Quote

I began wearing hats as a young lawyer because it helped me to establish my professional identity. Before that, whenever I was at a meeting, someone would ask me to get coffee.

Working women wore hats. It was the only way they would take you seriously.

I think, when I was a young lawyer starting out, I was so determined to prove that I was as good as the men and that I could be given the same opportunities as the men, and it wouldn't make any difference at all that I was a woman. But actually, looking back on it now, I did do things that I wouldn't recommend to other women at all.

When I was younger and women first started to get in public positions, in my case the law, we went through a period where we wore those little ribbon ties, little bows. We tried to figure out what was our appropriate dress.

People don't tend to hassle me because when I've got a hat on, I look like a banker. I'm just a plain guy.

I think that a woman wears so many hats, we have so many aspects to us that we're not just one thing. We represent so much within us and that kind of comes across for me as a designer through mixing prints and colors.

I don't think of being a woman in an industry of men. I didn't walk into the kitchen and go, 'Ooh, I'm a girl!' I didn't get into my chosen profession. I wanted to be good at something.

I've had women come up to me and say I was the reason they went to law school.

I had been active in various bar associations ever since I was a law student, and I think that also helped because it made me more of a known quantity.

When I say that I'm a businessperson and a dressmaker, it's the truth. I run a business, and I make dresses, I make blouses.