Gianni Versace

I want to be the joy to people through my work.

I want to be a designer for my time.

I am a typical Italian; I love the clan. But I don't think about getting married.

I liked women as a shape to dress.

Comfort is very important to me. I think people live better in big houses and in big clothes.

For me, the summer will be pure gray - mother-of-pearl gray, very pale gray. To me, this is the big statement for summer. Then we have light blue, light turquoise, lots of pink.

My only dream is to get old and finally have time to read all the books that I'm collecting.

Even Michelangelo got paid for doing the Sistine Chapel. To those artists who say they're doing it for the love of art, I say: Get real.

I learned to work with my mother, who had an haute-couture business.

I really want to make clothes that are feminine and help women look beautiful.

I never fall down. I always fight.

Women are more sure of themselves today. They don't have to emulate the way men dress.

Fashion needs incredible women, alive, stimulating, with style like Diana Vreeland. She is the most. The way she talks expresses all her values.

I want to see my niece and nephew grow up, to see their children... I get crazy at the idea that a time will come when I won't see Daniel and Allegra anymore.

My dream was always to be a composer, but fashion came very easily.

At the beginning of my career, it was very hard to go up. Now, it's very hard to stay on top. You have to stay there, and I want to stay there so badly. I'm still standing.

Designing came to me. I didn't have to move.

I'm a little like Marco Polo, going around and mixing cultures.

The environment was so strong, so dramatic. Tragedy is all over Calabria; it's in the air. All this corresponds to my temperament.

It is nice to have valid competition; it pushes you to do better.