50 of the Most Iconic Fashion Quotes of All Time

(Image credit: Getty)

By Joseph Errico published 21 May 20

In the immortal words of Heidi Klum: "In fashion, one day you're in and the next you're out." And while this may be true, a well-placed maxim can surely outlive one's fashionability. Some fashion quotes have become so iconic that they now live far beyond their initial context and have entered fully into the pop-culture vernacular. By now, who doesn't know that "florals for spring" are "groundbreaking" thanks to Miranda Priestly, or that Carrie Bradshaw likes her "money right where I can see it: hanging in my closet"? Fashion designers create the clothes that shape the way we look, so why should they not also provide us with a motto or two about we should live—to help guide us to be the most stylish and fashionable versions of ourselves? So whether they be words to live by, be inspired by, or just a perfectly bitchy backhanded quip to make you cackle, to follow are some musings on fashion, style and a life well-lived.

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1/50

Azzedine Alaïa

"I make clothes, women make fashion."

2/50

Giorgio Armani

"The difference between style and fashion is quality."

3/50

Cristóbal Balenciaga

"Elegance is elimination."

4/50

Pierre Balmain

"The trick of wearing a mink coat is to look as though you were wearing a cloth coat. The trick of wearing a cloth coat is to look as though you are wearing a mink."

5/50

Isabella Blow

"My style icon is anyone who makes a bloody effort."

6/50

Naomi Campbell

"You better check your lipstick before you come and talk to me."

7/50

Marchesa Luisa Casati

"Women of the world today dress alike. They are like so many loaves of bread. To be beautiful one must be unhurried. Personality is needed. There is too much sameness. The world seems only to have a desire for more of this sameness. To be different is to be alone."

8/50

Coco Chanel

"Dress like you are going to meet your worst enemy today."

9/50

Jean Cocteau

"The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off."

10/50

Ann Demeulemeester

"Good fashion for me is like rock ‘n’ roll—there’s always a little rebellion in it."

11/50

Christian Dior

"There is no such thing as an ugly woman—there are only ones who do not know how to make themselves attractive."

12/50

Tom Ford

"Dressing well is a form of good manners."

13/50

Thomas Fuller

"Good clothes open all doors."

14/50

John Galliano

"Style is wearing an evening dress to McDonalds, wearing heels to play football. It is personality, confidence and seduction."

15/50

Valentino Garavani

"Elegance is the balance between proportion, emotion and surprise."

16/50

Jean-Paul Gaultier

"It’s always the badly dressed people who are most interesting."

17/50

Hubert de Givenchy

"The little black dress is the hardest thing to realize because you must keep it simple."

18/50

Rudi Gernreich

"Fashion will go out of fashion."

19/50

Edith Head

"You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it."

20/50

Marc Jacobs

"Life is a fashion show, the world is your runway."

21/50

Rei Kawakubo

"For something to be beautiful it doesn’t have to be pretty."

22/50

Junior LeBeija

"Come on, now. It is a known fact, that a woman do carry an evening bag at dinnertime. There is no getting around that!...An evening bag is a must. You have to carry something. No lady is sure at night."

23/50

Karl Lagerfeld

"Trendy is the last stage before tacky."

24/50

Fran Lebowitz

"I don't believe in God, I believe in cashmere."

25/50

Christian Louboutin

"A good shoe is one that doesn’t dress you but undresses you."

26/50

Alexander McQueen

"Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment."

27/50

Polly Mellen

"Style doesn’t have seasons."

28/50

Isaac Mizrahi

"Remember this: No one is looking at your imperfections; they’re all too busy worrying about their own."

29/50

Edina Monsoon

"Lacroix, sweetie."

30/50

Franco Moschino

"Good taste doesn’t exist. It is our taste. We have to be proud of it."

31/50

Thierry Mugler

"Fashion is a movie. Every morning when you get dressed you direct yourself."

32/50

Rick Owens

"The coolest thing is when you don’t care about being cool anymore. Indifference is the greatest aphrodisiac—that’s what really sums up style for me."

33/50

Dorothy Parker

"If you wear a short enough skirt, the party will come to you."

34/50

Paul Poiret

"It is what a woman leaves off, not what she puts on that gives her cachet."

35/50

Miuccia Prada

"Fashion is instant language."

36/50

Mary Quant

"The fashionable woman wears clothes. The clothes don’t wear her."

37/50

Carine Roitfeld

"I think you are born chic. You cannot be chic. It is something you cannot learn."

38/50

RuPaul

"We’re all born naked, the rest is drag."

39/50

Sonia Rykiel

"How can you live the high life if you do not wear the high heels?"

40/50

Yves Saint Laurent

"We must never confuse elegance with snobbery."

41/50

Elsa Schiaparelli

"In difficult times fashion is always outrageous."

42/50

Patsy Stone

"You can never have enough hats, gloves and shoes."

43/50

Donatella Versace

"What is comfortable fashion? To be comfortable, that can’t be in the vocabulary of fashion. If you want to be comfortable, stay home in your pajamas."

44/50

Gianni Versace

"You dress elegant women. You dress sophisticated women. I dress sluts."

45/50

Diana Vreeland

"A little bad taste is like a splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste—it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. NO taste is what I’m against."

46/50

Andy Warhol

"I’d rather buy a dress and put it up on the wall than put up a painting, wouldn’t you?"

47/50

Oscar Wilde

"You can never be overdressed or overeducated."

48/50

Harry Winston

"People will stare. Make it work their while."

49/50

Anna Wintour

"Either you know fashion or you don't."

50/50

Yohji Yamamoto

"Fashion cannot make you sexy. Experience makes you sexy. Imagination makes people sexy. You have to train yourself, you have to study. and you have to live your life."

Joseph Errico

Joseph Errico is Marie Claire’s Fashion Director. As a career-long fashion editor and celebrity stylist, he has had the opportunity to work alongside the world’s top image makers and talent. He has styled editorial and advertising, red carpet, music videos, fashion shows and writes about fashion, culture and most anything bon vivant-y for marieclaire.com. He feels most at home in an airport lounge, a beach, a disco or gossiping front row at the collections. His blood type is Gaultier.