Chris Benz Quotes

#1. I always knew I wanted to start my own line. Nights and weekends, I would work on my business plan.

Chris Benz

#2. I often feel like Facebook is a giant friend portfolio, and sometimes it can be a much more socially appropriate way of contacting a person as compared with texting or telephone. And never mind the fact that it's integrated into the iPhone. Makes me crazy in a super good way.

Chris Benz

#3. I'd call my work 'instinctual design.' I like to find the spirit of a piece that defies time, age, and occasion. My clothes give the wearer the chance to develop their own voice within a wardrobe, and I think of them as curators of their personal style.

Chris Benz

#4. I'm always inspired by all of my friends. I aspire to make clothes that my friends would want to wear, that they would gravitate towards anyway.

Chris Benz

#5. I have no problem with being underdressed.

Chris Benz

#6. Life in New York is one of succumbing to a tidal wave of control and direction, of numbing oneself to emotion.

Chris Benz

#7. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where it's all about being comfortable. I try to bring that undercurrent to what I do. It's great to have beautiful, dressed-up clothes that still feel casual.

Chris Benz

#8. I feel like girls should dress down a little bit on the holidays, even though the instinct is to get really dressed up.

Chris Benz

#9. There is a lack of humor in fashion. To me, it's always been the fun, cool industry to work in, and I always wanted people to be on my side and see how much fun we really have behind the scenes.

Chris Benz

#10. Growing up in Seattle, I was always that kid who didn't subscribe to what everyone else was wearing.

Chris Benz

#11. I love how New York as an idea is less a paradigm of manifest destiny and more a romance for the social orphans of the world. We live here to be among the towers and the crowds.

Chris Benz

#12. I love the challenge of taking colors that are totally disparate and making them work together in an interesting way.

Chris Benz

#13. While at Parsons, I interned at Marc Jacobs, which was great. When I graduated, I went to work at J. Crew; that was also really great.

Chris Benz

#14. The best part of fashion is the interns - having them or being one.

Chris Benz

#15. I remember watching 'The Carol Burnett Show' with my parents as a kid. All those weird outfits she wore, like turtlenecks and long skirts, really stayed in my head.

Chris Benz

#16. I went to Parsons. American sportswear was my education, and that is what is important to me.

Chris Benz

#17. I interned with Marc Jacobs in college, then worked at J. Crew. I learned a lot about how to fit clothes and what kinds of things sell and why.

Chris Benz

#18. I'm drawn to girls with a certain self-effacing, humorous quality and an innate independence and point of view. I love the notion of never taking yourself too seriously or being too put together.

Chris Benz

#19. I used to sit in bed at night and flip through design-school catalogs. I found out that Parsons accepted a small number of high school juniors, so I applied my sophomore year and got in.

Chris Benz

#20. I have a fleet of Rimowa Topas aluminum suitcases! They're all covered in stickers from around the world.

Chris Benz

#21. As a designer looking to the future, you don't want to get lost in the archives.

Chris Benz

#22. I always like a woman in power in politics. I think they're pretty inspirational in terms of looks to begin with. It's very calculated.

Chris Benz

#23. I particularly like Facebook because it straddles the gap between seeing people and not seeing them.

Chris Benz

#24. I think Seattle has a great sort of luxury and comfort sensibility, which I oftentimes think is lost in fashion for fashion's sake.

Chris Benz

#25. Let me tell you, I'm not sure if America runs on donuts, but I sure do! Nothin' like a little simple sugar icing to get the blood pumping at 9:00 A.M.

Chris Benz

#26. I have specific playlists for arrivals in different cities. Tokyo skews new wave, Paris more jazz, and New York is Top 40.

Chris Benz

#27. I feel like everyone should dye their hair a weird color. If you hate it, you can just dye it back.

Chris Benz

#28. Designers and musicians are primed to keep thinking forward. Once an album or collection launches, you can only think about doing the next one.

Chris Benz