Things people say about fashion

'Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes'.

Irene Silvagni: I think there is something about this industry that attracts people with very strong egos, male and female, and that can unleash a sort of hysteria at times.

Lucinda Chambers:  The most authentic company I ever worked for is Marni. We didn’t advertise, and what we showed on the catwalk we always produced. 

Nathalie Ours: In the 1980s fashion was still fun; there were no real rules yet. There were fewer brands so each designer occupied a much greater share of the market. Now there are so, so many brands.

Jean-Jacques Picart: A good collection is one that fulfils three key points. You have to present things that are already known, as well as others that are the same but with a slight twist. And then you have to present things that are completely new. Buyers never buy the thing that’s completely new – those serve as research for the following season. A designer also has to show that he understands the codes of the house: that we’re at Isabel Marant and not Haider Ackermann. The bulk of the show has to be recognisable looks but with new proportions, colours or a slightly different silhouette – that’s what will appeal to your buyers. And the completely new thing is what appeals to the press – it’s what we think of as risk-taking. And it’s what the buyers will order next season, when it already feels familiar. Few young designers understand this equation; they think that repeating themselves makes for bad design. They don’t understand that the focal point of their house is the product, and that the customer has to have a sense of familiarity.

Diana Vreeland - 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.

Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a shopaholic: I love new clothes. If everyone could just wear new clothes everyday, I reckon depression wouldn’t exist anymore. 

Glenn O’Brien: What I see around me is only heartache and misery. Vanity. Enslavement of Third World people. People thinking that they are more important than they are. People without consciousness or principles. That’s the corporate world of fashion we have today.

Jean-Jacques Picart: The generation of designers who are rising in the ranks today understand that they have to cater to the laws of commerce if they want to survive. They know that the era of John Galliano and Alexander McQueen is over.

Indecent – 10 years before its time
Shameless – 5 years before its time
Outré (Daring) – 1 year before its time
Smart – ‘Current Fashion’
Dowdy – 1 year after its time
Hideous – 10 years after its time
Ridiculous – 20 years after its time
Amusing – 30 years after its time
Quaint – 50 years after its time
Charming – 70 years after its time
Romantic – 100 years after its time
Beautiful – 150 years after its time

James Laver:  Laver’s Law, from 'Taste and Fashion' 1945.