Eileen Ford

I create a look, and I create a style.

I see girls that I know - I absolutely know - will be star models within just a matter of weeks, and they always are.

I don't think of people as black or white. It's a question of are they photogenic or not? I don't think anyone says, 'Let's book her. She's black.' I think they say, 'Let's book her. She's good.' We've come that far.

Jerry didn't know he wanted to get married until he was married.

I suppose you could say that I majored in men and minored in psychology.

You never know when or where you will find the next new model, but you can bet someone from Ford Models will be looking.

We couldn't afford to move, so we decided to start up a model agency.

Models are a business, and they have to treat themselves as a business, which means they have to take care of themselves and give up all the young joys.

Most models are emotionally abandoned. They need me. I'm their mother.

Our business was built on trust.

I interview about three thousand models yearly, and I must see almost 20 tons of excess avoirdupois annually.

I never worry about fat people worrying about thin people, because slender people bury the dead.

Grace Kelly was a very commercial model; she had no interest in being a fashion model. None at all.

Most of our models have just walked in off the streets, although I also find them on countless trips to Europe - particularly Scandinavia. I operate by instinct. It's a process I cannot explain, but the prettiest girl on the block is not always the best model.

The horrible thing about being me is that I have a very good eye about what people look like. Even me.

My family believed I could do no wrong. That's probably why I have utter confidence in myself even when I shouldn't have.

I live in a wonderful world of make-believe. A world of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. A world of Winnie the Pooh and Edward Bear. Things like that. Wonderful things. Funny things.

I feel that my ideas of beauty have been given very strong backing by Botticelli and a few others: Slender hands, long neck, long limbs - look at Nefertiti. She was very teensy-weensy with a long neck and wide-spaced eyes.

None of the people I grew up with had identity problems. We all had perfectly marvelous lives.

I got everything I wanted from my parents: Brooks Brothers sweaters and Spalding saddle shoes.

American women mean a great deal to me. They're such lost souls, particularly the women of my generation. And women need so much help. They never have anyone to turn to. I help them understand how they can look better, how to do this, do that, get a job. And they're very trusting. Like little lost kids.

I really prefer light-eyed models, They photograph more easily. Of course, I come from a light-eyed background, so maybe that influenced my taste.

I'm afraid to go to sleep; I don't like to lose control of myself. I don't like chauffeurs, either. I like to be in charge of my own destiny.

I can't add above 10, I can't draw a stick figure, and I'm tone deaf. So I had to be able to do something. I found that something was picking successful models.

I had a nice, pert nose but a plain round face and a mop of curly brown hair. That was not the photograph of a successful model.