There is definitely a 'red carpet moment' to a bride's wedding day, but when designing for bridal, it is important to focus on the details that will captivate and capture the imagination of the bride - she has to fall in love with the gown.

Your wedding is your red carpet moment, and while brides definitely can take some chances with style, you don't want to look like a fad.

I can see why people love the idea of a big white wedding - it is a day when they are the centre of attention and get to wear a beautiful dress. But that sounds awful to me because that is like getting ready to walk down the red carpet.

I can wear a sexy dress to any red carpet event. My wedding is my chance to go all the way and wear a princess silhouette.

On set is where I feel comfortable. The red carpet stuff, talking about the film, explaining your own life, it doesn't come naturally. It's all necessary stuff I suppose but it's not my strength.

On the red carpet, one tip is to suck in your cheekbones - apparently it looks better on camera. I don't know, though; I think a nice smile is best.

I get accused of having a haughty smugness. I have a lopsided mouth. I can't help it. I was born with it. It looks as if I am smirking. I have had my publicist tell me, 'Don't do that smile on the red carpet.' I'm, like, 'That's my smile.'

Red carpets seem so glamorous, but you're really just standing there sweating and worrying your hair is going to fall. And in the end, people are only going to see one picture of you. You just smile for one second and then you walk over to the side and check your phone. It's pretty weird.

I am fine if I am on a red carpet - I know what to do. You stop and smile and pose for a picture and that's fine.

Whenever I go on the red carpet and I'm a bit nervous, I just say to myself the mantra, 'Come on Barbara, you gotta get those pictures posted on Instagram!' That's all I have in my mind, like, 'Look serious now, maybe give a little smile, but a cheeky one,' but in the end, it's never how it looks.

Smiling makes a huge difference. A lot of people walk the red carpet and try to be sexy. I don't do that; I always smile.

OK, I don't love the red carpet... You arrive and all the photographers are shouting at you 'Smile!' I'm like: what, you want me to lift my leg and twirl? No.

Few things detract more from your credibility and the respect of your colleagues and peers than being called on the carpet to deflect accusations and defend an untruth.

I spent a lot of time in the White House in the public areas where reporters are allowed to go, but I spoke to people about the private quarters as well. Some of the things I learned were small, novelistic details. For example, the fact that there were still pet stains on the carpets from the Bush cats when the Obamas moved in.

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.

We just compare our lifestyle to movies so you can relate to them. When I say, 'I bought a carpet from Aladdin so I could finesse and do magic,' that means I had to get me a new whip or I had to get me something in disguise to work my magic, to finesse, to get out of here.

Like a lot of you, I grew up in a family on the ragged edges of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house.

I grew up in a working class family. People thought I might go work at a mill. My mom wanted me to learn how to lay carpet because she was concerned about my future. Nobody had high hopes for me. But I was a hustler.

To put down an ideogram of a table so that people will recognize it as a table is not the work of a painter, but to sense it for a moment as a magic carpet with a leg hanging down at each corner is the beginning of a painter's imagination.

Hope is the magic carpet that transports us from the present moment into the realm of infinite possibilities.

It's not something I'm embarrassed about. Depression is an issue that tends to be brushed under the carpet. My hope is that if people with a public profile are prepared to talk about it, then it might prompt other people to talk about it too.

I really hate the duties of being a celebrity, like getting dressed up for the red carpet.

We learned that kicking down doors to free children from carpet factories isn't enough to stop child labour - we had to tackle the underlying poverty in which their families lived, through education.

There are no captions on red-carpet photos that say, 'This girl trained for two weeks, she went on a juice diet, she has a professional hair and makeup person, and this dress was made for her.' I just wish they'd say, 'It ain't the truth.'