187 Quotes by Alber Elbaz

I am very sensitive to the smells and sensations that are part of perfumes because they remind me of things: moments from the past, people, events.

When I was either 7 or 8 years old, I did a sketch every day of my teacher and what she wore. At the end of the year, I gave her the sketchbook. For me, the sketching of dresses was about fantasy and dreams.

I like first class, but I don't like first class people - I prefer the people in coach. I like fine restaurants, but prefer the taste of McDonalds. I like to be perfect, but I don't like perfection - I think it's dangerous. There is nothing after perfection. I know, I am a walking contradiction.

The worst thing that can happen is if you're stuck within a bubble and you think that is what life is all about. It's great to see other people and hear from people of different ages and opinions.

When a woman's clothes are in harmony with her emotions, she shines from within.

I always wear a dinner jacket. I never have this definition of what goes for the morning or the evening or what works for the weekend.

I need to feel a desire, to find pleasure in moving forward, creating, inventing. The day I cease to learn, I must stop.

I don't go out to parties because I'd look terrible in pictures. My escape is television - it's like meditation to me.

Yves Saint Laurent gave women power, Chanel liberated them and when I joined Lanvin, I thought 'what do I bring to women? One day, I received an SMS from a friend in New York - she was in a taxi on the way to court to face her arsehole ex-husband, and she said to me 'Alber, I am wearing a Lanvin dress, and I feel so protected.' That to me was the biggest compliment I ever received. To have a 500 gram piece of silk make her feel protected - that made me very happy indeed.