DIANA VREELAND

Elegance is innate. It has nothing to do with being well dressed. Elegance is refusal.

What do I think about the way most people dress? Most people are not something one thinks about.

Parents, you know, can be terrible.

No one cuts backs like he did. No one knows what a back is anymore.

The body must stay fit. Fit people like themselves much better.

I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity.

Pink is the navy blue of India.

You don't have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive.

I always wear my sweater back-to-front; it is so much more flattering.

Exaggeration is my only reality.

Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola.

The bikini is the most important thing since the atom bomb.

In a Balenciaga you were the only woman in the room - no other woman existed.

The only real elegance is in the mind; if you've got that, the rest really comes from it.

Poor, darling fellow - he died of food. He was killed by the dinner table.

Red is the great clarifier - bright and revealing. I can't imagine becoming bored with red - it would be like becoming bored with the person you love.

Balenciaga did the most delicious evening clothes. Clothes aren't delicious any more.

Truth is a hell of a big point with me. Now I exaggerate—always.

I went to work to make money, not because I was bored. It was money that I wanted.

God was fair to the Japanese. He gave them no oil, no coal, no diamonds, no gold, no natural resources — nothing! Nothing comes from the island that you can sustain a civilization on. What God gave the Japanese was a sense of style—maintained through the centuries through hard work and the disciplines of ambition.

I think your imagination is your reality

For goodness sakes, beware of curls… It is a great art to do them so that the girls not only look modern - but do not suddenly look very vulgar.

The only thing people are interested in is people.

Chutney is marvelous. I'm mad about it. To me, it's very imperial.

I was always fascinated by the absurdities and luxuries and the snobbism of the world that fashion magazines showed. Of course, it’s not for everyone...But I lived in that world, not only during my years in the magazines business but for years before, because I was always of that world-- at least in my imagination.