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I became a fashion designer by accident. I loved to make portrait drawings when I was a teenager, and from that came the interest in what people were wearing and why they were wearing it.

When I first started modeling, I realised I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry.

I think I was very young when I became interested in fashion.

I never looked at magazines before I started modeling. I was 13 or 14, and none of my friends were into magazines. We were into the fashion of the day, though.

My mother was a beauty queen in her hey day. That's where I learnt a little about makeup and hair... I had never picked up or even seen a 'Vogue' before I was 17. I had no idea about fashion, magazines, models or designers. No idea.

We always had 'Vogue' in our house. But, when I was around 12, my Mom finally took me seriously about modeling and put a stack of magazines in front of me, then told me to study all the poses. The ones I loved the most were in 'Vogue.'

Heading to Paris when I was 17 and modelling exposed me to high fashion, which influenced me to dress on-trend - not extravagantly, but always in fashion.

I never wanted to work in fashion. At age 12 or 13, I wanted to design for showgirls - for the theater! And I was crazy for the Hollywood of the 1950s: Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Jones. They were my idea of glamour - and Sylvie Vartan, the French singer.

When I fell into modeling, because I wanted to work in fashion. I wanted to do styling or make-up. I ended getting picked up to be a model instead during my work experience.