Most of our models have just walked in off the streets, although I also find them on countless trips to Europe - particularly Scandinavia. I operate by instinct. It's a process I cannot explain, but the prettiest girl on the block is not always the best model.
I never worry about fat people worrying about thin people, because slender people bury the dead.
I live in a wonderful world of make-believe. A world of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. A world of Winnie the Pooh and Edward Bear. Things like that. Wonderful things. Funny things.
Jerry didn't know he wanted to get married until he was married.
I feel that my ideas of beauty have been given very strong backing by Botticelli and a few others: Slender hands, long neck, long limbs - look at Nefertiti. She was very teensy-weensy with a long neck and wide-spaced eyes.
American women mean a great deal to me. They're such lost souls, particularly the women of my generation. And women need so much help. They never have anyone to turn to. I help them understand how they can look better, how to do this, do that, get a job. And they're very trusting. Like little lost kids.
I can't add above 10, I can't draw a stick figure, and I'm tone deaf. So I had to be able to do something. I found that something was picking successful models.
I'm afraid to go to sleep; I don't like to lose control of myself. I don't like chauffeurs, either. I like to be in charge of my own destiny.
I really prefer light-eyed models, They photograph more easily. Of course, I come from a light-eyed background, so maybe that influenced my taste.
I had a nice, pert nose but a plain round face and a mop of curly brown hair. That was not the photograph of a successful model.
I got everything I wanted from my parents: Brooks Brothers sweaters and Spalding saddle shoes.
None of the people I grew up with had identity problems. We all had perfectly marvelous lives.
My family believed I could do no wrong. That's probably why I have utter confidence in myself even when I shouldn't have.
The horrible thing about being me is that I have a very good eye about what people look like. Even me.
I create a look, and I create a style.
Grace Kelly was a very commercial model; she had no interest in being a fashion model. None at all.
I interview about three thousand models yearly, and I must see almost 20 tons of excess avoirdupois annually.
Our business was built on trust.
Most models are emotionally abandoned. They need me. I'm their mother.
Models are a business, and they have to treat themselves as a business, which means they have to take care of themselves and give up all the young joys.
