Liz Goldwyn

“In general, I'm fascinated by women who exist outside of society's mores and values.”

“I've worked with a lot of beauty companies over the years, but I really have to say that my own routine is very natural; like, I really try to be careful about the stuff I'm putting into my body, onto my body. I do believe in beauty foods - like, a lot of blueberries, salmon, kale, quinoa, avocado.”

“I can't write about people I don't feel some sort of connection to.”

“When someone hears that I've written a book about 1897, I'm usually met with blank stares. And the first thing they say is, 'Was there even an L.A. back then?' A lot of people don't even think there was a city before the movies appeared. That concept of Los Angeles is so strong in the popular imagination that celebrity overrides everything.”

“I had a very feminist mother who exposed me not only to Planned Parenthood - my first job - but also to Betty Friedan and Colette and Naomi Wolf.”

“Even though we look at the past through the lens of distance and think that because people are wearing different clothes or have different technology, their experiences are different, it's all the same, right? Our experience of love and sex and death are the same in any time period.”

“If fashion has a political significance, it is probably culturally, as a camouflage.”

“In L.A., retro culture is just part of the thing you do. When we were kids, we didn't have allowances, and it was not cool to wear designer clothes. So it meant that we were into 1920s dresses when we were 13.”

“I think people sometimes have a hard time placing me because I don't fit into a box. When they ask what I do at a cocktail party, I either say I'm a Renaissance woman or I'm a high-level madam. Lately I've been more comfortable saying I'm an artist, because that can cover a lot of different things.”

“What I always loved about vintage clothes is that you let the woman who wore it before you live on in some way.”

“For me, clothing has always been connected to history. That's what draws me in.”

“I want to say, embrace your sexuality, own it, be confident, but you don't have to show everything. Respect yourself, and make others respect you.”