Fear has been my biggest friend. Fear of the unknown. Whenever I've been afraid, I've been very self-protective.

How awful to be a perfect beauty! How confusing! God. Can you imagine?

Clothes are like a suit of armour when you're young. I was quite a shy teen, so I wanted to make aggressive statements with the way I looked. I'd say my goth/indie stage was the worst: there was a lot of experimentation involving pink food dye in my fringe.

I have two curiosity cabinets at home filled with finds from jumble sales, markets and my travels. My favourite piece is a voodoo mask from just outside Cape Town.

I'm like a tourist when I'm in London.

I understood early on that I was not the best-looking girl in the room. But I knew my advantage was a hard work ethic and I was ambitious: I knew I could be a great model.

Someone once referred to modeling as being like winning the lottery gene pool. It's such an odd way to put things, but what is different about modelling is that the industry often picks you.

I've worn a lot of humdingers in my time, but as a model it's my duty - my responsibility - to bring life to any garment. That can be challenging when it comes to high fashion, where the creations can be very eccentric, but I've gained a reputation for being the go-to girl who can pull it off.

When I was at primary school, we had this theory that if you ate an egg, it meant you'd get pregnant and give birth to a chicken or another egg. It was something we dared together. I avoided eggs for years, but now they're my favourite food.

A girl must have an indefinable magic, real character, a strong sense of self. Her role is to respond to the brief of a photographer or communicate the vision of a designer - while making whatever she does look utterly effortless and whatever she wears utterly seamless.

I've enjoyed many camping holidays with my sister and her children, but we're pretty posh campers.

I can play the flute. Music was my favourite A-level, and I used to love composing my and stylising my voice to sound like 90's singing sensation Tori Amos.

There are great slender models, great tall models, Amazonian models, great busty models - my point is models of all shapes and sizes, age, ethnic background should be embraced and celebrated.

I take my mentoring responsibilities very seriously.

I am aware it's easy and may be fashionable to pose with a slum child, and the irony of getting the media along means that it can come across as disingenuous. But you take these things on board, and you hope you mean it whenever you get stuck into something.

I love the physicality of my job and how my mind and body are most happy when I'm expressing and moving. My face was always secondary to body alignment and the dynamism of making a moment come alive.

When I first began modeling, I was very conventional looking. I had hair down to my waist in a side parting - almost church-like. But beneath the sheath of hair lay this Amazonian, strong-looking frame.

My style has been nurtured over time. It's more about knowing what doesn't suit you. I love suits and anything sharp, and I know that shape suits me. I don't feel feminine in floaty dresses with spaghetti straps - I feel more like Freddie Mercury in drag.

As a child I wanted to be a ballerina, ice-cream van owner, wife of George Michael, a nun, and a music conductor.

In my work, I'm called to a job at the drop of a hat, so I like a sense of order to my holidays, and holding a map makes me happy.

In my career, which has been fairly two-dimensional, people make decisions based on your persona.

The model sanctuary was borne of a complex, political, societal debate. It was proposed to us from various bodies that we give models medicals once a year, and if they didn't pass that medical, there's a chance they'd legally lose their right to work.

Fashion is intoxicating, and it plays a part in all of our everyday lives. A lot of people use it as a form of escape, of realising a fantasy, and in some ways that becomes an unobtainable norm.

With high fashion, it's a performance. You're trying to interpret a fantasy in a very physical way, and you really are playing a character. I've played men, dead people, famous people, historical icons, and it's no mean feat. It's quite an insular experience even though the crowd is in front of you and there's an expectation.

New York is on a grid system, so it's slightly less challenging logistically, but Londoners are more relaxed in their selling approach. With that intense shopping service in New York, it's easy to get carried away and make a wrong purchase. Here, there's a different flow. You are left to explore, and individuality is key.

The 'Best of British' is a positive thing that's bandied around, but also it's applied pressure to our country in terms of economic growth. I think we've always felt the rest of the world is so much more powerful in terms of being commercially viable, but we can take great pride in our level of creativity.

We won't get economic growth if we don't look after our mothers and the potential of the next generation. They need to be prioritised.

I've been cycling ever since I was a kid. I remember taking my cycling proficiency test aged seven - I got to school at 7:30 A.M. to practise, I was so nervous. After that, I always cycled to school.

Cycling is a great way to learn about your city. I love being outdoors, especially in good weather, but I'm not a fair weather cyclist. I'm happy to get a red nose in the cold.

When I was 13 or 14, my parents had a bit of a windfall so bought a lovely new kitchen, but I burnt it down. I was making cheese on toast when flames escaped from the grill. My father stopped the fire with blind panic and excessive water. I was forgiven, but it put me off cooking for years.

As a small child, me and my pals fantasised about one day owning an ice-cream van. To have ice creams on demand would have been a dream come true.