When I was growing up in Russia, my grandmothers would cook the best pancakes in the world, the best meatballs, the best dumplings.

I love fast food, but you have to try to eat healthy.

If you want to eat chocolate or cakes, you have to eat it in the morning, for breakfast or lunch - don't eat it in the night.

I hate morning workout; I'm a night person more. But it's good to work out in the mornings because then you can have all day free.

If you are in a relationship, it has to be a good one. If it isn't, it's best to just leave it.

If you're with someone, it's because you're moving in the same direction, and you both are looking for the same thing. Both of you have to share the same concept of what a relationship means.

To be half-naked for a Greek mythology movie, it's a piece of art. You know, there's nothing vulgar in there.

I started modelling quite late, at 20. In this industry, girls start when they're barely even 14 or 15.

Of course, nothing just falls into your lap - to get where I am now, I've worked hard.

A lot of people think that to make it as a model you just need to be pretty and slim, but they're wrong. There's a lot of hard work involved. You have to be very focused, know what kind of work you're aiming for.

I don't care what people think about me. I really don't.

In my business, you should be very strong in mind. You have to be sure about yourself and about your work and your career, and you have to be strong inside because so many people come around and try to say bad things about you.

I hate wearing makeup because I am just too lazy to take it off at night.

I am really bad with cleaning my closet.

I love high heels from the age of 10! Short skirts and then high heels. My classmates used to make fun of me. Like, 'Ooh, she's so skinny and she's wearing high heels.' But I just wore what I like, and I didn't care about people's opinions, the same as I don't care now.

Boys never liked me at school. They made fun of me 'cos I had dark skin.

You can't break Russian people, you know? 'Cos we're made in cold snow. We're very resistant.

My favorite spot is the Maldives. Since I travel so much for work, I like to go to places that are very secluded and quiet.

While I can always use a break from the gym, I like to swim and dive to keep myself feeling good.

This is my favorite area in New York - the West Village is the heart of New York. I could never move somewhere else.

You can't wear only one dress and be so safe. You have to risk; that's how you learn about yourself.

I love Japan; it's very special.

I'm very smart, and I have a great team of people around me investing my money. I'm not buying gold - yet.

My mom, she's a great cook. You know, pirogue, borscht. I love borscht, and I love Pilemeni, meat dumplings.

I don't cook. I love to eat. I love to go to the restaurants.

I love traveling. I hate jet lag, but I love, love, love, love traveling, to meet new people, to try different foods because I'm a big foodie.

You have to love your body, respect it, and treat it well.

I spend time doing cardio because it makes me feel good.

The world is not black and white; there are lots of shades of grey. There are good things and bad things in every era, and I think it's kind of very blindfolded to say one era was wonderful, as it was wonderful, but there were a lot of bad things as well.

Great personal style is an extreme curiosity about yourself.

When you don't dress like everybody else, you don't have to think like everybody else.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but I think it's violently misused.

I think some people like me because I'm different. I don't think like everybody else. People are so tied up in the worst parts of technology these days. They live a life pressing buttons. They don't use their imaginations.

The White House is the people's house. When you do historical restoration, that must be what it is.

If you don't learn constantly, you don't grow, and you will wither. Too many people wither on the vine. Sure, it gets a little harder as you get older, but new experiences and new challenges keep it fresh.

You have to push yourself when you're older because it's very easy to fall into the trap. You start to fall apart - you just have to do your best to paste yourself together. I think doing things and being active is very important. When your mind is busy, you don't hurt so much.

I'd rather go to a flea market than just about anything. It's the process I like - the same with getting dressed. If I've got someplace to be, I'll spend more time getting dressed than I spent at the actual event. Sometimes. Even in my own closet, I love to dig and search and find.

I'm not a pretty person. I don't like pretty, so I don't feel badly. Most of the world is not with me, but I don't care.

I think people should express themselves more and not just buy what's in. While it can be very beautiful, and it may suit you perfectly, I'm sure it doesn't suit everyone in the same way. I like people who express themselves and are more individualistic.

I had the good fortune to be able to take a course with Margaret Mead. I had a fabulous art course, where it was explained to me that nothing exists in a vacuum, that everything is a result of the period in which it's done - the economics, the sociology, the politics, all sewn together. That was a very important lesson.

You can change the look of an outfit so easily by changing the kind of jewellery you wear. If you have a basic outfit on - a black sweater and skirt or a simple black dress - you can go from the office to a cocktail party at night just by changing your jewellery. It helps if you change your shoes as well.

I was in art school since I was five years old. I've always been to art school. Everything that's happened to me, nothing's been planned. I've never had a business plan. I just kind of fell into it, and I liked it, and I took a chance. I took a lot of chances in my life.

Nobody is original anymore. Nobody has any original style.

I still have the dress I wore on the first date with my husband, which was more than 66 years ago. I still have it, and it still fits.

I don't expect to find inspiration. It just sort of comes. Sometimes you step on a bug and you get inspired.

In America, it has been proven that the bulk of spending money is in the hands of women between 60 and 80, so it's so stupid. The people who do have the time and money to shop are either retired or empty-nesters.

I don't happen to approve of plastic surgery. I think God put plastic surgeons on this earth for good reasons - people get burned or people might have a nose like Pinocchio and that has to be fixed. But to just chop yourself up to look a few years younger? You could come out looking like a Picasso picture.

Aging gracefully is about no heavy makeup, and not too much powder because it gets into the wrinkles, and, you know, to not get turtle eyelids and to not try to look young.

Fashion and interior design are one and the same.

In my view, you can't go to the future if you haven't come from the past.