Babe Paley

Neatness - which is grooming, after all - is definitely the most important requirement.

I like the sudden shock of non-sequitur color. Color, in fact, is my weakness.

The look of being too deliberately dressed, with everything cautiously matching, always bores me.

Although I write to entertain, and try to keep my work free of didacticism, I do have a rather passionate belief in our need to be connected to - and to learn from - history.

In Cleveland there is legislation moving forward to ban people from wearing pants that fit too low. However, there is lots of opposition from the plumber' union.

Recently, I was in Bernalda, my dad's ancestral home town in Italy. He has just refurbished a palazzo and turned it into a hotel, so we had my sister's wedding there. It was beautiful.