36 Inspirational Fashion Quotes

Have you ever wondered what fashion is? Defining fashion as a social phenomenon can be challenging, and although fashion is a broad subject, some aspects of it are obvious – fashion is constantly changing and strives for the new. Fashion can also be viewed as imaginative and artificial, in contrast to reality and nature. Sometimes fashion provides an alternative to reality or serves as a temporary escape from reality and presents a new version of nature. At times, fashion draws inspiration from nature. Thus, what is
fashion?

By trying to find the most accurate definitions of fashion, I discovered some insightful fashion quotes from some legendary personalities and collected them together. Today, I want to share these iconic fashion quotes that provide a deeper understanding of the fashion world and may inspire you to view fashion in a whole new light. Perhaps, these quotes will even motivate and enhance your daily life.

"Fashion is the mirror of history." – Louis XIV of France

"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." – Diana Vreeland

"Fashion should therefore be considered as a symptom of the love for the ideal that floats in the human brain above all that natural life accumulates that is coarse, earthly and foul, like a sublime deformation of nature, or rather a series of unceasing and successive attempts to reform nature." – Charles Baudelaire

"A couturier must be an architect for design, a sculptor for shape, a painter for colour, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher for temperance." – Cristobal Balenciaga

"Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well." – Vivienne Westwood

"Fashion is a craft and expression of a period of time, but it is not an art. It’s pretentious to be in awe of it." – Bill Blass

"Fashion is an art form – you might call it decorative or applied art as opposed to fine art, but what’s the distinction? Because the same amount of artistic expression goes into clothes, a piece of pottery or a painting." – Zandra Rhodes

"Fashion is more art than art is." – Andy Warhol

"The truly fashionable are beyond fashion." – Cecil Beaton

"There are sometimes people, or things, possessed of an invisible charm, a natural grace, that is impossible to define, and that one is forced to call the je ne sais quoi." – Montesquieu

"Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how–to road map to style. It’s about self-expression and, above all, attitude." – Iris Apfel

"Create your own style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others." – Anna Wintour

"Style begins by looking good naked. It’s a discipline. And if you don’t dress well every day, you lose the habit. It’s not about what you wear; but about how you live your life." – Oscar de la Renta

"Elegance is a physical quality. If a women doesn’t have it naked, she will never have it clothed." – Karl Lagerfeld

"The only real elegance is in the mind; if you have got that, the rest really comes from it." – Diana Vreeland

"Elegance is a question of personality, more than one’s clothing." – Jean Paul Gaultier

"Elegance doesn’t mean being noticed, it means being remembered." – Giorgio Armani

"Without elegance of the heart, there is no elegance." – Yves Saint Laurent

"Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who’s wearing it." – Yves Saint Laurent

"Perfection in dress consists of absolute simplicity, which is actually the best way to distinguish oneself." – Charles Baudelaire

"You can have anything in your life if you dress for it." – Edith Head

"The less you can afford for your frocks, the more care you must take with your accessories." – Christian Dior

"I have always thought of accessories as the exclamation point of a woman’s outfit." – Michael Kors

"Accessories are like vitamins to fashion." – Anna Dello Russo

"The best fashion accessory is a book." – Vivienne Westwood

"You can never take too much care over the choice of your shoes. Too many women think they are unimportant, but the real proof of an elegant woman is what is on her feet." – Christian Dior

"Shoes transform your body language and attitude. They lift you physically and emotionally." – Christian Louboutin

"If your hair is done properly and you are wearing good shoes, you can get away with anything." – Iris Apfel

"Fashions change and with rare exception are forgotten by the public. But the classic fragrances, like an invisible dress, endure. Fragrance must be introduced properly. A fragrance is like a signature, so that even after a woman leaves the room, her fragrance should reveal she’s been there." – Oscar de la Renta

"The beauty of fragrance is that it speaks to your heart... and hopefully someone else’s." – Elizabeth Taylor

"A perfume is an intimate object, it is the reflector of the heart." – Emanuel Ungaro

"Perfume is a form of writing, an ink, a choice made in the first person, the dot on the i, a weapon, a courteous gesture, part of the instant, a consequence." – Serge Lutens

"Perfume is that last and best reserve of the past, the one which, when all our tears have run dry, can make us cry again." – Marcel Proust

"If you love something, wear it all the time. Find things that suit you. This is how you look extraordinary." – Vivienne Westwood

"Being well-dressed hasn't much to do with having good clothes. It's a question of good balance and good common sense." – Oscar de la Renta

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." – Muccia Prada

Do you have a favourite fashion quote that inspires you or keeps you motivated? Maybe you have several? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, and we can all learn from each other.