DONNA KARAN

I've always been about the power of a woman - accentuating the positive, deleting the negative, whether you're talking her body, her voice or her leadership.

I'd rather promote New York than anything else in this world because New York to me means the world.

If it's a regular day, I won't wear any makeup, just leave my hair down and head out to the car.

It used to be only yoga, but now I do Pilates as well; I feel like I need the balance.

Design and style should work toward making you look good and feel good without a lot of effort so you can get on with the things that matter.

Women should always take care of themselves first. It makes you more equipped to take care of others.

Everything comes out of what works for me.

If I weren't doing what I'm doing today... I'd be traveling around the world on the back of a motorcycle.

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together.

Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable.

When I first started designing, all women were dressed like men, and I said, 'Hey, guys, let's be women, put the two together - it's not either/or. Let's celebrate our bodies. Our bodies are different.'

I live for what I haven't done.

My mother was a working woman, and I was alone a lot. So I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

My daughter Gabby very kindly once said that she thinks I was a better mother because I was doing a job I loved. I now think guilt is a universal part of being a mother. I used to think it was Jewish-mother guilt but now I think it is working-mother guilt.

You don't have that much choice in your life, which is one of the big lessons I've learned. I was going to be a designer whether I wanted to be a designer or not.

I always thought I should have been a better mother.

I love building spaces: architecture, furniture, all of it, probably more than fashion. The development procedure is more tactile. It's about space and form and it's something you can share with other people.

Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference.

I feel very strongly about dresses on every level - a dress feels like underpinning.

I start my day with a mind, body, soul practice - yoga, Pilates or meditation.

I give Reiki, which is energy, but I don't tell too many people that.

I design from instinct. It's the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut.

Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul.

When I started Donna Karan, people weren't really accepting the idea of the working woman.

I'm really quite simple.