"He gave no sign of any great desire to persevere with music or painting, despite his obvious eye for the latter. The idea of creativity obsessed but not to the point of renouncing his spectator status."

“I'm a mild man, but I have violent tastes.”

“I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape.”

“Women, with their sure instincts, realized that my intention was to make them not just more beautiful but also happier.”

“Bright reds – scarlet, pillar-box red, crimson or cherry – are very cheerful and youthful.”

“I know very well the women. The short skirt was never a good fashion — very vulgar. The American women will accept the new fashions. You can never stop the fashions.”

“My mother whom I adored, secretly wasted away and died of grief…; her death…marked me for life.”