At sixteen, I was a funny, skinny little thing, all eyelashes and legs. And then, suddenly people told me it was gorgeous. I thought they had gone mad.

I used to do my own make-up. I used to have this doll that had those big eyelashes on the top and bottom, and I think I copied her when I was doing my eyes, putting false eyelashes on the bottom as well as the top. So I came up with that look myself.

Being young isn't about age, it's about being a free spirit. You can meet someone of 20 who's boring and old, or you can meet someone of 70 who's youthful and exciting. I met Fred Astaire when he was 72 and I was 21, and I fell in love with him. He certainly was a free spirit.

I've never really had a waist. Even when I was at my slimmest, my silhouette was very straight up, straight down. But I have learnt how to give myself a bit of waist by optical illusion. For this, bring on the belts.

Can you imagine wot it was like. All the girls gettin' luvly figgers and me stayin' flat as a pancake? It was no fun, I tell you.

Wearing a bold print gets harder as you get older. Its safer to stick to subtle prints or block colours. I have always found prints quite tricky. My daughter Carly, who is on the design team at Stella McCartney, is obsessed with them.

I’m just mad for San Francisco. It is like London and Paris stacked on top of each other.