Quotes from Zac Posen

Fashion has a dark side - it's not all runways and lipstick and fishtail gowns.

The most significant pieces for me are the ones that come from my drapings. It's emotional because they are created by my hand and then become a collaborative process in the atelier.

Sometimes, late at night on the set of 'Project Runway,' I've been known to pop an interpretive dance.

I'm not a chef. But I'm passionate about food - the tradition of it, cooking it, and sharing it.

Since the beginning of my career, I have publicly dressed and represented women of all sizes, of all colors. And that's a big part of who I am and what I want to give to the world.

New York ladies all look immaculate.

As a designer, I'm not interested in trend.

A great trick for frying is to put a popcorn kernel in the oil, and when it pops, you're ready to fry.

Beyond fashion, I think that culture has a side where they love to shoot you up like a clay pigeon and then take out their rifles. I lived that, and I got to see the perspective from up in the sky.

I believe that creativity is an important human experience and element in the same way as sleeping, eating, having sex.

At the end of the day, you're not defined, I don't believe, by your financial means. That doesn't make you a better person or a smarter person.

So many people are following fashion now. It's become fashion-tainment.

There's not one major greatest influence on my career. It would be film and great artists and great imagineers - Jim Henson, Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, people who understand the joy of the imagination.

Listen, I'm not a rich kid. I'm a cultured kid; I'm very rich in culture.

I always end up in the kitchen at restaurants. At events or parties, too, I like to see where my food is prepared or made. I like the theater of it.

Some of the best kitchen discoveries come about through total kitchen disasters.

I'm interested in the opportunity that people can self-create using social media and the online dialogue. Before social media, you needed to have a lot of personal funds to break through to hire the right people and build a presence to start a line. It gives the opportunity and platform for people to be discovered.

I cherish my time off and the solitude that comes along with it.

I started cooking out of middle school depression.

I'm quite a tuxedo junkie, I collect them all year round.

I don't wear flip-flops, so my casual shoe is a Brooks Brothers tuxedo slipper!

When I'm on the road for fashion shows, I love room service. I think it's one of the greatest things in the world. I usually like to keep it simple with soup, but my big indulgence is French fries or chicken fingers.

I have so many fashion mistakes, but that's part of being in fashion. I think the people that you see make the most mistakes are usually the best dressers.

To me, the more dialogue amongst creative types, the better. It keeps people on their toes, and competition is healthy.