Carine Roitfeld Quotations

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.

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

I'm not a superhero - I'm a super worker!

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 have good legs, so I prefer my skirt lengths and my high heels. It's like my uniform.

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

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.

I think it's difficult to do fashion for men, because either you become very over-homosexual fashion or very boring fashion. You don't want a boy who looks 15 in a little pair of shorts with some strange art... But to see just a jacket and tie is boring.

Amidst globalisation, trends are becoming worldwide, so it's important to take a unique approach to what fashion has to offer. Be yourself in the middle of it all; fashion shouldn't be 'try hard.'

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.

When you love fashion, there is no weekend. Everything just blends together.

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.

Ballet is good, because it makes you stand up tall.

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

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

I don't like intellectuals, or, at least, people who call themselves that way, because I am under the impression that there is always something condescending in their demeanour, and I don't like condescending people.

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

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.

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

Karl Lagerfeld looks very tough because of the glasses, and he has all these rings and the leather gloves, and he's so smart. But he's a very nice person... when he comes into a room or studio, he is going to say hello to each person, and the same when he leaves.

Pregnancy is something that I always love. It's about hope and the future and a new baby.

When I left French 'Vogue,' New York welcomed me with a big, big hug.

It is good to be in front of the lens to appreciate more being behind the lens.

I made a big family when I was working at 'Vogue' for ten years, and I'm still friends with a lot of them.

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.

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.

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.

Fashion is a language, for sure, and it is a reflection of society.

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.

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

I'm not a nostalgic person: I never look back; I always forget.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you're working with a really good photographer.

I'm not a Facebook girl. Even though there is a fake Facebook with my name, it's not me. I'm not on Twitter; it's not me.

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

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

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

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.

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

Most makeup campaigns are not in black and white.

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

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

I'm not a business girl. I will never be a business girl, but I will say, for Anna Wintour, that I respect successful people; I like things that are success.

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

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

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

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.

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

'Vogue' is a bigger name than my name.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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!'

Look at someone like Steve Jobs. His look wasn't very special - black turtleneck and jeans - but he had style. He looked the same, and you knew it was him when you saw him. Plus, he was a very smart person, which is also very attractive. His style was simple, not distracting, and very strong.

People might think I'm very hard, what with my black make-up, my hair over my eyes, etc. My innocence didn't always help me, but it did preserve something in me that maybe others don't have anymore. I'm inside my bubble, you could say, and thankfully so, because I don't think daily life is always great. It protects me.

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.

In a way, I envy the freedom artists have. Artists can push themselves beyond their limits, in pursuit of their ideas and their vision, even if they are inhabited by demons that can also play tricks on them.

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.

Becoming a grandmother brought me back to the things I forgot to love. Nature. Playing. Seeing animals. A new way of looking. A rejuvenation. A cycle of life - things come back to you. The details.

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

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

I have a lot to say about fashion - not just about fashion, but beauty, art.

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

A lot of rumours on the Internet are wrong and horrible.

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

Dancing is the last sport with no sponsor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be a good model, you have to be very smart.

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

We are very lucky to work in fashion and not work in a hospital or something where the biggest deal we come across is perhaps the length of a skirt.

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

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

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

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