Verbatim: Apr. 22, 2007

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"Words and stories inspire me because they're the most abstract. When someone is telling me a story, I dream; when I see a movie, I think. So it's the difference between dreaming and thinking." —Alber Elbaz, creative director of Lanvin

"The women who inspire me are comfortable in their own skins, living their own lives—people like Susan Sarandon." —Bobbi Brown, makeup artist and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

"I love fragrance. It brings back so many memories for me. Of past boyfriends, of my mother, who wore Joy, of my grandmother, who wore Estée Lauder's Youth Dew always." —Tom Ford, who recently launched his fragrance line Private Blend

"I was thinking about hands—Leonardo's hands—and what handwork can achieve." —Raf Simons, Belgian designer, on Leonardo da Vinci, whose anatomical sketches inspired his spring collection

"If you're creating, you should always have your eyes drifting. Nothing is unworthy of being looked at as a shape, a form, a possible part of a design." —Christian Louboutin, French shoe designer