Diana Vreeland's Best Fashion Quotes To Live By

Diana Vreeland lived an extravagant life. In her years at Harper's BAZAAR, she served as a columnist and later Fashion Editor from 1936 to 1962. Outside the office, the pillows in her home were infused with perfume via hypodermic needles, she requested all of her dollar bills to be ironed before they reached her wallet and her apartment was the stuff of legends. As red was her favorite color, she commissioned interior designer Billy Baldwin to create an all-red living room for her. "Like a garden," she said. "But a garden in hell."

Her memorable "Why Don't You" column is still celebrated today—as is her unique vision. She was often referred to as the Empress of Fashion. Carmel Snow, Editor-in-Chief during the Vreeland days and mentor to DV lived by the motto "Elegance with a dash of daring," which shows in the pages of BAZAAR today. Here, the best Diana Vreeland quotes to live by for summer.

1) "Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes." In other words, celebrate the season's new and exciting fashion in your own way.

2) "Blue jeans are the most beautiful thing since the gondola." Denim is everywhere this season. Reinterpret classic jeans in the form of a denim skirt for summer's high temps.

3) "Still, my dream in life is to come home and think of absolutely nothing. After all, you can't think all the time." Try meditation for inspiration.

4) "The bikini is the most important thing since the atom bomb." Wear it often and wear it well.

5) "Why don't you...Rinse your blond child's hair in dead champagne to keep it gold, as they do in France?" A novel way to repurpose a summer picnic's leftovers whether for a child or for yourself.

6) "In my leisure time I appear rather... impractical. But I do think that I've made a practical woman out of myself. You can't have worked the number of years I have, through hell or high water, without being basically practical." Diana Vreeland behind her big sunglasses made the notion of being impractical slightly more acceptable.

7) "Why don't you...Find one dress that you like and have it copied many times? You will be much more successful than if you try to produce the same effects each evening." A fashion uniform works for some people. Why not give it a try for a week or two?

8) "Red is the great clarifier––bright, cleansing and revealing. It makes all other colors beautiful. I can't imagine becoming bored with red––it would like becoming bored with the person you love." Those traditional no-makeup summer nights? Switch it up with a matching red lip and nails.

9) "Leisure will give us more time for beauty and the craving to be busy and productive." Trust in the power of a weekend unplugged.

10) "The best time to leave a party is when the party's just beginning. There's no drink that kills except the drink that you didn't want to take, as the saying goes, and there's no hour that kills except the hour you stayed after you wanted to go home." Otherwise known as how to party like the Empress of Fashion.

11) "You know the greatest thing is passion, without it what have you got? I mean if you love someone you can love them as much as you can love them but if it isn't a passion, it isn't burning, it isn't on fire, you haven't lived." Summer is the time to indulge.

12) "Don't think you were born too late. Everyone has that illusion. But you aren't. The only problem is if you think too late." Inspiration is everywhere: use it.

Kristen Bateman is a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Her first fashion article was published in Vogue Italia during her junior year of high school. Since then, she has interned and contributed to WWD, Glamour, Lucky, i-D, Marie Claire and more. She created and writes the #ChicEats column and covers fashion and culture for Bazaar. When not writing, she follows the latest runway collections, dyes her hair to match her mood, and practices her Italian in hopes of scoring 90% off Prada at the Tuscan outlets. She loves vintage shopping, dessert and cats.

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