I couldn't have asked for a better testimonial than Bob Dylan parting with his own cash for a pair of my shoes.

I love Italy, and that's where I make my own shoes. But the French really do respect designers. Italy is totally different; footwear is an industry. The shoes are all about craft and luxury. French shoes are more about straight lines, and they are way more geometric.

I love talking in lira because, suddenly, everything is in billions.

Rock stars love Cuban heels because a lot of them tend to be diminutive. And I've never met a man who doesn't mind having an extra inch or two anywhere on his body.

As a little girl growing up in Southside Jamaica Queens, if anyone would've told me I'd have my own perfume one day, and be able to inspire young black girls everywhere, to go into Macy's or Nordstrom's and see their face staring back at them - I wouldn't believe them.

Usually, when inspiration strikes late, the light of day reveals that I haven't gotten an idea for a book so much as a psychiatric case study.

That's the thing about dreams - they're ineffable. If you can get to the bottom of it, it's not a dream.

I don't think I am avant-garde. I made a lot of creations and created harmony with my fabrics, but I was not like Balenciaga, for example, although he was, of course, a great inspiration.