The New York world is definitely geared toward fashion. So many people work in the fashion industry, photography, all sorts of satellite businesses that have to do with it, so there's no way that it can't affect you, and it just kind of makes you think with more of a fashion edge.
The beauty industry is just like the fashion industry - prejudice is ingrained. But with new people coming in with fresh eyes and passion, I definitely am seeing progress.
I saw how much money people spent in the fashion industry, and I was like, 'Oh, man, if someone can spend this much on clothes, they certainly can spend five dollars a month on causes.'
When I started, I'd hear other people saying, 'God, she's so bizarre-looking,' because I didn't look like the girl next door. But I was just normal. I was the girl next door. There were people in high fashion I could better relate to who were doing something more interesting and not talking this sort of rubbish.
I never wanted to design clothes. I never wanted to work for the fashion industry. Shoes sort of belong to the fashion industry, which is why I'm part of the fashion industry. But that's never been my thought. My thought since I was a child was really to design those shoes for girls on stage.
The fashion industry is completely different from the acting industry, but definitely the same as well, because there's cattiness and competition just like in the modeling world.
I've always been the underdog, and I've always had to work much harder than the next person just to get a look. But I feel like that's Black people as a whole, to be honest with you. We have to do so much more and work so much harder to get certain kinds of looks within this industry.
Fashion is a good job for a young girl. I like clothes - I like to play with clothes. I like DIY; I like to make outfit.
I've always been interested in fashion, the clothes, but I'm not that familiar with the fashion industry; for me it just comes out of quite an innocent sense of style.
It's just really important I think for fashion to be affordable, because everyone should have the opportunity to wear cute things and be happy and comfortable in what they are wearing. That's definitely how I like to shop and how I like to think about clothes and fashion.
The element of fashion I'd like to see more often? Clothes that fit people well. For me it's not so much about the clothes.
I'm trying to not follow fashion. I don't even like the word. But I do like clothes, and I like nicely cut clothes that last and that are built to be worn for the next 30 years.
I am not a good professional of fashion. I am not an expert about how clothes are constructed or the history of fashion. I never start with fashion. I always think of the girl and her personality - because all that matters to me when you look at a page is, "Do you want to be that girl?"
I happen to be in a line of work where I get given lots of clothes, and I definitely think it's fun, but I know that, ultimately, fashion is not that important. I use fashion, though, as a way of thinking about who I am.
I think women are concerned too much with their clothes. Men don't really care that much about women's clothes. If they like a girl, chances are they'll like her clothes.
Society has a hyper emphasis on thin, and that trend comes from the consumers - it does not come from the fashion industry. The fashion industry needs to make money; that's what we do. If people said, 'We want a 300 pound purple person,' the first industry to do it would be fashion.