Quotes from Twiggy

There's no need to dress like everyone else. It's much more fun to create your own look.

You won't often find me in a pair of killer heels: my heel height doesn't rise above two and a half inches, as I would just fall over!

The key with a full-skirt shape is to balance it out with a great figure-hugging top.

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.

It is no longer acceptable to ignore the suffering, and designers must take responsibility for the way that their fur is produced.

Ballet pumps are the dream shoes because they are so comfortable. They look great both with jeans and summer dresses; and you can even wear the right pair with an evening gown.

I was always telling girls who said that they wanted to be the 'next' Kate Moss or the 'next' Gisele that it wasn't possible, because the 'next' girl wasn't going to look like anybody else; she would be somebody unique. If you look at all the great models... they all have an individual look.

I don't like talking about which bits I like or don't like about my body. Everybody has something they're not happy with, and my only advice would be, 'Do something about it - exercise or eat less, but don't do nothing!' Find ways to enhance the good bits and camouflage the bad bits.

I love corduroy jeans as well as vertical-striped jeans. Both are a fun switch from plain old denim. They can be slimming so long as the stripes aren't too chunky.

My weakness is chocolate - especially butterscotch and nut varieties.

If you've got the body and the chutzpah, a pencil skirt is so sexy on older women. Look for ones that fall just below the knee. Think 1940s, cinched-in jackets - imagine you are Lauren Bacall on a date with Humphrey Bogart and you just absolutely have to wear very high heels.

I prefer 100 per cent cotton Ts. They are kinder to lumps and bumps than figure-hugging stretchy Lycra ones and feel nicer against the skin. Extra-long-sleeved T-shirts are a lifesaver for me. I wear them either underneath a shirt with the sleeve pulled out of the cuff, or underneath gypsy tops, tunic tops and waistcoats.

Even before I was discovered in 1966, I used to make my own clothes. I learned how to sew early on, and it's still my passion now. I constantly have ideas in my head about clothes so jumped at the chance to do my own collection and am very hands-on. Everything I design, I wear and I love.

Belts distract the eye from a bloated tummy, a heavy-set upper body and all manner of sins. They can be a superb way to update your wardrobe without breaking the bank, and there's no reason to stop wearing them, ever!

I think I had a fur coat that someone bought me from Portobello Market back in the 1960s, but I think as soon as you think about it, what it is you're wearing, make that connection, then you realise it's just not right. I don't lecture people about it, but it's not something I'd ever wear.

Wearing a bold print gets harder as you get older. It's 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 have an iPod, but I do still love CDs. There's something nice and tangible about a CD. I'm a mixture of old and new - I love my sewing machine, but I've also embraced new technology. The iPad is what did it for me - it's extraordinary.

I eat healthily because that's the way I prefer to eat, and I'm sure it helps keep the weight off.

You can't be a clothes hanger for your entire life.

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.

As every teenage girl, I was absolutely obsessed with The Beatles, and the first record I bought was 'Please Please Me.' I'd have been 13 at the time.

I was a very, very shy, insecure teenager.

My one big rule for the over-40s is don't try to dress like an 18-year-old. It's possible to be 'on-trend' when you're older - you just have to look for the right stuff. You don't have to spend a fortune, either.

I am very sad that some designers are still using real fur when the fake alternatives are so effective and so easily obtainable.