Quotes from Donatella Versace

To be Catholic puts a lot of fear in you. It's a great religion, but also one that can limit your experience. You fear experience because everything is a sin.

To define the era we live in is very difficult. How do we define it? We define it by music.

Wear a fabulous smile, great jewelry and know that you are totally and utterly in control.

I'm like a little kid when it comes to music. I mean, the music is always blasting wherever I am that people always knock on my door and say, 'It's too loud!' But I think music gives so much inspiration.

In order to be responsible, you need some discipline in your life.

On a hanger, no dress is sexy. It's just fabric on a hanger.

I like perfume and flowers.

Fashion is all about happiness. It's fun. It's important. But it's not medicine.

In order to be responsible, you need some discipline in your life. For a while I lost mine.

I have worked with wool all my life as a designer. There's so much more to it than knitwear - it's an amazingly versatile material and can be used in so many different ways from chic to rustic.

It would be very easy for us to do a collection that everybody would like and not criticize. But criticism is a part of life. You have to take it.

In fashion, only sexy won't go out of fashion.

I'm a feminist. I want to fight, but I don't see many people with this desire to fight for something. Women don't help each other, especially in fashion.

You can have small moments of happiness in life. You certainly can't expect years and years of it.

Fashion needs fresh blood, and London is the most creative place for that.

Fashion is not frivolous.

As with most things in my life, I believe you should try to enjoy yourself and never feel like you are a slave to a routine.

Die and born again, die and born again. It's the story of my life.

I have an image of what a British gentleman looks like, and that image finds real expression in Prince Charles. He is beyond fashion - he is an archetype of style.

When I work, I wear pants usually because I want to be comfortable. I wear dark colors, especially in winter, because I don't want to concentrate on myself but on what I'm working on. Because I really, really love clothes, I can start to think too much about myself. It's distracting.

There's time to slow down, after you're dead.

Women should be sure of themselves because women have a lot of capacities. We can achieve so many different things that men cannot. I think women are stronger.

Women are all the same; we want to be smaller in the waist, longer legs, slimmer. I design for women and their defects, to make them better.

The first thing I do each morning is get out of bed and give my dog, Audrey, a hug. She's a Jack Russell. I think having an animal is a wonderful thing, particularly dogs. They are great levelers, there's no nonsense with them, and they just want simple affection.