Yves Saint Laurent

“I want to give haute couture a kind of wink, a sense of humour - to introduce the whole sense of freedom one sees in the street into high fashion; to give couture the same provocative and arrogant look as punk - but, of course, with luxury and dignity and style.”

“I'm constantly looking for perfection.”

“I'm not deceived by people, because I don't pay attention to people.”

“I adore America. It's an extraordinary country. A new country.”

“I had noticed men were much more confident in their clothes. So I sought through trouser suits, trench coats, tuxedos, and pea coats to give women the same confidence.”

“Poiret made clothes for individual customers, but I wouldn't like to make a dress just for its own sake.”

“I am very happy to design haute couture. It's a love story between couture and me.”

“My favorite thing is a black sweater and skirt, which you can wear all the time by changing the accessories.”

“I try to only be in agreeable circumstances.”

“It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.”

“I tell myself that I created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman, that I participated in the transformation of my times.”

“I wanted women to have the same basic wardrobe as a man. Blazer, trousers, and suit. They're so functional. I believed women wanted this and was right.”

“Dressing is a way of life.”

“A good model can advance fashion by ten years.”

“I'm so secluded. Very alone.”

“Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?”

“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”

“I live in solitude. I have need of solitude to do the next day's work. I can't be to parties where the noise tires me. I can't speak on the telephone. I must have complete calm.”

“I'd really like to be in closer contact with life. I'm a little too distant, I guess. I like to place myself outside.”

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.”