123 Inspiring Fashion Quotes

Fashion is more than just clothing; it’s a vibrant expression of personality, culture, and creativity. It has the power to transform, inspire, and elevate. Whether you’re dressing for confidence, comfort, or celebration, fashion resonates with all aspects of life. That's why we've gathered 123 of the most inspiring fashion quotes to ignite your imagination and elevate your style journey. These words from iconic designers, style icons, and fashion enthusiasts will encourage you to embrace your unique flair and view fashion as an empowering tool for self-expression. Dive in and let these quotes inspire your fashion adventures!

1. “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” - Oscar Wilde

2. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” - Dolly Parton

3. “It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen.” - Dolly Parton

4. “Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilization in high boots” - Albert Einstein

5. “Never in all her life had she imagined that this idolized millinery could look, to those who paid for it, like the decorations of an insane monkey.” - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

6. “The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.” - Yves Saint Laurent

7. “I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!” - Marilyn Monroe

8. “There is one other reason for dressing well, namely that dogs respect it, and will not attack you in good clothes.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. “A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future.” - Coco Chanel

10. “People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.” - Dolly Parton

11. “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” - Henry David Thoreau

12. “Speed eliminates all doubt. Am I smart enough? Will people like me? Do I really look all right in this plastic jumpsuit?” - David Sedaris

13. “I put on some make-up, turn on the 8-track, and I'm pulling the wig down from the shelf - suddenly I'm Miss Punk Rock Star of Stage and Screen and I ain't ever turning back!” - John Cameron Mitchell

14. “Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.” - Tiger Woods

15. “So how was Christmas for you guys? Did you all get lots of nice black t-shirts?” - Gerard Way

16. “The Devil's out of fashion.” - Dodie Smith

17. “It was my friend Frank, a writer in San Francisco, who finally set me straight. When asked about my new look he put down his fork and stared at me for a few moments. "A bow tie announces to the world you can no longer get an erection.” - David Sedaris

18. “Why nowadays there's a new fashion every day.” - Leo Tolstoy

19. “Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.” - Yves Saint Laurent

20. “Whoever said that money can't buy happiness, simply didn't know where to go shopping” - Bo Derek

21. “These jeans looked so good on me when I looked in the mirror I wanted to fuck myself.” - Pete Wentz

22. “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world's view of us.” - Virginia Woolf

23. “She was wearing a purple T-shirt, with a skinny black dress over it that made you remember how much of a girl she was, and trashed black boots that made you forget.” - Kami Garcia

24. “Die Mode jener Jahre war umständlich und töricht. Die Männer knöpften sich steifleinerne Krägen um die Hälse, enge, überflüssige, unschöne Kleidungsstücke, und umwanden sie mühsam zu schlingenden, zwecklosen Binden, sogenannten Krawatten.” - Lion Feuchtwanger

25. “So soon as a fashion is universal, it is out of date.” - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

26. “I love the confidence that makeup gives me.” - Tyra Banks

27. “Girls do not dress for boys. They dress for themselves and, of course, each other. If girls dressed for boys they’d just walk around naked at all times.” - Betsey Johnson

28. “The Countess was considerably younger than her husband. All of her clothes came from Paris (this was after Paris) and she had superb taste. (This was after taste too, but only just. And since it was such a new thing, and since the Countess was the only lady in all Florin to posses it, is it any wonder she was the leading hostess in the land?)” - William Goldman

29. “One must commit acts of the highest treason only when dressed in the most resplendent finery.” - Grant Morrison

30. “Sometimes comfort doesn't matter. When a shoe is freakin' fabulous, it may be worth a subsequent day of misery. Soak in Epsom salts and take comfort in the fact that you're better than everyone else.” - Clinton Kelly

31. “When a girl feels that she’s perfectly groomed and dressed she can forget that part of her. That’s charm” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

32. “What a strange power there is in clothing.” - Isaac Bashevis Singer

33. “Fashion changes, but style endures.” - Coco Chanel

34. “You cannot fake chic but you can be chic and fake fur” - Karl Lagerfeld

35. “I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes -- it's about all kinds of change” - Karl Lagerfeld

36. “Logos and branding are so important. In a big part of the world, people cannot read French or English--but are great in remembering signs” - Karl Lagerfeld

37. “Chanel is an institution, and you have to treat an institution like a whore – and then you get something out of her” - Karl Lagerfeld

38. “The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine” - Karl Lagerfeld

39. “Fashion does not have to prove that it is serious. It is the proof that intelligent frivolity can be something creative and positive” - Karl Lagerfeld

40. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with telling the truth. I know it isn’t fashionable.” - Craig Ferguson

41. “I love new clothes. If everyone could just wear new clothes everyday, I reckon depression wouldn’t exist anymore.” - Sophie Kinsella

42. “I'm so not interesting in having to try and make something out of foil."What, you didn't like the poncho with wraparound leggings?"It was beyond hideou- wait a minute. You watch that show?"My mom loves it."But your suppose to be sulking in the basement getting ready to light fires."What can I say? I'm a failure as a teenager. I watch TV with my mom.” - Elizabeth Scott

43. “Let's face it -- if I could scrap in a full-length bodysuit, I would.” - Lain Ehmann

44. “Fashion and music are the same, because music express its period too.” - Karl Lagerfeld

45. “I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon.” - Karl Lagerfeld

46. “You make all the fashion statements just by dressing up your mind.” - Jason Mraz

47. “If you stick to something doggedly, you are off to a bad start.” - Karl Lagerfeld

48. “People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.” - Karl Lagerfeld

49. “I think it's cool to wear roadkill. If I died and somebody wanted to wear my teeth around their neck to VMAs, I'd feel honored.” - Ke$ha

50. “I want everyone to wear what they want and mix it in their own way. That, to me, is what is modern.” - Karl Lagerfeld

51. “I had an interview once with some German journalist—some horrible, ugly woman. It was in the early days after the communists—maybe a week after—and she wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through. She had huge tits and a huge black bra, and she said to me, ‘It’s impolite; remove your glasses.’ I said, ‘Do I ask you to remove your bra?” - Karl Lagerfeld

52. “There will be days that you don’t want to dress up and if you have some decent looking athletic wear, you can give the illusion that you’ve just been working out, as opposed to giving up on life.” - Big Mama

53. “I do my job like I breathe — so if I can’t breathe I’m in trouble.” - Karl Lagerfeld

54. “Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool” - Aesop

55. “He’s always asking: ‘Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.’ It’s like, Why don’t you mind your own business? Solve world hunger. Get out of my closet.” - Michelle Obama

56. “Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life.” - Mary Quant

57. “What do women want? Shoes.” - Mimi Pond

58. “Oliver liked to play the part of disaffected youth, but he liked shopping in SoHo even more.” - Melissa de la Cruz

59. “I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.” - Tim Gunn

60. “The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion.” - G.K. Chesterton

61. “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.” - Henry David Thoreau

62. “Whenever I see people with their collars up, I'm tempted to point it out to them like you would for someone who has a food stain on their shirt or food in their teeth, as if to say, 'Your fashion sense is so offensive I'm assuming it's some sort of accident you'll want to fix.” - Stephan Pastis

63. “If you are the type who truly longs to be a Southern Belle at all times, regardless of taking twice the space available in bus, subway or elsewhere, you had best remove yourself to a large estate replete with servants.” - Elizabeth Hawes

64. “Ideas about a person's place in society, his role, lifestyle, and ego qualities will lose their hold as the cohesive forces in society disintegrate. Subculture values will proliferate to such a bewildering extent that a whole new class of professionals will arise to control them. Such a Transmutation Technology will deal in fashions, in ways of being. Lifestyle consultants will become the new priests of our civilizations. They will be the new magicians.” - Peter J. Carroll

65. “Being classy is my teenage rebellion.” - Rebecca McKinsey

66. “Fashion sighs after trends. I want timeless elegance. Fashion has no time. I do. I say: Hello Lady, how can I help you? Fashion has no time to even ask such a question, because it is constantly concerned with finding out: What will come next? It is more about helping women to suffer less, to attain more freedom and independence.” - Yohji Yamamoto

67. “You're not gay, are you?"Simon's greenish color deepened. "If I were, I would dress better.” - Cassandra Clare

68. “Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable.” - Adolf Loos

69. “I'd urge you to try German Riesling because it's delicious, but I fear you'll be more impressed if I tell you it's cutting-edge. That, after all, is what we want to know-- what's now and happening. (Do you really think clunky square-toed shoes make your feet look better than those with slimming, tapered toes? You just wear them because that's what fashion dictates, you slut.)” - Jay Mcinerney

70. “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” - Karl Lagerfeld

71. “There's more to clothing than just adornment. It does more than merely change how the world perceives us. It changes how we perceive ourselves.” - Jacqueline Carey

72. “Adornment, what a science! Beauty, what a weapon! Modesty, what elegance!” - Coco Chanel

73. “A beautiful dress may look beautiful on a hanger, but that means nothing. It must be seen on the shoulders, with the movement of the arms, the legs, and the waist.” - Coco Chanel

74. “Clearly the sight of a well-muscled forearm incited a woman to utter depravity. How else to explain the invention of cuffs?” - Tessa Dare

75. “The problem of what to wear while lolling about the house on a Sunday afternoon is becoming more and more acute as the fashions in lolling garments change. The American home is in danger of taking on the appearance of an Oriental bordello.” - Robert Benchley

76. “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” - Coco Chanel

77. “Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don’t bother you - don’t bother me".” - Yohji Yamamoto

78. “Sometimes she wore Levi's with white-suede fringe sewn down the legs and a feathered Indian headdress, sometimes old fifties' taffeta dresses covered with poetry written in glitter, or dresses made of kids' sheets printed with pink piglets or Disney characters.” - Francesca Lia Block

79. “Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress.” - Karl Lagerfeld

80. “I never saw anybody take so long to dress, and with such little result.” - Oscar Wilde

81. “Fashion is about two things: the evolution and the opposite.” - Karl Lagerfeld

82. “Buy less, choose well & do it yourself!” - Vivienne Westwood

83. “The loner who looks fabulous is one of the most vulnerable loners of all.” - Anneli Rufus

84. “Don’t overact the story of your name. Overact the story of your work.” - Karl Lagerfield

85. “Create your own style… let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.” - Anna Wintour

86. “When does a fake Mohawk become a real Mohawk? Who decides? How do you know if it's happened?” - Jennifer Egan

87. “Whatever demon invented stiletto-heeled boots should roast in hell...” - Cherise Sinclair

88. “Nonetheless, when it finally ended and the hairdressers left and Tess insisted upon pulling her to the mirror, Fire saw, and understood, that everyone had done the job well. The dress, deep shimmering purple and utterly simple in design, was so beautifully-cut and so clingy and well-fitting that Fire felt slightly naked. And her hair. She couldn’t follow what they’d done with her hair, braids thin as threads in some places, looped and wound through the thick sections that fell over her shoulders and down her back, but she saw that the end result was a controlled wildness that was magnificent against her face, her body, and the dress. She turned to measure the effect on her guard - all twenty of them, for all had roles to play in tonight’s proceedings, and all were awaiting her orders. Twenty jaws hung slack with astonishment - even Musa’s, Mila’s, and Neel’s. Fire touched their minds, and was pleased, and then angry, to find them open as the glass roofs in July.‘Take hold of yourselves,’ she snapped. ‘It’s a disguise, remember? This isn’t going to work if the people meant to help me can’t keep their heads.’‘It will work, Lady Granddaughter.’ Tess handed Fire two knives in ankle holsters. ‘You’ll get what you want from whomever you want. Tonight King Nash would give you the Winged River as a present, if you asked for it. Dells, child - Prince Brigan would give you his best warhorse.” - Kristin Cashore

89. “A budding fashionista even at four, I would capture the little lizards and latch them, still living, onto my earlobes as earrings. Most girls wouldn't touch them, I thought they completed the outfit.” - Mireya Mayor

90. “1. Find your own style and have the courage to stick to it.2. Choose your clothes for your way of life.3. Make your wardrobe as versatile as an actress. It should be able to play many roles.4. Find your happiest colours - the ones that make you feel good.5. Care for your clothes, like the good friends they are!” - Joan Crawford

91. “She was clothed entirely in two large swatches of leather, the leather fake and shiny in a self-mocking way, absolutely correct for 1993, the first year when mocking the mainstream had become the mainstream.” - Gary Shteyngart

92. “To me, clothing is a form of self-expression - there are hints about who you are in what you wear.” - Mark Jacobs

93. “For anyone of a rational disposition, fashion is often nearly impossible to fathom. Throughout many periods of history – perhaps most – it can seem as if the whole impulse of fashion has been to look maximally ridiculous. If one could be maximally uncomfortable as well, the triumph was all the greater.” - Bill Bryson

94. “We have work to do if you are not to be a total failure like high-waisted, acid-wash jeans.” - Libba Bray

95. “[how can anyone] be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep.” - Thomas More

96. “It’s cool when fashion recycles itself, it’s not cool when sustainable living does because it means there was (and is as I write) a period of absolute and possibly irreversible destruction.” - Cameron Conaway

97. “Just the way it never rains when you have an umbrella, you'll never run into people if you look fantastic. But go outside in pajamas, and you'll run into every ex you have.” - Tim Gunn

98. “She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.” - Oscar Wilde

99. “Right now, all white people are either wearing or coveting a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. These sunglasses are so popular now that you cannot swing a canvas bag at a farmer's market without hitting a pair. In fact, at outdoor gatherings you should count the number of Wayfarers so you can determine exactly how white the event is. If you see no Wayfarers you are either at a country music concert or you are indoors.” - Christian Lander

100. “Coco Chanel used to talk about wearing more than one string of pearls. Why wear one if you can wear two, or something to that effect. I think that one string of pearls is just fine. But that's because my pearls are black, hers were white.” - C. JoyBell C.

101. “Breckin shrugs. “I’m new here. And if you haven’t deducted from my impeccable fashion sense, I think it’s safe to say that I’m…” he leans forward and cups his hand to his mouth in secrecy. “Mormon,” he whispers.” - Colleen Hoover

102. “When I look back on the stuff I used to wear, I wonder why somebody didn't try to stop me. Just a friendly warning, "You may regret this," would have been fine.” - Ellen DeGeneres

103. “[Piper] rushed to get dressed. By the time she got up on deck, the others had already gathered—all hastily dressed except for Coach Hedge, who had pulled the night watch. Frank’s Vancouver Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate, which was an interesting fashion statement. Hazel’s hair was all blown to one side as though she’d walked through a cyclone; and Leo had accidentally set himself on fire. His T-shirt was in charred tatters. His arms were smoking.” - Rick Riordan

104. “Elegance is elimination.” - Cristóbal Balenciaga

105. “You must remember, Madame Harris, elegance is in the details.” - Lynn Sheene

106. “The most pleasant and alluring curve on a woman is the smile” - Treasure Stitches

107. “Women are extraordinary creatures!” - Roman Payne

108. “Even the simplest things had a glorious pointlessness to them. When buttons came in, about 1650, people couldn't get enough of them and arrayed them in decorative profusion on the backs and collars and sleeves of coats, where they didn't actually do anything. One relic of this is the short row of pointless buttons that are still placed on the underside of jacket sleeves near the cuff. These have been purely decorative and have never had a purpose, yet 350 years later on we continue to attach them as if they are the most earnest necessity.” - Bill Bryson

109. “My motto for fashion: If you can’t afford to make an elegant statement, make a ridiculous one.” - Stacey Jay

110. “I'm always right, always wrong. Dressing bad's like loving you there is nothing i haven't worn. Nothing, I haven’t said before. You are nothing I haven’t felt before.” - Tegan Quin

111. “One should never confuse fashionable with beautiful” - Beth Fantaskey

112. “But it was fantasy, and she knew it. It was her fantasy, and the fantasy of everyone else who would look at her and at her pictures; and it would stop being real the moment the man with the camera stopped clicking.” - Umair Naeem

113. “And my dream for you..........., is that you'll catch a glimpse of what I love so much about fashion: It's boldness and creativity, the confidence that it takes to stand before a camera and let your image be captured, even though you aren't perfect, the peace to be truly okay with how others see you.” - Lauren Scruggs

114. “Our assholes will be clean but we must never wash our hands. Our immune systems will be strengthened by our being dirty. Not filthy. Just mildly grimy. Filthy fingernails have always been a favorite fashion accessory of mine. Especially when you place your hands in the prayer positions. Matter of fact, I urge all my followers to forgo nail polish permanently and replace it with expertly applied soot. The nonexistent gods above will ignore our prayers better this way.” - John Waters

115. “You could have fucked me ’til your uncut, overexposed on the blogs, ‘too ginormous for my snatch’ pecker fell off. And I’d still no way never ever in a thousand years sell, loan, sample you my Easton. And to answer your question, I run my company with my pussy, and twenty-four other pussy-sporting employees. Easton girls do not allow dickheads or cocks in our fashion world. Period.” - Avery Aster

116. “Walk like you have three men walking behind you.” - Oscar de la Renta

117. “Good grief," said Merlin. "You look like the bastard child of Dumbledore and David Bowie. No, sorry, Dumbledore and Ziggy Stardust.” - FayJay

118. “Be classy. Anything but trashy.” - Coco Chanel

119. “All I can tell you about fashion and style is this: buy and wear what makes you happy.” - John Jannuzzi

120. “Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.Just as vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people.And falsehoods the truths of other people.Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” - Oscar Wilde

121. “Let those who love me follow me'Cora Pearl, on being the very first person to dye her hair red in 1864” - Cora Pearl courtesan of the demi-monde

122. “Vincent laughed. "No, you still need to look like a Helian.""So I should burn everything to a crisp?""Well, that would definitely get your mother's attention, but I think that she's looking for something more sophisticated and less... scary.” - Heather James

123. “When you say ugly you mean your beauty is not now in style.” - Héctor Abad Faciolince