I buy so much fake jewelry, it's funny. It's not real. I don't wear real diamonds or anything.
Kate Spade
I remember someone once said there is a practical aspect to my designs, and I remember thinking, 'That doesn't sound so creative,' but that is actually the truth. There is a practicality to it. I don't design just to design. There is a reason and, hopefully, an interesting reason behind it - that is where my creativity comes in.
I was preppy, then suddenly switched around age 14. I asked my mother to go to this vintage store, and she let me buy a leopard swing coat, pink cigarette pants, and lime-green gloves.
I like my stationery to be funnier, like, 'Here's my note, and it's an elephant with a lady smoking a cigarette on top.'
I think the details and the quality are so important that it has to have an emotional tug. Even if it's the simplest shoe, it has to have something that says, 'Oh, I have to have you.'
I loved fashion, I really did, but I was not obsessed with it. I wanted to be behind the scenes, like in that movie 'Broadcast News.' Holly Hunter - her I wanted to be.
The best thing about being a business owner is that you get to run your own schedule.
Our family has dinner together every night - you can tell that my daughter wants to run. After dinner, I go up to my room and immediately put on my pajamas. I mean, immediately. I read some things that I haven't read yet, and I jump into bed.
My mother was very good at encouraging me to dress however I wanted to dress. My sisters would sometimes think, 'Oh my God, you let her buy that fuzzy leopard coat at that vintage store?' I thought, of course, I looked like Audrey Hepburn.
I hope that people remember me not just as a good businesswoman but as a great friend - and a heck of a lot of fun.
When you're trying to be a parent and a businessperson at the same time, that is the most stressful thing you could do.
I love beauty.
Starting at 11, I was a movie-theater popcorn girl, a babysitter, a sales clerk - in the Midwest, they start them early!
Before I came to New York, I only had a few pictures of the city in my mind. And you know 'That Girl?' Marlo Thomas jumping with her hat? I always loved that, and I wondered what that double street she crosses is. And it's Park Avenue! And that's what I can see out my window.
I collect books - a lot of books.
I love lamps. I can't stand overhead lighting. I have to have everything on a dimmer.
I work from home a lot. I think I get as much work done at the office as at home, and I'm used to working with people who don't work in the office. I don't really care where they are, even if they're on a banana leaf somewhere. If they deliver their work, I am completely fine. I don't need someone sitting at their desk to produce.
I find color optimistic and enthusiastic, and I adore it.
If you're as honest and fair as you can be, not only in business but in life, things will work out.
I really wish I worried less.
'Frances' is a longtime family name on my dad's side. My grandfather, father, brother, and my daughter's name is Frances.
I didn't grow up thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to be a designer.'
Sometimes I shoot out of bed like it's a relay race, and I'm on the phone, leaving voice mails.
I'm admittedly not that into the Internet.
Every time I go to the market, Andy says, 'Don't forget the Triscuits!'
The idea of recklessly spending money - even though it sounds like it's lots of fun, it's fashion - isn't interesting to me. It is a business.
I love Comme des Garcons. I think everything she touches is almost like gold. And she does it so quietly. No branding.
I like a full house because it's how I grew up. I'm one of six children.
People have this impression that I'm a little kooky, but I'm actually very OCD. I love order and organization. I'm a big list maker. But if I cross off too many tasks, and it's hard to see the remaining ones, I have to start a new list. Now that's OCD.
No one realizes how hard parenthood is. I am not saying going into the office is easy. It's not. But parenthood, as fun as it is, is not for the fainthearted.
If I run, I'm much healthier - I run on a treadmill.
Being a mother adds an enormous amount of stress to your life. You need to make sure you're there for everything.
I do things that I actually love and understand.
Students were pulled aside to spend more time in art class, and I wasn't one of them.
Everyone loves to get a letter. I love sending them. I love getting them.
