“My earliest influences were Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.”

My dad was born in Chicago in 1908… his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago, where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children – in the backroom all together – and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.

I love a star print. I always get a lurch if I see a nice one.

I grew up in the countryside, and I was obsessed with horses and wildlife.

Ever since I was little I really loved boyish clothes – I had a real obsession with strict clothes, like uniforms. They really got me going.

My earliest memories of rap music was mixed with my earliest memories of reggae music. They were big sounds around the way, heavy bass lines, strong messages, definitely.

From the earliest time the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.

The whole ‘grunge-girl’ comparisons certainly are the easiest to pick out, and I appreciate that music journalists are rushed.

It is surprising to notice that even from the earliest age, man finds the greatest satisfaction in feeling independent. The exalting feeling of being sufficient to oneself comes as a revelation.

The earliest voice listened to by the nations in their infancy was the voice of the storyteller.

From earliest times, humans – explorers and thinkers – have wanted to figure out the shape of their world.