Or so he told the crowd at the French Institute Alliance Francaise in New York earlier this week (via Fashionista):

When asked to define modern elegance today, he said, “I think you have to be elegant naked to be elegant dressed. It’s about feeling good about yourself. Taking care of yourself.”

And his last piece of advice? “When in doubt, take it off.”

And I actually don’t hate this. I mean, I know OdlR probably equates “elegant” with “thin,” but that doesn’t mean we have to jump off the same bridge. I’m digging the idea that confidence starts with you au naturel — and then clothes, makeup, whatever are all just layers of awesome icing on an already amazing cake.

That being said, what is up with male fashion designers stumping for nudity all the time now? Do they not understand their job description or are they just lazy? Because if we wore less clothes, heck, they could take Fridays off.

PS. Whoops, just read that old post and realized I’m recycling the clothing-as-cake-frosting metaphor. What can I say? I like cake. Usually even more than the frosting.

[Photo: “Sicily, 1967” Model Barbara Bach wears amazing Oscar de la Renta dress while sitting on a castle wall. Because dude knows how to make some clothes. Image by © Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS, from dovima_is_devine_II / Christine‘s photostream, used per Flickr’s Creative Commons License.]