China Machado

“When you look at the runway now, the girls are 15 and 16 years old with no knowledge of clothes, no idea how to project themselves. I was trained how to show off the dress, how to move to make the clothes look better.”

“Originally a stylist took terrible dresses and did everything she could to make them wonderful. Now, you create an image. It's much more specialized.”

“I would never become a big, big model in the commercial sense because I was such a type; you couldn't use me in everything.”

“I am China, pronounced as Chee-na. And I think it's time the world lets older women age gracefully.”

“I'm practical. I see something, and I do it.”

“Age is not a taboo in the fashion industry. One should learn what to wear to look good at any age.”

“When Dick Avedon died, I was so upset that I just started painting.”

“I have always done things that made me happy. I work with people I like, and I do the job I like. I only see people who I like to be with. I have led a wonderful life.”

“I cook the food of Macau, my roots and soul food.”

“I take off my makeup with Ponds cold cream, and then I wash myself with gentle soap and water, and that's it.”

“I'm not an outdoor girl. I can barely swim. I don't ride a horse.”

“I have no nationality, no country.”

“I never dreamt that I would do all the things that I have done. But things just happened to me all the time.”

“I make myself lie down every afternoon; otherwise I'll be too exhausted by the night-time. If I can't nap, I'll watch a little bit of TV and just relax for two or three hours.”

“You can't worry about ageing because that's the worst thing. If you start, then you just keep finding more things you don't like, and then you're finished. There are a lot of things I could have done to my face, but it would never stop.”

“No man has ever paid a single bill in my life - I didn't want it.”

“A model needs to know how to project herself into the camera.”

“I have some regrets that I might have hurt men in my life. But they can take care of themselves.”

“I do not really shop. Most of my clothes I make. I dress simply.”

“I wonder if it is harder for a woman who was beautiful to get older or a woman who was never looked at.”