirit in London.

I think it's good to have surprises in fashion because we always see the same things.

I discovered the slip dress, which I think is one of the more French things because when you take off your clothes, even when to go into a shop to buy something, or you're going to Riccardo Tisci to try on a suit, it's like having protection.

You know it's very important, the role of a mother... I don't know, but it's feminism to me to love your kids.

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.