Celebrating 25 Years Of Incredible Women

“What others marked as flaws or disadvantages about myself – my race, my gender – I embraced as fuel for my success. I never let anything or anyone define me or my potential.”

“Power hopefully means the ability to govern our own lives and does not mean power over other people – which is, I think, where the problem begins.”

“It’s good to see women behaving [badly onscreen]. We don’t just sit at home doing our makeup and waiting for the boys to come home – we go hard ourselves sometimes.”

“There is a power in speaking up… Talk is cheap, but who shows up? Who’s going to stand up and say, ‘I’m gonna be right with you when you’re protesting?’ And it doesn’t have to be when you are visible. Even if you aren’t necessarily in a position of power, you have a say about things.”

“What gives me hope that real, meaningful progress is possible is that we’ve seen all this happen before. We’ve seen how far we’ve come from the sparks of diversity, inclusion and representation, so that far more of us can feel visible, heard and empowered in our identities.”

“What’s the difference between bravery and bravado? Bravery is terrifying and actual; bravado is a parade.”

“When I was going through my panic attacks, I didn’t even feel like I could share with anyone… I thought maybe I don’t have the right, everybody is going through so many difficult things in the world, and I don’t have the right to feel this way. So I’d suppress it, and the more I suppressed it, the bigger it became.”

“I’m very sure of myself. I come from a family where we celebrated each other as women. But in fashion [in the ’90s], it was very foreign for [the industry] to see something out of the ordinary. For me, it was important that it wasn’t just about me and representing women of color, but saying that we need diversity. Fashion draws its inspiration from around the world, from all different cultures, so this is a collective.”

“Imposter syndrome is something that I hear so many women talk about. In London, I would go into rooms [and] I wouldn’t necessarily see anyone that looked like me, and I definitely didn’t hear anyone who spoke like me. And I always actually thought about my differences as an advantage.”

“There are things that, say, North American culture does not understand about Asian culture and doesn’t necessarily respect. When I won the Golden Globe [for Best Actress in a TV series], my parents were there, and I bowed. I don’t think people who are not from our culture understand the depth of respect and strength in bowing to your elders. It’s not a supplicating gesture, it’s a gesture of raising, not only yourself but also the person you are bowing to. That’s what I know not only the Asian diaspora but many people of color understand. And that’s who I am talking to.”

“Even from when I just signed [aged 16], there were certain specific roles that women could play in pop music, and there weren’t many of them. I feel like, now, some of the biggest artists in the world are so far outside of that mold… Like there are no rules on how to be a female pop star… There are many, many different voices being represented within mainstream pop music now.”

“For a period after I had my son, there was a real shift in identity and a sort of mourning of the loss of who you were… But once I stepped into the role, embraced it, everything sort of relaxed a little bit. I did start to feel this new sense of life.”

“To me, it’s a question of, ‘How do I want to represent myself and my community?’ It’s making sure that I’m honoring those stories and actually telling them in a really smart way.”

“To acquire genuine knowledge, we need to slow down. We need books, considered journalism, in-depth analyses and calm conversations. We have to be good listeners.”

“It makes me have a lot of faith in humanity when you go into a classroom of first- or second-graders – the questions they ask and seeing just how bright and optimistic they are… gives me a lot of hope.”

“I say fake it till you make it, because everyone’s pretending they know what they are doing and almost everyone doesn’t.”

“The women I really admire are the ones you feel you’re getting something truthful from. It sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but I’m very interested in truth, in finding ways to be messy and unsure and flawed and incredible and great and my fullest self, all wrapped into one.”

“Something I remember quite vividly, which I [apply to] fashion, is that one small action may have a huge impact thousands of miles away. A single choice that we make can have an impact elsewhere – and that’s what I try to bring into my work.”

“Even today, so much of what is familiar to us is rooted in ableism or systemic biases. There’s a lot to learn, unlearn and relearn.”

Team NET-A-PORTER on their most memorable buys

A timeline of NET-A-PORTER’s most-wanted pieces from 2000 to today