From Coco Chanel to Marc Jacobs and Bill Cunningham, words to live by from fashion’s greatest forces.

Words by Harper’s BAZAAR Staff

It can be difficult to articulate the power of style and fashion through words, but these icons managed to do so with quote-worthy, inspiring words of wisdom to live by. From the greatest fashion designers to legendary models and stylists, get inspired by these 87 quotes that will never go out of style.

 

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“Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.” —Diana Vreeland

“Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.” —Gianni Versace

“One is never over-dressed or under-dressed with a Little Black Dress.” —Karl Lagerfeld

“What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.” —Miuccia Prada

“I firmly believe that with the right footwear one can rule the world.” —Bette Midler

You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it. —Edith Head

“I like my money right where I can see it…hanging in my closet.” —Carrie Bradshaw

“I think there is beauty in everything. What ‘normal’ people perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it.”—Alexander McQueen

“Style is something each of us already has, all we need to do is find it.” —Diane von Furstenberg

“Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life.” —Bill Cunningham

“I don’t design clothes. I design dreams.” —Ralph Lauren

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” —Yves Saint Laurent

“How can you live the high life if you do not wear the high heels?” —Sonia Rykiel

“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” —Elsa Schiaparelli

Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them. —Marc Jacobs

“You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody. I’m not talking about lots of clothes.” —Diana Vreeland

“Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well.” —Vivienne Westwood

“You can never take too much care over the choice of your shoes. Too many women think that they are unimportant, but the real proof of an elegant woman is what is on her feet.” —Christian Dior

“Fashion is what you’re offered four times a year by designers. And style is what you choose.” —Lauren Hutton

“The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress.” —Hubert de Givenchy

“Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map to style. It’s about self expression and, above all, attitude.” —Iris Apfel

Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak. —Rachel Zoe

“Trendy is the last stage before tacky.” —Karl Lagerfeld

“People will stare. Make it worth their while.” —Harry Winston

“Elegance is elimination.” —Cristóbal Balenciaga

“Shoes transform your body language and attitude. They lift you physically and emotionally.” —Christian Louboutin

“Style is the only thing you can’t buy. It’s not in a shopping bag, a label, or a price tag. It’s something reflected from our soul to the outside world—an emotion.”—Alber Elbaz

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” —Coco Chanel

“We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.” —Yves Saint Laurent

Fashion is like eating, you shouldn’t stick to the same menu. —Kenzo Takada

“Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends.” —Kate Spade

“Elegance is not standing out, but being remembered.” —Giorgio Armani

“The hardest thing in fashion is not to be known for a logo, but to be known for a silhouette.” —Giambattista Valli

“I want people to see the dress, but focus on the woman.” —Vera Wang

“We have this saying, Christy and I. We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.” —Linda Evangelista

“I make clothes, women make fashion.” —Azzedine Alaïa

“What’s my style is not your style, and I don’t see how you can define it. It’s something that expresses who you are in your own way.” —Iris Apfel

“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who’s wearing it.” —Yves Saint Laurent

“Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness, simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” —Bo Derek

I don’t do fashion. I am fashion. —Coco Chanel

“Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is more about being yourself.” —Oscar de la Renta

“Girls do not dress for boys. They dress for themselves, and of course, each other. If girls dressed for boys, they’d just walk around naked at all times.” —Betsey Johnson

“The joy of dressing is an art.” —John Galliano

“Luxury is the ease of a T-shirt in a very expensive dress.” ―Karl Lagerfeld

“Being well dressed hasn’t much to do with having good clothes. It’s a question of good balance and good common sense.” —Oscar de la Renta

“A little bad taste is like a nice 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.” —Diana Vreeland

“The best things in life are free. The second best are very expensive.” —Coco Chanel

“When in doubt, wear red.” —Bill Blass

Elegance is good taste, plus a dash of daring. —Carmel Snow

“The way I dress depends on how I feel. I never have to psych myself up. Usually it just feels like it works.” —Rihanna

“Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.” —Francis Bacon

“Humor is a big part of my style. You have to be willing to fall on your face a bit, to be that fashion roadkill. I know so many people who are die-hard fashion people who are way more educated than I am, but I love fashion. It’s so much more important than just material.” —Zoë Kravitz

“To wear dreams on one’s feet is to begin to give a reality to one’s dreams.” —Roger Vivier

“I think we all know boldness when we see it. Nothing makes me smile more than when I see someone being fully themselves, with their own individual style and character, whatever that is.” —Angelina Jolie

“What I really do believe is that anybody—and it really doesn’t matter what shape your body is—can be seductive and sexy and gorgeous and beautiful. I use an extreme idea of beauty as a way of showing Céline, but I don’t believe it has to be like that outside of the fashion show.” —Phoebe Philo

“I think our bodies are beautiful, and I think celebrating them and being comfortable in them—no matter what age you are—is important. There shouldn’t be any kind of shame or discomfort around it.” —Jennifer Aniston

I may be a beginner at some things, but I’ve got a black belt in shopping. — Phyllis Nefler

“Fashion is a religion in one sense. Once upon a time, our brand was considered the sanctum sanctorum of fashion. I want to produce things that people really want to buy.” —Alessandro Michele

“As a woman gets older, it’s more about style than fashion. A woman knowing herself more and more, and looking for new things, is getting into her own personal style, being more than just a fashion addict. I’m interested in that.” —Nicolas Ghesquière

“I think fashion can do a lot. Fashion is very popular, so it can help broadcast a message and reach a new generation.” —Maria Grazia Chiuri

“The shoes set up the tone and attitude, they change the perception of the way one wears clothes, what we call in France le porté. It is not about length, but the juxtaposition or décalage of the shoes—high or low—with the rest of the proportions.” —Hedi Slimane

“There’s so much information now, and everybody sees everything. When we were young kids, we really wanted to shock, but you have to remember, it was the time of punk, and there was a lot of rebellion happening. It was a good thing. Now it’s a bit more conventional.” —Dries Van Noten

“Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed.” —Elle Woods

“I think the fashion is super serious and humor is suspect and people don’t always know how to approach it. Sometimes people have questioned whether I was making fun of the industry or just at myself. I’m just trying to raise a smile. Clothes aren’t meant to be worshipped at a church altar. I have a different approach to most designers.” —Jeremy Scott

On Wednesdays, we wear pink. —Karen Smith

“High and low isn’t such a novelty thing, it’s how young people interpret the life we’ve been given. It’s how we look at luxury brands, it’s how we look at heritage brands.” —Virgil Abloh

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they notice the woman.” —Coco Chanel

“Perseverance and resilience are key. I also try to remain true to my vision. The idea is to create go-to pieces for a woman’s wardrobe and her life—beautifully crafted pieces that a woman will love today, in two months, in two years, in five years—and to do that for as many women as possible.” —Narciso Rodriguez

“We are witnessing a ‘gender shift.’ I therefore design fashion at the service of it.” —Stefano Pilati

“Fluidity offers an alternate way of being, crossing and merging masculine and feminine.” —Harris Reed

“The common thread for me in my career is a championing boss who allowed me to soar. I know for many of the Black people in fashion, this is typically not the case.” —Sandrine Charles

“Diversity lasts when it no longer has to be the subject of a story.” —Robin Givhan

“As a young girl, I’ve always dreamed of having a career like this. I think it’s so important for me to be able to use my platform and to bring awareness, and especially during these times where there’s so much happening in the world. Everyone has a voice, and I think why not use that voice and help women, and tell them to also be bold and be able to break barriers.” —Imaan Hammam

“The work that I’m trying to do speaks to freedom. It speaks justice. And it also speaks to intelligence in terms of like, how can we not see what’s happening?” —Kenneth Ize

“I believe that you have to be ready for the open door, the opportunity. And I will work until they stop booking me.” —Coco Mitchell

“My commitment is to make a strong and modern collection without compromising my ethics and key values, taking into consideration where materials come from and who is making them—luxury with a conscience, or in other words, honest luxury.” —Gabriela Hearst

“We all have those go-to pieces in our closet that we keep for years and literally wear out before we retire them. I’m here to make the go-tos, the keepers.” —Jamie Okuma

“I don’t like to produce things in a factory. It seems stressful. If I produce stuff, I have to work with a small team. I don’t like working with a lot of people. I like the freedom of being creative.” —Tomo Koizumi

Care for your clothes like the good friends they are.” — Joan Crawford

“The zenith of elegance in any woman’s wardrobe is the little black dress, the power of which suggests dash and refinement.”— Andre Leon Talley

“Give a girl the right kind of shoes and she can rule the world.” — Marilyn Monroe

“Gather up your courage like an armful of free clothes at a McQueen sample sale and follow your inner voice wherever it takes you.” – Kelly Cutrone

“Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.” – Miranda Priestly

“Clothes aren’t going to change the world. The women who wear them are.” – Anne Klein

“If you love something, wear it all the time. Find things that suit you. This is how you look extraordinary.” – Vivienne Westwood

“Fashion as we knew it is over; people wear now exactly what they feel like wearing.” – Mary Quant

“One should always dress like a marble column.”– Jackie Kennedy

“Style is knowing what suits you, who you are, and what your assets are. It’s excepting it all.” – Bianca Jagger

 

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This article originally appeared on harpersbazaar.com