Top 58 Quotes & Sayings by Betsey Johnson

It is a special, weird thing being a cheerleader. You need to want to yell and perform, dance, and wear a cute little costume. It's a thing you're kind of born with or without.

I hate to say it, but the truth is that the upscale line is where I get respect as a designer. The higher the price range, the higher the respect level from the industry, even though it's much easier to make a great $500 dress than a great $100 dress.

My prom dress was very sweet, very puffy, but I also wore little stiletto, pointed-toe heels, nylon hosiery, the whole nine yards.

With over 3 million women battling breast cancer today, everywhere you turn there is a mother, daughter, sister, or friend who has been affected by breast cancer.

I just feel the traditional runway format is old-fashioned.

I've always been very into interior design, and I can't stand to have anything in my apartment that I don't aesthetically love.

I realized that my strength was being different.

I was a cheerleader for nine years!

I've always been a little off, but it's worked really well for me, and it still works. After so many years, you have a look, you become a brand, la la la.

I couldn't live if I wasn't a designer.

Just to see what a pink dress can mean to a woman, any woman, but a disabled woman, that's extra special and thrilling because they shouldn't be separated and their disabilities don't have to separate them in anyway.

If I hadn't decided to be a fashion designer, I would have loved to be a Broadway showgirl or a Rockette!

Accessories design is one of the most creative categories. It's like cooking, like decorating, because it involves the person. They have to choose, and they have to figure out how to wear it and to mix it based on their style.

I don't feel comfortable without my makeup on. I've got to have my lipstick! I just don't feel like the same person, and I don't like the way I look without makeup.

Oh, I love the kids more than any other age group. I hate to say that, but new life is with new kids, you know? They're the future. The sheer fact that they're young and eager, that's what makes them rule.

I don't like to have time on my wall; it's too-in-your-face.

I never studied fashion design.

I'm not the type of person who dwells too much on bad things.

If a girl comes to me first for a prom or a bar mitzvah and she likes the way she looks and her boyfriend likes the way she looks, she'll come back.

My customer isn't wrapped up in labels and money.

You have to hold onto your fantasy.

Hard times always lead to something great.

As long as I look good, I'm very happy - and as long as I look consistently me.

In the '60s, I'd wear three pairs of eyelashes. Now they make them that thick, but back then they didn't, so you had to kind of build your own.

I love New York. You want to find out if you're any good? Try New York. Who sang that? Frank Sinatra? If you make it here, you can make it anywhere.

I would've been a really good costume designer because, basically, my clothes were like costumes, and I wanted to be a dancer, so there's all of that tulle and color.

If it hadn't been for the rise of the working woman's wardrobe, I never would have found the time to sneak a kid in.

It's just been so heartwarming to see my clothes on people in wheelchairs and people needing physical support.

There is an excitement about having nightmares.

I remember in 2004, I had three gorgeous transgender models on the runway. That was my strength, in a way. That I did what I thought was gonna work, and I never paid attention to the industry's rules.

A good use for me is to let me go away with my sewing machine and come back with some really new stuff.

My makeup hasn't really changed since the 1960s!

If I could choose to have one superpower, I would want to be able to make everyone love everyone!

My favorite song will always be 'Layla' by Derek and the Dominos, because my granddaughter was named after it.

In the 60's there was a look. In the 70's there was a look, and in the 80's. Now, it's a free-for-all.

I was always dancing and acrobatics was my specialty.

I never wanted to be on a pedestal.

Real success is being totally indulgent about your own trip. You put your blinders on about the garbage and go full speed ahead.

I just get makeup from wherever I can. From Maybelline to Chanel - you know, all over the place.

Celebrate the idea that you don't fit in. Find your own fit. Stay unique.

I just did what I loved - flowers and rock n' roll. Pretty and punk. I was largely inspired by my dancing school classes and costumes.

I can't wear a little makeup. I have to wear a lot of makeup or no makeup.

I used to design for my body, which was flat-chested with big hips. That's why my clothes were tight on top with full skirts.

My favorite era was the '60s because it was filled with incredible creative newness, from panty hose to landing on the moon to Twiggy and Andy Warhol - I loved them, and they loved to wear my silver clothes.

When you're designing clothing, you really only have one point of focus, and that's the body. But home is fabrics and furniture and floors and natural light. If fashion is a planet, home is more like a universe.

In the 60?s there was a look. In the 70?s there was a look, and in the 80?s. Now, it's a free-for-all.

Girls don't dress for boys.

Keep your sunny side up, keep yourself beautiful, and indulge yourself!

At any appearance, I make sure that before the person takes a pic and runs away, that I make contact. All I can do is give that little bit of me, the kickback is miraculous.

I never keep anything beautiful in the closet.

I never wanted to join fashion industry or being another Donna or another Dianne. I made clothes that I wanted to wear. I would cut, I would sew and I would wear, and it made me to feel better.

Love is a disease of the heartin the end, there is no treatment curable and it might just kill you.

[In the 1960s]...you could take LSD but you couldn't wear a pantsuit.

Always have fun with fashion. Dress to entertain yourself.

Making clothes involves what I like...color, pattern, shape and movement...I like the everyday process...the people, the pressure, the surprise of seeing the work come alive walking and dancing around on strangers. Like red lipstick on the mouth, my products wake up and brighten and bring the wearer to life...drawing attention to her beauty and specialness...her moods and movements...her dreams and fantasies.

Girls do not dress for boys. They dress for themselves, of course, each other. If girls dressed for boys, they'd just walk around naked at all times.

I'm usually the sparkle in a closet full of conservative clothes. Either that or my customer has a closet full of my clothes and a few conservative suits from Calvin Klein. I think you've got to give a girl what's missing from her closet. If something jazzy, tacky or sexy is what's missing, I provide it.

I was a cheerleader for nine years.