What is your favourite item in your wardrobe?
Some Manolo Blahnik heels; they're feminine and quite precious, almost like jewels.

What is your fallback outfit?
A black coat over a black dress. I have many of both by lots of designers.

What is your one piece of fashion or beauty advice?
Don't do too much to your face, either by piling on too much make-up or undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Biggest fashion faux pas?
When your choice of fashion has nothing to do with the shape of your body.

What aspect of fashion do you dislike the most?
That the fashion world is a serious business yet so many people in the industry have such a superficial attitude.

How do you think people perceive you from the way you dress?
Quite seriously, I suppose, though I am still approachable.

If you could steal the wardrobe of anyone - past or present, fictional or real - whose would it be and why? Someone from the Renaissance. Lucrezia Borgia, say, for all that gorgeous brocade.

If you could change one part of your body, which would it be?
Ha, it depends what day you ask me that; the answer changes all the time.

List your five desert island staples.
A book, music, Carita hair conditioner, an umbrella and a picture of my son.

What is a day in the fashion life of Franca Sozzani?
There is a lot of changing. I've worked in the fashion world for a long time but I'm not fed up with clothes and I like dressing up, though I'm quite practical during the day. In the evening I like to be more glamorous.

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