With only one bag, you can change your outfit completely.

As soon as the show is over, I always think, 'How will the woman I design for go forward?' It's so important to start quickly because I can't let her get away.

When a woman confuses what she is with what she wears, then something is wrong inside.

My color is black. And black, if it's worn right, is a scandal.

My fashion has no time, no season. It doesn't go out of style. If someone decides that clothes can go out of fashion, then you are deciding a woman can go out of fashion.

I was supposed to be a mother like my mother, who didn't work.

It's useless to send models out on the runway to cry.

How can you live the high life if you do not wear high heels? I don't understand why women wear these ballet pumps. They are only good if you walk like a ballet dancer, and only ballet dancers do that.

My mother knitted a lot, but I never did; it was no fun.

I was fascinated by stripes from the start. On clothing, they follow a woman's movements.

To be modern is to be aware of what is going on.

To me, the biggest revolution of the 20th century was the pill.

I care a lot about my looks, although I'm not too adventurous. Every day I dress the same way in a kind of 'uniform' of black, although in varying fabrics - it's always black.

I am what I am. Before I was not so proud to make fashion. My family thought fashion wasn't very interesting. So I hid that.

I don't think that clothes have anything to do with the personality. That comes from the woman herself.

A woman who walks well parts crowds - it's something we should all be taught to do.

We are working women. Also, we have the problem of children, of men, to take care of our houses, so many things. I try to explain that in my clothes. They are clothes for everyday life. That is the real life of woman.

I hate the word 'feminine!' I mean, there is a woman and a man, and when I say 'woman,' it suggests all that is radiant, tender, fascinating, gentle, demoniac, exaggerated! 'Feminine' makes me think of somebody who is spindly and over-sweet - I don't like that!

Wherever I go, I buy shoes.

I always believe in pants. You can play with your legs, your attitude, with pants. It's much more funny. It's much more sophisticated. It's much more arrogant, like a man with feminine attitude. I love pants.

I don't know how to knit.

What pushes me forward is everything I have learned: political, social, cultural. I put all that into the clothes.

The lead of a film that wove around me, I played all the roles. I traveled the world; I loved life, pleasure. I adored to write, create.

A dress will never make a woman sexy, fatale, magnificent, mysterious. It's a way of walking, of standing, or existing, the way you give your hand or your regard. That's what makes the dress.

I never played a part in the feminist movement - it touches me, but I am not a militant.

Women should look at themselves and decide for themselves what color or length they should wear.

Everything I do is really an expression of myself, through colors and shapes and, at the same time, I try to explain what I feel not only as a creator but also as a woman. I cannot separate one from the other.

The key to my collections is sensuality.

I don't read e-mails because I hate them.

French women famously take care over their appearance, but this wasn't instilled in me as I grew up. I was taught that beauty comes from different places, from the inside and from the outside.

I didn't listen to anyone. I was so violent, so authoritarian, only listening to what I wanted and myself.

The natures of men and women are very mixed, and for me, the most fascinating type of woman is the one who is a little masculine, has a little of the man in her, and the sort of man who is fabulous is the one who is a little woman, too. It's impossible not to mix them!

People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral.

I wasn't interested in fashion originally. Fashion was for other people.

It's not true that clothes look better on skinny girls; what counts is the attitude.

I have no regrets in life, and you know what? If I could, I'd go back and do it all again.

The pill was the liberation of the spirit of women.

My breakfast is very important.

I'm not brave, I'm not fantastic. I'm like any other woman. I'm unhappy. I'm difficult. I'm sad. Am I strong, too? Maybe, but not always. There are days when I don't want to see anyone. The most important thing you learn? You can live with it.

My only ambition was to have 10 children. Fashion was an accident.

First I made a dress because I was pregnant and I wanted to be the most beautiful pregnant woman. Then I made a sweater because I wanted to have one that wasn't like anyone else's.

The Rykiel woman? She doesn't have time to stop time. She's too busy running. In her hands she's carrying a tote, a baby, a book, a camera.

My favourite feature is my hair. It has always made me look different. It was so red when I was born that my mother thought I had blood on my head. When I was a teenager, I looked like a tomboy, but then I understood that I could be a woman who was an intelligent mix between a lady and my mannish side.

My view is that you have to deal with who you are. It's hard work, in a way, but somebody has to do it.

It is interesting to see what other designers do, and not work in a vacuum.

I have the impression that the women around me are like me - smaller, taller, fatter, thinner - but in fact, we are all the same.

For me, luxury isn't just the real thing. It's also fake. Swarovski crystals or real diamonds? It's a game.

You can have a conversation with your eyes.

I think in the darkest moments, we need a break.