102+ Riccardo Tisci Quotes On Music, Rich And Gothic

Riccardo Tisci is an Italian fashion designer who is currently the Creative Director of Burberry. He is known for his modern, edgy, and often dark designs that have been seen on the runways of Givenchy and now Burberry. He is credited with reviving the Burberry brand with his unique and innovative designs. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Riccardo Tisci on love, music, life.

Top 10 Riccardo Tisci Quotes

1. Seduction is about intelligence and wit. Someone who makes me laugh has every chance to seduce me.
2. Black is always elegant. It is the most complete colour in the whole world, made of all the colours in the palette.
3. My definition of beauty is something between extremely ugly and extremely fantastic.
4. For me, darkness is something very beautiful.
5. Religion and love don't have a price, don't have a gender, a skin color, nothing. We are all on the same plate.
6. My life has changed financially and I have a name, but I try to never forget people on my journey.
7. I am interested in beauty when it has something special and mysterious.
8. I've always been obsessed with things that are half animal and half human - like mermaids and Minotaurs - because they are trapped in an animal body. And I felt trapped in my own life.
9. I tried to never exclude people. I know what it means to be left out.
10. No matter how much people in fashion think we're so cool and avant-garde, for most fashion people, creativity is quite taboo.

Riccardo Tisci Short Quotes

• Being a creative mind, you have to examine who you are every day.
• I can give a beautiful present, and that may change the lives of people around me.
• I believe that couture is not about shocking.
• My truth is this: That I don't know what will happen tomorrow because you can never know.

Riccardo Tisci Quotes About Love

I love art and music more than I love fashion, to be honest. — Riccardo Tisci

For me, fashion is a job. I love it. It's my passion. But the most important thing for me in general is life. — Riccardo Tisci

This is very much part of my style, I work a lot on the back ­ - I love the back of clothes for men. I love even T-shirts printed behind. I think, "Why do you want to show only the front?" — Riccardo Tisci

I hate vulgarity. I hate vulgarity even though it attracts me - and it attracts me very much. I love all that is transgressive or vulgar. But in my opinion, it has to reach a limit that is always a little surreal and never becomes in your face. — Riccardo Tisci

I was lucky. From the time I was a little, I was always surrounded by women, and I am very attracted to the feminine world, because I love the strength and romanticism, which in the end, you can find in my style. — Riccardo Tisci

I am close friends with Marina Abamovich, so I love strong, very aggressive political art. She is like a mom who wants to adopt me. — Riccardo Tisci

I love finding new things. I love the conceptual aspect of Antony Hegarty or the voices of those back in the day like Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Ciara. I love what evokes emotion in me. — Riccardo Tisci

Riccardo Tisci Quotes About Life

One thing my mom didn't want any of us to do was to cry or to complain about life. Every day and night, even when we didn't have much food, we would pray together. And that for me was a beautiful moment. The fact of being poor didn't really hurt me. — Riccardo Tisci

My great strength, which I very much believe in, is family. For me, family doesn't simply mean components of DNA. I mean family in the sense of siblings. My mom and my sisters are the energy and inspiration in my life. — Riccardo Tisci

I come from a very poor family, with sisters. I never really knew my father, so I miss this strong image of a man in my life. — Riccardo Tisci

I was a very nice boy. I was well-educated ... very Catholic family. So I was very respectful, never late at work. I was always the last one to leave. It's always been that way in my life. — Riccardo Tisci

I always think about the streets because that's where I come from and that's where I'm going to die one day. That is my life. — Riccardo Tisci

I'm very well off but I can stay with normal people. I can do a super-luxury life, but I can do a very normal life and I'm not scared. — Riccardo Tisci

My relationship with religion is very strong because it was my hope, and it gave me two things very important in my life. It gave me the belief and it gave me a point to reach: Don't do something bad to the people next to you. — Riccardo Tisci

My mom and my sisters were amazing; they always see the good in people. My mom, she doesn't know how to write and read much, but she's one of the most fantastic women I've met in my life. — Riccardo Tisci

Riccardo Tisci Famous Quotes And Sayings

We didn't have a television, so we sat around the table, and me and my sisters and my mom would do these jobs, like, a penny for a piece, you know, these paper jobs. You know, what really saved me as a human today is my sisters and my mom. — Riccardo Tisci

My mom didn't teach me about Marco Polo. She didn't teach me about Napoleon. She didn't teach me about any of that. But she did teach me how to survive and to be a good person. And you need to be a strong woman to do that. She's the biggest person in my life. She's my Virgin Maria. That's why I love religion so much. — Riccardo Tisci

I remember that my sisters gave me this beautiful, like, empty book for Christmas. And I would draw all these beautiful women. Most of the time it was mermaids and a Minotaur: half human, half animal. I used to be obsessed with Minotaurs when I was a child. — Riccardo Tisci

Couture was only for rich people. Givenchy was for rich people. A bag cost 5,000 euro; a coat cost 10,000 euro. In the beginning, I couldn't react. I was just working like a machine, because I wanted to make the house happy. — Riccardo Tisci

My obsession when I was kid, from '85 into the '90s, was Gianni Versace. It was Helmut Lang. It was Margiela. So I said, "I cannot have Givenchy only as a luxury house; I'm going to introduce products for everybody, things that are reachable." — Riccardo Tisci

People's wardrobes in history are something that society and culture imposed. But sexuality is not about the way you dress. — Riccardo Tisci

I think my heart is in a very good place. And I think this is why I'm achieving what I've been asking to do in the universe for so long. — Riccardo Tisci

I had only two girlfriends. I didn't have many friends because I was staying at home and dreaming - drawing and dreaming. — Riccardo Tisci

I didn't know I was going to become a designer; I was going to become a successful person, but I really wanted to be free. — Riccardo Tisci

If I am in fashion, it is really due to very few designers that I admire - not because I don't like the rest, or that the rest are not beautiful, but because I am very selective. I adore Versace. I adore Helmut Lang, despite the fact that it's over. — Riccardo Tisci

Most little children's obsessions are robots and Barbie dolls. My obsession as a kid was the Versace house. I used to save up my pocket money to buy Versus shirts. I was that obsessed! — Riccardo Tisci

Couture is more your own world, they come and buy head-to-toe ­ - they buy the jewelry, bags, coats, dresses, bodies underneath.... But couture is not dead ­ - it's taken another shape. — Riccardo Tisci

I didn't invent hot water. But when I approach menswear, I do it in a very honest way. And my menswear and womenswear are very similar, in the sense that I put men in leggings and lace shirts. — Riccardo Tisci

There was a loneliness because kids my age had video games, tennis. They traveled. They had beautiful clothes. I was wearing my sisters' old clothes that were adjusted on me, because we didn't have money to buy clothes. So that really made me go deep inside on my heart, because the only things I could have with me were my heart and my brain. — Riccardo Tisci

I do the final fitting because the client wants me there. They're not spoilt, they really understand that you're very busy, but they just want you to say what you think - for just ten minutes. They really want to know your opinion because it really is a service at the end of the day, a luxury service. — Riccardo Tisci

If you buy a Cartier ring you want people to know it is a Cartier ring or a diamond, or a piece of art that's giving an emotion - then people read it and say, "wow that's really amazing". With prêt-à-porter you see people in the street, in a club, in a restaurant or whatever, and you think, "Oh my god, he's wearing my trousers!" In a way it's more open - people can put together the way they want - mixed with other designers. — Riccardo Tisci

I've had this sensibility since I was a child. If there was a black boy in the school, I was the friend. If there was an effeminate guy, I was the friend. If there was somebody who was poor like me, I was the friend. — Riccardo Tisci

For me, aesthetically, Donatella Versace represent what the Italian woman is. There is always the American rock thing, the aristocratic, above-the-rest British manner, but Italy is at the heart of it. — Riccardo Tisci

To leave Italy at 17 without money and go to a country like England is very rare; Italians stay with the family until 30, 35. But I couldn't stand to live in this box anymore. I was getting bigger, and the box was getting smaller. — Riccardo Tisci

I brought a lot of the codification of womenswear to menswear. Why? Because when I was a child, I was wearing women's clothes adjusted to me. — Riccardo Tisci

This is why I decided to work with Nike, too, because it is even more mass-market than Givenchy and could make entry-price shoes and make people dream to be part of the journey. — Riccardo Tisci

I used to hate to go to school, because when it was Friday afternoon and everybody was finished school, I knew I was going to work Saturday and Sunday. — Riccardo Tisci

There are some people whom I esteem and want their opinion first, but that's my way. It is difficult for me to delegate. In the end, I do have two or three people on my team who I listen to. — Riccardo Tisci

When I was far away, when I prayed every night, I felt I was very near with my heart, with my brain, to my sisters and my mom. — Riccardo Tisci

I like when a man has one strong accessory. If it's a watch, it has to be major. If you have strong shoes, it should just be the shoes. I don't like when a man is overdone-that's just bad taste. Coco Chanel was always saying you have to watch yourself in the mirror, put on a lot of things, and then take them off. I think it should be that way for men as well. — Riccardo Tisci

My first stage was couture. Boom. Couture. It has changed because women have evolved. Back in the day there were princesses. Today, there are still princesses, but she no longer rides around with horses and a carriage. She parties, she goes on vacation, she goes on boats. She wants to be dynamic. I understood this and I kept going. We do prêt-à-porter, men's, and couture. — Riccardo Tisci

When I was young, especially when I was at school, I thought couture was about big gowns, big hats (that is couture as well, of course) - but my couture is about going near the clothes and having a look at the details. I like people to have a shock in a chic way. — Riccardo Tisci

With couture you have faithfulness - people are faithful to you. In couture, you will see that the cut looks like a lace dress from a distance, but it's only when you get nearer you understand that it's layers of lace, hand stitched in a certain shape, all the work - the zips, the buttons, the hooks... it goes on. — Riccardo Tisci

Sex is something I live very well, but it is something I revealed very slowly in my fashion. What I do is emotional. For me, there is a base, which is my Italian roots. It's a strong passion for fashion, a passion for sensuality and dressing for one's self. — Riccardo Tisci

I've got what I want, and I've got the luck to express myself and to be paid and to do what I do as a creative person. — Riccardo Tisci

Every two to three weeks, I was changing around my room. My room was made out of nothing, basically - a magazine, a little radio, a little bed - and I had the sensibility to put things together and match things in a certain way so that they were very special. — Riccardo Tisci

Even at the beginning when I arrived at Givenchy, there were certainly people who supported me, but not everyone loved me. They were saying, "Why an Italian who acts Gothic?" Never mind the fact that Italy is one of the main exhibitors of Gothic art in the world. But it was like, "No, Italians should only do sexy!" — Riccardo Tisci

I was the last one of nine kids - eight girls and me last - and my sisters were going out. They were teenagers. And as they were getting ready, I would sit on the bathtub and watch them put on makeup and transform themselves - you know, putting on clothes and giggling about the boys they were going to meet and everything. So for me, that was an amazing thing - the fact of transforming themselves. — Riccardo Tisci

I think that's what you and I have in common, Donatella Versace, that careful balance. It makes me proud to be an Italian. In the end, I am proud to do what I do. — Riccardo Tisci

My mom always said to us, "You cannot judge anybody because of the color of skin." There were a lot of African immigrants in Italy at the time, and people would not even say hi in the street. And my mom, she would invite these people to the house. This is what I got from my mom: to not judge people because of their sexuality, their skin color, their religion, nothing. — Riccardo Tisci

I listen to certain opinions because those are important to me. I am a Leo, so I very much have my feet on the ground, and I know what I want, but there is also a side of me which is a little softer, still a little bit of a boy who has not grown up and who listens a lot. — Riccardo Tisci

Couture is emotion. Couture is freedom. Couture is not thinking about pricing and not thinking about craziness. You can do whatever you want to do in couture. — Riccardo Tisci

These five years as a couturier have really changed my way of seeing fashion and my confidence with fashion. Couture is a dream. — Riccardo Tisci

When I arrived here at Givenchy, there was a lot of confusion. Before me, there had been some great geniuses - John Galliano and Alexander McQueen are great masters. They marked history. But when I came in after Julien Macdonald, it was also a bit of a mess, because not even I could understand what the true identity of Givenchy was. Everyone thinks that it's only Audrey Hepburn, but there is a whole other world behind it. — Riccardo Tisci

I try to destroy taboo in fashion-which is something I learned as a kid. I come from the street, and you have to be a survivor. — Riccardo Tisci

The aborigines in Australia, the way they dress is very honest; it's not about: "Oh, you wear a skirt, you're gay." — Riccardo Tisci

My friends were like, "Oh, this weekend, we're going to go shopping." "Oh, this weekend I'm going to go to see the judo champion" ... you know. And I couldn't do anything. — Riccardo Tisci

In spite of the fact that everyone thinks I am very much a rottweiler - that i am very dark and everything - I have a side that is very romantic that i show to very few people. — Riccardo Tisci

In the beginning, to be honest I was super-scared. I turned up and took a step back and said, 'I am here to learn,' and I feel the same today. I've got only to learn from these people because they have been doing couture for 30 or 40 years, so I keep learning every season. — Riccardo Tisci

I love hip-hop and R&B. People always say, "You are dark, you make dark dresses. You probably only love The Cure or Diamanda Galás." I love Diamanda Galás, but I also love Madonna, Beyoncé, and Courtney Love. They are all from different worlds, but they all evoke emotions in me. I am someone who needs emotions and needs to transmit them. If that weren't the case, I'd be better off changing professions. — Riccardo Tisci

In the beginning, I was very punk. I was very revolutionary. When they asked me to do Givenchy, I didn't want to do it. My friends pushed me. But the situation with my family was so bad financially. I really did it because, when they told me how much they would pay me, I saw that my sisters and my mom could have a better life. — Riccardo Tisci

The elegance of the Italian South is a very strong elegance and it is one that I bring. It is a sexy elegance - or at least, let's say less chaste. — Riccardo Tisci

In prêt-à-porter now we understandably need to make the collection satisfy the big market more, so couture is extra special. — Riccardo Tisci

I started to draw and design clothes that I couldn't find, because everything was all luxury, fashion clothes or very straight. So I mixed all of that together: Who says I can't put a man in a skirt? Who says that a man can't wear lace? Who says that men can't wear Swarovski? Who says that men can't wear makeup? You know what I'm like; for me, straight, gay, women, men, trans, we're all the same. I don't see difference. — Riccardo Tisci

Anything I do, I do with my heart. This is why I sometimes get very upset or sometimes get very personal when I'm working. — Riccardo Tisci

Couture is also a matter of respect. In the end, all of these women sewing and embroidering the clothes, whom are almost all my mother's age, they're all 70 or 80 years old, have been here for a lifetime. They spend hours on it and come up with solutions. And because it's on a catwalk, people see if for five seconds and don't even see the technique, the drapery. — Riccardo Tisci

When I do a show I have such high emotion; the energy is amazing - but, people don't really see the details and the work and the experimentation that we, the designers, put into the clothes. With prêt-à-porter you're having a look. — Riccardo Tisci

I didn't have many friends. I was very shy ... And, then, even worse, when I was 14 I became Gothic. I had long, black hair. I was going to school with makeup. Because I was trying to find my language, to scream to the world that I felt so closed in a box where I was living. — Riccardo Tisci

I arrived here, with a destroyed house, with nothing. I had to do everything very slowly. And with a little team and a great president, we achieved a lot. I am happy here. For now, it is still Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, and I think that it will be for a long time, because it will be difficult to evict me from my house. I feel good here! — Riccardo Tisci

What I very much admire about the Versace maison, and what I am still trying to learn to do myself as I am still young, is that from day one until today, Versace is the peak of sexy but never crosses that red line into the vulgar. — Riccardo Tisci

When I was 12, I used to dress as a woman in the house. At the time, cross-dressing was a big taboo in Italy. It was better to have a son who was a drug addict than a cross-dresser. — Riccardo Tisci

I am one who is very meridione - Southern Italian. I am proud of this. I design everything with my team, which is fantastic and small. I design by look. For example, people always comment to me, "When you do men's shirts, you always keep them closed on the catwalk." That's my thing. — Riccardo Tisci

Even though I had a fantastic family, I always felt lonely - not lonely in the melancholic way but knowing that, to really survive, I have to do everything for myself. I had to work and study, and I was out in the street really surviving, bringing food back home. — Riccardo Tisci

When I went to England, to Saint Martins, I was traumatized, in a positive way. It was that British sense of transgression and the dark. Then when I went to Paris, I was doing couture, which everyone was saying was finished. Bullshit! For me, in the end, it was all a mixing of ingredients. — Riccardo Tisci

I suffered a lot when there was, like, a birthday party and I was not invited. Not because I was ugly or stupid; I was not invited because the parents would say to the kids, "Don't invite him, because he's poor and he comes from the south of Italy, and he can't give you nothing." — Riccardo Tisci

At the beginning, I didn't see what Givenchy could give my career. It was like, "Okay, I'll do it for the money for a few years to help my mom and my sisters." — Riccardo Tisci

We are Italian. We are all little tribes - not only in fashion, but also in music - in everything, basically. — Riccardo Tisci

I am super-Italian, not even European - Italian. And this is very precise. It's like houses. Over time they stabilize themselves in the terrain. I am still at the first step of a long staircase. — Riccardo Tisci

When I started at 9, I was working with plaster. I worked with a florist. It was a little illegal for kids to work. They would give you tips because they couldn't really give you wages. — Riccardo Tisci

The couture client wants the latest things, but she wants the clothes to be super-special - the fabrics won't even touch or go near anything like prêt-à-porter. — Riccardo Tisci

I am very happy at Givenchy and it is a moment in which I am bringing the game to the next level. I feel at home. It's as if it were my son. I don't know how to explain it. It would be very difficult for me to leave. — Riccardo Tisci

When I started, everyone said couture was finished and I was so scared. Actually I was more terrorized than scared. I was arriving from a provincial area of Italy. They called me in to do Givenchy and I just thought, Wow. — Riccardo Tisci

I’m very faithful to myself. When you do things that are true it just comes out quite instinctively. — Riccardo Tisci

I didn't want to dress anyone in the beginning, no celebrities. Then, very slowly I started with one, two, like that. There are some celebrities whom we dress because they are part of the family. They are women I admire. I don't care how famous she is, if she is at the movies or in a concert. — Riccardo Tisci

My luck has always been how I've had a family of women around me, and I have women who are very close to me - for example, Mariacarla Boscono, Carine Roitfeld, Marina Abramovic. I have different women whom I adore and value. — Riccardo Tisci

In Italy, especially in '70s and '80s, there was a lot of racism between north and south. And my mom immigrated from the south to the north, from Puglia, the heel of Italy. But what made me feel different was society, not my family. — Riccardo Tisci

In the beginning I didn't want to do a menswear collection. It felt a little forced. And then I found that it was an amazing world. — Riccardo Tisci

I am very attracted to the United States. Why? Well, as a little kid from Southern Italy, not from a wealthy family, it was always my dream to go to the Big Apple. I'm not one to listen to classical music. I am very much for what is American, but I also prefer the America of the ghetto. I love the Bronx. I love hip-hop and R&B. I love electro-Latino, Latin music, that whole realm. — Riccardo Tisci

Life Lessons by Riccardo Tisci

1. Riccardo Tisci's work demonstrates the importance of staying true to your own vision and aesthetic while also being open to collaboration and experimentation.
2. He has shown that fashion can be a powerful form of self-expression and a way to make a statement about the world.
3. His designs also emphasize the importance of paying attention to detail and creating something unique and special.