This is very much my philosophy as a fashion designer. I have never believed in design for design's sake. For me, the most important thing is that people actually wear my clothes. I do not design for the catwalk or for magazine shoots - I design for customers.
I was actually so small that my baby clothes were actually doll clothes from Toys 'R' Us because that's all that would fit me!
When I design the clothes, I have a very good team around me, showing me different pieces and cuts. I'm very involved in the process, I go to L.A. and get onto the design floor, and I help pick out the best pieces.
The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.
The Wish Factory did a tremendous job and I am amazed at how closely the doll resembles me. The clothes are modeled off actual stuff I wear, which is pretty cool.
I did think of becoming a priest quite late on, when other boys were thinking of knocking over fences and going out with girls. I would have made a very good bishop: nice housekeeper, nice clothes - god, the clothes.
I was very aware of the fact that I was a young designer, and I didn't want to fall into the trap of 'mother of the bride' dressing and 'occasion-wear.' I wanted to make sure that girls my age were wearing it and that there was a cool factor to my clothes.
Art wasn't for selling. Actually, we once did have an offer on Double Negative. Things could be sold actually - everything could be for sale. But we had very few buyers. I think it was Michael Heizer who said that the point was to have a bigger canvas, and I've used that expression quite a bit. But I was thinking today that a canvas has boundaries; it has limit to it. And for earthwork, it was the very openness and feeling that there were no boundaries that made it so exciting.
I am excited to partner with Aeropostale for my very own collection. It was a great experience to be able to work with them. Not only did I get to design an entire fashion line, but I got to do it at a great price point with quality clothes, both of which are very important to me.
A lot of the clothes out are very adult-driven and it would be cool if they were a little bit more fun and trendy. Clothes should be fun.
Modeling stuff is cool - obviously you get to travel and wear cool clothes, take cool pictures, meet cool people - but for me, acting is a lot more creatively fulfilling, so I've always put it first.
I think that "Gilmore Girls" did so many things well, and it was a very feminist show in a time when that wasn't really being portrayed at all. The show made it cool to be a smart girl. That certainly wasn't happening at the time - you were surrounded by beauty shows and teen soap operas. "Gilmore Girls" felt very apart from everything else that was happening.
Sure, and that's the cool thing about DVD: you can pack stuff on the disc that would've been too much for the big screen because actually it would've only interested yourself and a bunch of fanboys, who wanna know everything.
Even before I was discovered in 1966, I used to make my own clothes. I learned how to sew early on, and it's still my passion now. I constantly have ideas in my head about clothes so jumped at the chance to do my own collection and am very hands-on. Everything I design, I wear and I love.
I try to make sure that, when I'm writing, I don't put too much Cody in it. But I don't want to lose it either.
I want to design women's clothes just as much as men's clothes.