Suzy Menkes

“The clothes that fire up my emotions are colorful and 'different' pieces. My eye still picks out gilded-cloque glamour from among Burberry's streamlined trench coats or a hand-printed coat from Dries Van Noten.”

“I knew him, but never felt that I got really close to Saint Laurent. But who really did? Betty Catroux, maybe.”

“We know that creative people have all sorts of demons.”

“Who needs to graduate from Central Saint Martins in London or New York's Fashion Institute of Technology when a homemade outfit can go viral on YouTube with millions of hits?”

“There are some designers who flash and burn - Courreges is an example of that. But he still marked fashion history. And I don't think that longevity is always a badge of honor. Modern brand management means that we are always celebrating birthdays, when what is exciting about fashion is innovation, not repetition.”

“There is something sad about clothes laid in a tomb of trunks.”

“I am not really sure that Diana Vreeland did Yves Saint Laurent a favor, as opposed to the world, by putting that exhibition at the Met in 1983. Because I'm sure that Saint Laurent started looking back at his own work. You see that with artists, don't you? Once they get their first retrospective, it's really hard for them to push ahead.”

“My clothes are fabulous - colourful, fun and by some very special designers. They deserve a better life than being sleeping beauties in a bed of tissue inside a trunk.”

“I am grateful to have spent 25 years at the 'International Herald Tribune' - a newspaper where I had unstinting support in being able to express myself freely and honestly.”

“The clothes most worn by people are the clothes least commented on by the press.”

“Clothes are like friends.”

“Smartphones are so fabulous in so many ways that it seems daft to be nostalgic about the days when an image did not go round the world in a nanosecond.”

“קארין רויטפלד או אנה וינטור הן עורכות מגזינים. אני כתבת ועורכת בעיתון יומי, התופעה הזאת, שהמדיה מהללת את עורכות האופנה, היא חלק מהשינויים שעוברת התקשורת. אנשים בכל העולם מתעניינים לדעת מה הן לובשות.”

“יפה שלהרבה מעצבים צעירים יש חנויות עצמאיות. זה מזכיר לי את המעצבים הבלגים באנטוורפן.”

“השובל הארוך חזר גם הוא, על אף הקושי לנוע בשמלות עם שובל כזה. דיאן קרוגר, חברת צוות השופטים בקאן, ריחפה בשמלת הדראפה הירקרקה שלה, בעיצוב ג'יאמבטיסטה ואלי, בערב הפתיחה של הפסטיבל. קרוגר לא הייתה הכוכבת היחידה ששובל ארוך נשרך מאחוריה: גם אווה לונגוריה והשחקנית הסינית פן בינג בינג התחרו ביניהן על אורך השובל.”

“כל העניין באופנה הוא שהיא כלל עולמית, ואי אפשר לעקוב אחריה אלא אם כן רואים הכול.”

“I think there's a sort of agony with all intelligent and very creative designers that it's only fashion, that in the end it's only the decorative arts. I had a feeling towards the end that Saint Laurent and Berge were very keen to attain that immortality that a lot of designers long for. You know, those endless exhibitions.”

“As the fashion carousel spins ever faster, the concern is that, while the stream of newness never runs out, there's going to be a good deal more crash and burn among designers in the future.”

“The natural end of an era, as designers whose houses bear their names grow old and pass away, combined with the arrival of digital cameras and Internet exposure, has created a perfect storm.”

“One thing I learned is how much easier it is to write about clothes than it is to make them.”