Designer

I feel very strongly about dresses on every level - a dress feels like underpinning.

I start my day with a mind, body, soul practice - yoga, Pilates or meditation.

If I weren't doing what I'm doing today... I'd be traveling around the world on the back of a motorcycle.

My mother was a working woman, and I was alone a lot. So I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together.

I always thought I should have been a better mother.

Design and style should work toward making you look good and feel good without a lot of effort so you can get on with the things that matter.

Originally, back in 1992, DKNY started because I couldn't find a pair of jeans. I also wanted to dress my teenage daughter Gabby. So it was the perfect street wardrobe: jeans, anoraks, jumpsuits, boyfriend jackets, sweaters, skirts and dresses. Then DKNY grew into an entire lifestyle concept, including tailored clothes you wear to work.

I believe in comfort. If you don't feel comfortable in your clothes, it's hard to think of anything else.

Business, numbers, negotiations, all that stuff I wouldn't go near.

I really feel that we need to scale back and get to what is important on so many levels.

I always thought what you wore underneath was as important as what you wear on top.

I'd rather promote New York than anything else in this world because New York to me means the world.

Everything comes out of what works for me.

Delete the negative; accentuate the positive!

We've come a long way. Power dressing now is designed to let the woman inside us come through.

I'm really quite simple.

I design from instinct. It's the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut.

Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable.

Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul.