Andre Leon Talley

I think it's important that models be healthy.

What's that show? 'TMZ'? They stand there and say, 'I've got this on this person.' The focus on celebrities can be detrimental because people could be thinking of other things, but it's a part of the culture and it's what sells.

Money isn't everything, but it is when you start thinking about putting money away for your retirement days.

If you're going to be a model, what's going to get you the job on a go-see and makes you stand out, it might not be your lipstick or your portfolio or what you're wearing, it might come from your core being.

Look at 'American Idol,' which I don't look at. Those winners haven't become household names except for Jennifer Hudson, and she was a reject. You can't aim to be a household name. You just have to be successful.

The happiest moments of my childhood were spent on my grandmother's front porch in Durham, N.C., or at her sister's farmhouse in Orange County, where chickens paraded outside the kitchen's screen door and hams were cured in the smokehouse.

At an early age I discovered the beauty in pictures in 'Vogue' magazine and Ebony magazine, and I would read 'The New York Times.' I had to make my own world within my world because I was an only child.

Beauty is health. Health is beauty.

The little black dress expresses a moment of freedom and individuality every time.

I watch Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and Chris Matthews. That's what I watch every night. By the time I've watched them, I don't have time to watch reality TV shows.

I'd like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of young people - that I nurtured someone and taught them to pursue their dreams and their careers, to leave a legacy.

One my favorite things is to go to the provinces of Russia and see the 18th century wood churches with the onion dome architecture. These humble wonders of incredible imagination of architects that were obviously not living in places like Paris or London, but they've created these amazing churches.