Empowerment Through Fashion Quotes

Even though I'm just over 5'9'', heels make me feel feminine and fierce.

I was very inspired by working women, and also women who aren't working yet! I want them to have shoes that feel luxurious and special and well-crafted and thought about. But also, they should have shoes that won't break the bank. You don't have to spend three years saving up for beautiful shoes.

I love clothes. I've never actively followed trends, but I definitely know what I like and what I don't like. I think fashion is a really important and empowering thing. I don't think it's superficial, actually, I think it's very important.

I wear black because I'm a large lady, and I have many exact replicas of the same black outfit.

First and foremost, I wear what I love. That's what women have to focus on: what makes them happy and what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion.

I used to get tons of letters that said, "I'll never get to wear you," or "I'll never get married in one of your dresses," or "I'll never have an evening gown like the one I saw on the red carpet." I thought that was sad, because you give your life to this and you end up reaching very few people. So that was a major goal for me - to be able to reach and encourage more women, to encourage them to express themselves and be what they want to be.

A completely indifferent attitude toward clothes in women seems to me to be an admission of inferiority, of perverseness, or of alack of realization of her place in the world as a woman. Or--what is even more hopeless and pathetic--it's an admission that she has given up, that she is beaten, and refuses longer to stand up to the world.

The message I want to put forward for women is that I never want it to be about, 'Oh, it's a bit difficult to put that together,' or, 'She can dress that way, but I can't.' Actually, my designs are for all women, and I truly believe that you can make yourself feel wonderful in whatever you wear. That's the importance behind what I design.

As a designer, when someone wears my clothes, the biggest compliment I can receive is that the woman looks amazing because my designs have flattered her, not taken over her. I take that philosophy to heart myself each morning when I am getting ready for the day.

We’re more than just our dresses.

I don't like the label 'plus-size' -- I call it 'fiercely real.' On 'Top Model,' we call it fiercely real. I don't want to use the term 'plus-size,' because, to me, what the hell is that? It just doesn't have a positive connotation to it. I tend to not use it.

I suppose I try to dress for women like me, women I would look at and think, 'Ah, she looks cool, she looks nice'. You kind of get to an age when you know what suits you.

I sensed that women wanted to be a little different. My fluidity gave them a way of interpreting their bodies in a more personal, individual way.

I've always been inspired by women, and my mission was to inspire women. I always wanted to become a certain kind of woman, and I became that woman through fashion. It was a dialogue. I would see that the wrap dress made those women confident, and made them act with confidence.

I want to die with my high heels on, still in action.

A well dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world.

Fashion can give you confidence. And things have definitely changed in the industry, mostly for the positive. We're more accepting now. For me, someone like Ashley Graham, who loves her body and is always talking about it, is inspiring.

My dresses help women discover figures they didn't know they had.

Fashion, at modern time, was actually a way for women to go out in the world. There was one painting of a woman sitting at a café, drinking a beer by herself and kind of pretending to read but really watching people, that sort of thing. It fascinated me.