Received lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion
Designers of America in 1993.
In 1961, she became the first name designer to use an African-American
model.
Had two sons, Jean-Pierre Radley and Philippe Radley and a
granddaughter, Karen.
She wore only her own designs, and she generally punctuated them with
several of her trademark turtle pins.
Her 50th anniversary in fashion, a milestone reached by no other
designer in this country, was celebrated in 1992 at a benefit fashion
show and dinner at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
Fashion is what people tell you to wear. Style is what comes from your own inner thing.
"Practicality has always been very important in my life and my designs.
You have to make things functional, but that doesn't mean they can't be
attractive" (interview with the Associated Press in December 2000)