A Quote by Colleen Atwood

For contemporary fashion, I'm a huge fan of so many of the people out there. I think Azzedine Alaia holds up through three generations of very specific, beautiful design. I think Jean Paul Gaultier also is very interesting with a long span.
I buy a lot of fashion, and I wear many different brands. Even though I'm not so conceptual in my style, I probably buy the most from Junya Watanabe. It's always so spot on and of-the-moment although it's also so sophisticated and conceptual. I also love Marco de Vincenzo, Azzedine Alaia, and Yohji Yamamoto.
When artists connect to a system because they want to make a living, it's their own choice. In fashion, designers don't have that choice. I know everybody mentions Azzedine Alaïa, but he's been going for a long time in the system - showing to people, selling to clients - and I think it's admirable how he's transformed it into his own system in a way, but it's still a system.
I'll always remember Jean Paul Gaultier, who did a project based on Madonnas, remarking on the images, "Yours are much better." Gaultier is really smart, so it's good getting a compliment from him!
Jean Paul Gaultier is not only immensely talented but also a genuinely sweet and kind person.
I think that some people have wonderful spots. I think that Karl Lagerfeld has a wonderful spot designing for Chanel. They really just let him go. I think John Galliano is a huge talent. Marc Jacobs is also a huge talent - and a very interesting one to me.
Everybody's version of style is totally different and that's what I think keeps me going out on the street everyday is going out and kind of seeing the variations and what things maybe I'd never seen quite that way that I find very curious and how people will be able to communicate their own persona through their clothing, their posture, the way they wear their hair. I think all those elements end up becoming very interesting because I don't think I'm really particularly a people person. So for me I think it's interesting to kind of be able to read people in that way.
I mix talents and friendship, which is not very professional, but it's my way of thinking. So I love Azzedine Alaia, because I've known him for 30 years, and he's making my dresses most of the time.
I lived on a farm in Illinois, and we didn't have a lot of money. But I lived vicariously through magazines. I was obsessed with Jean Paul Gaultier. I still have the scrapbooks, and I've kept all my designs and sketches.
If we're having a glitzy over-the-top moment, fashion is very glitzy and over-the-top, you know, over-the-top. If we're having a moment where things are, you know, we're in a recession, fashion becomes quiet. So, in terms of popular culture, fashion and especially women's fashion is incredibly interesting, aside from satisfying just a particular need to create and arrange things in a way that one sees as beautiful. And so, in a certain way, it's fulfilling. In another way, it's very fleeting because it doesn't last very long. You know, a beautiful moment in fashion goes away very quickly.
Growing up in Atlanta, it brings a particular swagger about a person. There are three or four places in the country where people think of fashion: One is LA, obviously. Another is New York. And I think Atlanta has to be in the top five cities where fashion is very big.
I promised myself: Before your 18th birthday, you're going to be at Jean Paul Gaultier. And it worked. I was hired.
There are moments in your life where you're like I have arrived. I'm here and I'm living and I'm present. And working with Jean Paul Gaultier was one of them.
I was once dressed as a mermaid for a Jean Paul Gaultier show. My legs were bound into a fish tail, so I had to come down the runway on crutches. Halfway down, I was supposed to unzip the fish tail to reveal my legs, but the zipper broke, so I ended up stabbing my fake nail through the fabric of the zipper and ripping my way out.
I'm a huge Boards Of Canada fan. They're my favorite contemporary band. The interesting thing about Boards Of Canada is, they use analog and digital recording techniques, and nobody really knows how they get their sound. But I think that very warm, enveloping analog sound.
There are three or four places in the country where people think of fashion: One is L.A., obviously. Another is New York. And I think Atlanta has to be in the top five cities where fashion is very big.
I've been a huge fan of the cable network FX for a very, very long time. I think their brand of comedy is incredible. For me, as an audience member, that's a go-to channel.
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