What is your favourite item in your wardrobe? A cashmere shawl. I love it because you can put it over anything and feel beautiful and glamorous like you're floating on a sand dune.

What is your fall-back outfit? A thin Balenciaga trench coat that you can wear as a dress. It's elegant and beautiful and you can wear it anywhere.

What is your one piece of fashion or beauty advice? Very few people can wear crazy things all together and pull it off. Be on the conservative side: if you have an amazing scarf, make that the centrepiece.

Biggest fashion faux pas? All mistakes are glorious because they lead to amazing creations. If you take risks you make big, beautiful mistakes. I couldn't resurrect trousers with stirrups, though.

What aspect of fashion do you hate? The pressure for women to keep up with trends. So many people wear what's trendy, even if they're not sure if they look good in it. Comfort is the No 1 priority. Trust your instincts.

How do you think people perceive you from the way you dress? People probably think I'm crazy. I've had Golden Hanger awards for bad outfits from Joan Rivers. I don't fully believe it when someone criticises me, and I don't fully believe it when someone compliments me.

If you could steal anyone's wardrobe, past or present, fiction or reality, whose would it be and why? Marianne Faithfull's and Bianca Jagger's. And I'd also steal Isabel Archer's from The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I'd steal everything from Edith Wharton's heroines, and from the little chimney sweeps from Dickens's novels. I'd love to go into David Bowie's wardrobe. I'd mix all the clothes from these wardrobes into one of my own.

If you could change one part of your body, which would it be? I'd have neck extension surgery, and I wouldn't mind knee-shrinkers.

What are your five desert island staples? I love luxurious luggage - it makes me feel so special - so I'd take everything in a Samsonite bag. Then, I'd take sunscreen, moisturisers, my guitar, pencils and paper and a really great sarong.

What is a day in the fashion life of Milla Jovovich? I get up at 7am, play with my baby, feed her, play some more, put her to bed for a nap...It all revolves around her.

Milla Jovovich is the face of the Samsonite Black Label Weekend Collections

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