Carine Roitfeld Quotes

When I don’t know what to wear, I wear black lace.

Each morning I do my ballet class for one hour; after that, it means one hour less to get ready.

If I’m doing something in fashion, I will try to respect the ‘laws’ of the business, but I will try to keep my integrity and my respect for the designers and for my readers.

Fashion shows used to be more crazy. Now they’ve become a bit too serious.

People always say, ‘You look like Iggy Pop.’

I think it’s less common in France that a man at the age of 50 buys a Porsche and gets a young girlfriend.

You know it’s very important, the role of a mother… I don’t know, but it’s feminism to me to love your kids.

Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It’s exactly like doing ballet. It’s hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it’s just the pleasure of dancing.

If Kate Moss hadn’t been booked when she was 14, Kate Moss might not exist.

I think that something needs to be weird in order to have a real beauty.

Thinking differently is my strength.

If I could choose something besides fashion, I would love to be a ballerina.

I don’t think because you have money you have taste… Education and money – this is quite rare. No?

I am just doing photo shoots. It’s not something that extraordinary. I’m not a great artist, I’m not writing books, I’m not a painter, and people in the streets ask me for a picture or a note, and I say, ‘Why?’

Monsieur Saint Laurent was pathologically shy, and he made the Saint Laurent woman in his own image. Like her, I am shy. And to protect myself, I adopted something of an androgynous look, just as his women did.

When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby’s. It’s very nice.

You can’t learn how to be elegant; you can only learn how to avoid mistakes. The rest is instinct. Elegance is about the way you cross your legs, not the label or the newest clothes from the latest collection.

Fashion isn’t something you can buy; you need to have the sense of it, and most people don’t.

When I was a little girl, my mother tried to make me dance, but I did not like it then.

In Japan, you can learn how to make a bunch of flowers. This is an art. Tea ceremony, it’s an art.

We have the sort of beautiful older woman here in Paris. People like Loulou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux, all these beautiful looking women over 60… So there is culture here in France that even if you are older, you can stay beautiful.

Fashion is very tough, and we shouldn’t forget that before designers were money-makers, they were artists.

Here in France, I’ve seen some very good young designers, but they don’t have this ability to be good businessmen, too. I think America gives you this.

I think it’s good to have surprises in fashion because we always see the same things.

My private life is a lot more ladylike and less sultry than the fashion photos I imagine.

Designers have told me that their collections are so me, but I don’t always recognise it because if you ask me what my style is, I’m really not that sure.

Makeup can help you capture a moment.

I could live very quietly, do advertising to earn money.

Fashion is not about clothes, it is about a look.

When you get older, you have to stay a bit rock n’ roll so that young people will still be interested in you. The way you move, the way you talk, maybe the way you have your hair in your face a little bit – this keeps you interesting.

I miss my parents. But still, my granddaughter, my daughter, my grandma, you know, so it’s very important for me. You lost your parents, but a new baby comes. It’s like the cycle of fashion.

It’s very difficult for designers today. How can someone produce so many shows? Now the minimum is four a year.

You can’t put yourself into competition with a magazine like ‘Vogue.’ You have to create something new, something different.

I want to be the Joan of Arc of fashion. I want to be the link between the runway and the real woman.

Fashion is a completely international business.

You lose attitude when you feel too comfortable, so I prefer to wear clothes that have a certain edge to them.

I love the free spirit in London.

My mom read French ‘Elle’ when I was a little girl, and so, when I was 15 or 16, I said, ‘I want to work in fashion.’

I like to surprise people. I try to take risks.

To me, makeup is fashion and vice versa. What I dress and what I wear always needs to work with my makeup, which is usually the same anyway.

If you are a reader of ‘Harper’s Bazaar,’ to me, you are a woman who loves fashion, but not just fashion; you love fashion, you love travel, you love art, you love music.

I always try to be nice to the paparazzi because finally, maybe one day, they won’t ask for me, and I will regret it.

I never like to wear too much makeup, and sometimes the best makeup is when it’s not too perfect. I like to sometimes apply my makeup with my fingers.

Each morning you dress to become a different woman. Fashion helps.

I’m a very spontaneous person, for the bad and the good.

I saw ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ I don’t think it’s a reality.

Coco Chanel was always doing things with ballet, so it is a tradition clashing fashion and ballet.

I think beauty can be everywhere.

The less you have, the more you enjoy.

I started as a writer for magazines, and soon they asked me to illustrate my stories. I started from the bottom of the bottom. And I climbed the stairs, one by one.

I am not a good professional of fashion. I am not an expert about how clothes are constructed or the history of fashion. I never start with fashion. I always think of the girl and her personality – because all that matters to me when you look at a page is, “Do you want to be that girl?”

I keep my old friends, and get older with them, but push young. It’s good to be surrounded by kids, because they keep you young.

When a designer creates, he looks at the world around him.

The true test of a man’s style is the haircut. There are some men who look good no matter how their hair is styled, whether it’s trendy or not. A man can change his haircut many times, but to pull off any haircut, you have to be very chic. Like Brad Pitt.

You can be beautiful with big breasts; you can be beautiful in your 40s. If you don’t have perfect ankles, still you can move your legs in a certain way and look very sexy.

At the start, I had no idea to go into fashion, because I thought people would think I was stupid. I don’t worry about those things anymore.

Paris is mostly retired people – I love it, and it’s a beautiful city, but it’s quite slow.

What a women reads makes her more attractive and more elegant than what she wears.

You can be covered and be very sexy. It’s not what you show; it’s what you have in mind, the way you cross your legs, the way you talk to people.

In my 10 years, I never put a girl that was too skinny in French ‘Vogue.’

If people ask me to describe my look, I always say: ‘Quite classic with an edge.’

I love if someone invites me to a restaurant, so I don’t know if that’s a feminist.

I think that when you’re taking pictures with my principles, you can try anything. Dare to do a lot of things – dare with sexuality, dare to break taboos as long as it remains photogenic. As long as I find an elegance and beauty in it, I am not afraid to tackle anything.

The Russians are very much more up and down than the French.

As you get older, you see life is very short, so you have to appreciate more and more and to enjoy it.

I’m not the girl next door.

I always love to push myself, because I am not so self-confident.

In photo shoots, I rely on instinct. Which is not to say I don’t bring ideas to a project or consider it beforehand.

London Fashion Week isn’t the most organised, but I don’t mind that. It’s such an exciting place – it’s small and cool.

Anna Wintour is the most powerful woman in the global fashion industry, the first lady of fashion. She’s a politician; I’m a stylist. They are two very different jobs.

You don’t choose your public; your public chooses you.

Dancing is the last sport with no sponsor.

French ‘Vogue’ was always a photographer’s magazine.

I am very surprised by someone like Alexander Wang. I am amazed how he is good with fashion, with business, with public relations himself, with an attitude in his clothes that is spoken immediately.

I would never share my daughter’s wardrobe. Every five years you have to go through your wardrobe and say, ‘This is possible, this is not possible.’ But you have to be happy with yourself.

I don’t like Botox. It makes a very strange forehead.

Monsier Saint Laurent was pathologically shy, and he made the Saint Laurent woman in his own image. Like her, I am shy. And to protect myself, I adopted something of an androgynous look, just as his women did.

To see yourself on the big screen, you’re big, you hate your voice, your vocabulary. You say the same words, you speak bad.

I never think I have to prove something.

I was never conscious that I was becoming an icon or I’m not an icon, because my family, my kids, my husband keep me down-to-earth.

The first Chanel jacket that I saw – that I knew was Chanel – was on TV. It was on Mrs. Kennedy – the pink one.

I hate mules. I hate the noise when someone walks with mules. Clomp, clomp, clomp. I think it’s very not chic. I don’t even like a flip-flop. I don’t like this noise.

When you go to a show, Americans in New York are very proper, much more so than the French. Everything is perfect. Their hair, the nails, everything. The look. Everything is perfection.

I discovered the slip dress, which I think is one of the more French things because when you take off your clothes, even when to go into a shop to buy something, or you’re going to Riccardo Tisci to try on a suit, it’s like having protection.

Fashion is one big family.

I love ballet because you can see how beautiful the body is.

‘Vogue’ is a very beautiful magazine, an institution, and I learned so much working there.

Always wear high heels. Yes, they give you power. you move differently, sit differently and even speak differently.

Sometimes pressure can be good, and it gives you a lot of energy to do something.

Do what you are not supposed to do, like wear white shoes all year round.

It’s true I always like to mix femininity and something a bit masculine. It’s the reason I love skirts with high heels and tights, and no handbag because I love having my hands in my pockets.

I’m so tired of this vision of fashion of a diva with a big ego, and you think of big dark glasses to be pretentious and keep far away from the people.

When you’re editor-in-chief of a big magazine, you cannot be a cover girl for MAC; you cannot be the face of Givenchy – of course you can’t; it’s doesn’t go with the job.

I’m still like a butterfly going from one job to another job. But it’s quite lovely – I hope to keep this freedom, to have fun.

Fashion’s about extravagance, and everyone needs a bit of that.

I’ve always used black girls on the runway, because I think they’re beautiful. I don’t need people to tell me, ‘You need to use black girls.’ I did for 20 years; it’s not a new thing for me.

I believe in the Yves Saint Laurent woman who either has her hands in the pockets of her pantsuit or is holding her lover’s hand. She doesn’t need a bag.

I think when I became a grandmother my life changed a lot, and I think I changed personally.

Fashion is supposed to be light and not try too hard.

‘Grandmother’ doesn’t mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.

I think it is good when something can stay interesting for a long time. It’s not just a trend for one month.

I like to provoke. I’m very French.

I am Parisian. I don’t love the French.

I love black lingerie and white shoes, and I love knives.

I see girls who are so skinny on the catwalks, and I know so many of them destroy their lives and their family’s lives.

Let the others have beauty. I’ve got the charisma.

I think that Americans, they love comfort more than Europeans. Americans created the T-shirt, the sweat pants, and they create the best sporting shoes.

If you don’t want to get bored with what you’re doing, you have to change.

I think that ballet is very good for the body. It’s very similar to yoga, because you have to hold a position.

Fashion has a political role insofar as following it can give you the impression to belonging to a certain social group or a private club.

We are very luck to be women, so even if we’re wearing trousers, I always wear them with some lace underwear or a very feminine bra – I like that.

When everything is good, maybe I think it’s the time to do something else.

The reason I call my book ‘Irreverent’ is because there were a lot of pictures that were very irreverent. Maybe I could call my book ‘Forgiving’ because maybe I made a lot of errors, too.

When I was young, no one got married. Now, all the young people, they want to get married, they want security. Now that my children’s friends are getting married, I go to more weddings than I ever did when I was young.

I get an award for being the best dressed, but at the end of the day I’m not Daphne Guinness. I don’t like people to look at me for my dress. The letter is more important than the envelope. But if you feel good in your envelope, then you will feel better about yourself.

‘Vogue’ is a very specific world. You are ‘Vogue,’ or not ‘Vogue.’

Blogs are quite a new development – now, everyone wants to know you, everyone wants to know everything about you. And you can build a following that way. In a way, it’s a good thing if you want to create a buzz around yourself.

I mix talents and friendship, which is not very professional, but it’s my way of thinking. So I love Azzedine Alaia, because I’ve known him for 30 years, and he’s making my dresses most of the time.

If you listen too much, you won’t be able to create.

When in doubt, wear a suit. Look at male politicians: you see them in a suit, and they look fine. But if you see a picture of them on the weekend or on vacation, there’s a good chance they look terrible and unstylish.

Working for a magazine, you have a boss; you are not free.

If I like a make-up artist’s look, even if nobody knows about her, I use her. New people give me energy.

I want more women to run countries. There’d be more peace on Earth.

I don’t have a big appetite. I don’t eat a lot, to be honest – never. I’m a bit like a little bird, picking all day long, but I’m not getting pasta or getting all those things, you know?

I do think fashion is fun! Much more than people think.

My name has become a brand – it could be make-up, clothing, perfume.

I was the muse of Tom Ford and Gucci for years, but that was a long time ago.

I hate people who over intellectualize. It bores me deeply.

When you’re getting old, obviously you try to put on the best cream, you have massages, you try to stay beautiful, but I think wrinkles can sometimes be more beautiful than having none.

I started wearing high heels when I first worked with Mario Testino. He is tall; I had to be at his height. And I have never stopped since then.

When you give a lot of confidence in people and you don’t get it back, you are a bit disappointed, but it’s life.

One time, a burglar came to my apartment, so we called the police. My son was here, so I think they left before they tried to steal something. So the police come to my apartment, and they say, ‘Oh my God, did they steal everything?’ I was like, ‘No, it was like that!’

When you’re writing, you’re on your own, and I like to work as a team.

The hair and makeup is very important in a fashion picture. When I create a look for a girl, it starts with the makeup. Sometimes it takes an entire day to find the look.

I am not mean at all; I am not tough at all.

My father was very chic. My mum was always encouraging me. Some parents would say, ‘Why don’t you be a lawyer, a doctor, or something more important?’ They never said that.

It’s funny, everything is so much easier when you do it yourself.

There are too many 50-year-olds dressing as 20-year-olds.

I am very lucky in that I can eat what I want and don’t have to follow any special diet.

Each morning, you dress to become a different woman. Fashion helps.

I’m not bad-looking, but I’m not a beauty, either.

Even though jeans suit me, I never wear jeans.

A magazine is not just one person. And a fashion shoot is the same!

I think I have character, and that is what people like in me.

Either you are a good Virgo or a crazy Virgo! The good Virgo side of me is educating and raising the children – being there for them.

I love curvy women. Maybe because I’m not. I would love to be a Marilyn Monroe, but I’m very far away from that… So I love very curvy girls.

I think that each women, whatever age, needs to recognise something good in her body. Someone has beautiful legs, someone has beautiful hair, someone else has beautiful dГ©colletage or a beautiful waist or beautiful hands. Everyone has something great.

What is chic is just to be perfect, like magical, no?

I need a lot of black on my eyes and a little shot of vodka to be brave, because you’re beautiful when you relax.

People think I only wear new clothes, that I’m very trendy, but I like classic things on me, to mix with a trendy pair of shoes.

I think that each woman, whatever age, needs to recognize something good in her body. Someone has beautiful legs, someone has beautiful hair, someone else has beautiful decolletage or a beautiful waist or beautiful hands. Everyone has something great.

I think the ‘Harpers Bazaar’ woman is not a fashion victim; she understands fashion but is not a victim, you know.

Bleaching eyebrows makes me crazy.

When Tom Ford asked me to consult for Gucci, I had never consulted in my life. I didn’t know what consulting was, and look, we made something amazing.

I am from the age of magazines, so the Internet is terrifying to me. But I am learning.

Most makeup campaigns are not in black and white.

It’s interesting to know how much you are worth.

I love the noise of my wooden clogs on my wooden floor. Dancers wear clogs. They’re good for you.

Once you start being a muse, you cannot stop being a muse.

Just because someone is holding a gun doesn’t make an image controversial. It all depends on where you put the gun, who is holding it.

There are people who give you the confidence that you’re lacking and once you have confidence, you’re free and finally you can let out what’s inside of you.

You discover yourself through the research of your work.

Only buy clothes that you plan to keep forever. It’s important to see trends for what they are: a game.