Zac Posen

Don't worry about what's cool and what's not cool. Authenticity is what's cool.

I have so many fashion mistakes, but that's part of being in fashion. I think the people that you see make the most mistakes are usually the best dressers.

I started cooking out of middle school depression.

When I'm on the road for fashion shows, I love room service. I think it's one of the greatest things in the world. I usually like to keep it simple with soup, but my big indulgence is French fries or chicken fingers.

Beyond fashion, I think that culture has a side where they love to shoot you up like a clay pigeon and then take out their rifles. I lived that, and I got to see the perspective from up in the sky.

I love creative people.

I was very interested in theatre, so my first love of fashion comes from costume, and I think that's pretty clear within my work and the level of theatricality.

I personally love grilling, but it's a 15- to 20-minute commitment in entertaining.

If you're entering into fashion in an original way, you have to know your craft, and you have to know your history. You have to be obsessively dedicated. You have to be relentless about making it happen. It doesn't take a bank. It takes passion, love, timing, and luck.

People who devote themselves to a life of style are admirable.

Food is everything. Food, friends, family: Those are the most important things in life.

The first time I went to the Met Ball, I was 16. I was an intern there and saved up to buy a staff ticket to the party. That was my favorite experience going. It wasn't the red carpet; it was the experience of being there for the first time.