Top 54 Quotes & Sayings by Francisco Costa

Brazil is not what you see but what you feel. Once you spend time here - a week, two weeks - you get in the vibe. It's really intoxicating.

When I say art influences me, which it does, it's not at all in a literal form. You go and see exhibitions or collections or meet an artist. It's all a compilation. Every moment, at all times, all this information. Then all this information disappears, and it shows up later in the process.

I'm not an artist. I'm a fashion designer of clothes.

I have no tolerance for boredom. I spend so many hours in the office, and I still love it.

I don't listen to music when designing. We create in silence. I go through a torturous process because everything has to be precise and right.

I drape a lot. I cut. I have to touch. For me, it's almost impossible to start without that.

I cannot live without art: it excites me, it challenges me, and it leads me to the next thing.

My mom, she was unbelievable. She ran the whole town. She was like the mayor. There would be 15 people eating at our lunch table. She'd drag people from the street.

I'm inspired by many things, from landscapes to textiles. Art and architecture always influence my design process.

All the Tauruses I know have this connection to the earth and the environment. We are very curious people, very loyal, very aware of and respectful of our surroundings. Also, we're stubborn, but that's our way. We understand what we want, which is not bad.

I came to New York when I was 21, 22. I couldn't speak English. I knew I wanted to go to fashion school.

I'm so not interested in gossip. It just gives me the creeps. I love the work; I love what I do. If somebody sends me an interview that has any connotation of something that's not interesting or genuine, I'm not interested. I really detach myself from it.

I wonder if I would have been less organic of a designer without my background. Maybe I would be more academic about designing, more methodical. I want things to be a certain way, and I'm very precise, but school itself wasn't that relevant for me.

Milan, for me, is a city of discovery. You can find some amazing gardens behind some great houses; I also love finding beautiful galleries and incredible shops, but you have to explore. And the food is amazing.

People don't really go to museums in Rio. I shouldn't say it's not sophisticated, but, you know, they go to the beach.

I never liked sleeping; I always think I am missing something.

If you have beautiful knees, show your knees. I'm not a puritan. I love skin.

My love of fashion stemmed from my mother's passion for it.

Each season I strive to design a forward-thinking and effortless collection with a very clean minimalist aesthetic.

I hope the average woman feels she needs practicality but with a little bit of fantasy. Otherwise, it's just not fashion.

When people ask me what it is about Brazil and my work, it's not something that I can say literally. It's unidentifiable. It's like when you do research and things inspire you. If you're smart enough, then obviously you don't take it literally. The inspiration will come out later somehow.

When a sketch comes into this three-dimensional form and everybody contributes, it's really fantastic.

I don't love reading so much, but I love book shopping.

I came to New York in 1986. My father didn't think it was a good idea. I didn't know how I found it, but I went to Hunter College. I had no money and I couldn't speak English.

I get so much inspiration from my travels, but I also started an exercise where I write down so many words every week. Then I begin crossing them off. We create a grid of words and also images, but words for me are more ample because you can interpret them your own way.

You think 24-7 when you're a creative person. And I find pleasure in everything - if I'm in a flea market, I'm there on my downtime, but I'm also there searching for the collection. I don't separate the two.

I think the women that we dress, the women who buy our clothes, they have a certain strength. It could be about the clothes, it could be about themselves. It's just attractive.

I hate to sound esoteric, but there is something about a house that leads you to that one chair, that one corner, where you just sit and feel comfortable.

My mother was very fashion-oriented, and she started a little children's wear business that became large in this little town. She used to be able to look at a picture of an outfit and just start cutting the fabric right there.

I do go back to Brazil once a year. I miss my family.

My parents had a factory, so I was linked to the textile and fashion industry.

Right after high school, I moved to Rio and took classes to become a technician for a manufacturing factory where you had to figure out how to produce 3,000 pairs of jeans. But in Rio, I was by myself, which was very liberating, being so young. I got to do my own thing.

The bottom line is that red carpet helps us broaden the appeal of the brand. Calvin Klein used to be about a very specific woman, but we've dressed so many different women at awards.

Rio was a period of my life, and then, poof, I'm gone. I was very young living here, just kind of floating. New York was a foundation for everything I do today. Rio was the bridge.

I just hate people who are lazy. To be on my team, you have to have energy and a sense of wanting to learn. That really excites me.

I love to garden and cook whenever I get the chance and escape anywhere that's peaceful and quiet. My philosophy on living well is to always stay positive in life.

I wanted to be involved with fashion, though I didn't know what being a designer meant.

Being sexy is not about what's on show, it's all about suggestion, or insinuation. I'm interested in the way a garment hangs on a woman's body and the way it moves when she moves.

I don't love reading so much, but I love book shopping. It's just because I don't have much time.

I wasn't a club kid. I wasn't an artist. I was just a foreigner, trying to soak it all up. I had quite a lot of fun.

I like cold. I really like to go to cold towns. I love gray. I love winter.

I only do what I do. For me, it is a craft. It's got to be my own thing - otherwise, I would never be successful. I could easily go to the archives and pull 1987 or 1991 collection by Calvin Klein. But when you look in there, you realize that it was never about one piece. It was about the collections as bodies of work.

Mid-'80s in New York was fantastic. I remember my first Gay Pride parade in the city. Where I grew up was very sheltered, so when I got to the city, there was this freedom and so much happening. At the same time, there was this pressure of AIDS and everything else. New York is so different today.

I hope the average woman feels she needs practicality but with a little bit of fantasy. Otherwise it's just not fashion.

My resolution is to make positivity, thankfulness and happiness my new mantra.

I could never before say that I loved color or that I understood color. But Oscar de la Renta opened up a side of my brain.

I didn't know who Calvin Klein was, really. But Brooke Shields, we knew her from those incredible commercials - "There's nothing between me and my Calvins." I knew very little about American fashion then. I had no money, and Charivari was very educational to me. And Parachute. I was fascinated by those stores. I couldn't buy anything; I just went through the clothes.

You can't compare us, but I do think that Calvin Klein influenced his way of working. Calvin created this whole aesthetic with imagery - the whole sex thing. I can see that Calvin influence on his work. What Calvin has created is untouchable. My legacy, whatever it is I'm doing here, is miniscule compared to what he has done. It's just like an update deal.

It's so hard to actually find that niche for yourself. It's like when Nicolas Ghesquiére found Balenciaga. I hate to sound esoteric, but there is something about a house that leads you to that one chair, that one corner, where you just sit and feel comfortable. I feel very comfortable at Calvin Klein. My name is associated with it enough, and we have a fantastic team here.

I didn't even have a portfolio, but I went to Tom Ford the next morning. He said, "I'd love you to come in with me. Get a lawyer." It was quite exciting, obviously, because it was a complete departure. But mind you, what he was looking for was the exact opposite of what I thought. My first collection for him was Cher-inspired. It was flower trousers, California, hippie cool, all the stuff I did at Oscar. It was making me sick. I wanted to see the other side of the spectrum. Tom was always very secure about the way he did things, so it was quite interesting for me.

You think of luxury when you think of Calvin Klein. He created this lifestyle that's really desirable, so our whole project has that quality of being lasting.

My mom. She was quite a character. Open-minded. It was a very small town, and she started her own business, manufacturing children's wear. She was very dynamic. Her death was like the umbilical cord being cut. That's when I moved to America.

I’ve reached a certain age where I love to work. I could just live here [at the studio].

My birthday is May 10. I'm so Taurus, you would not even believe. All the Tauruses I know have this connection to the earth and the environment. We are very curious people, very loyal, very aware of and respectful of our surroundings. Also we're stubborn, but that's our way. We understand what we want, which is not bad.