Roberto Cavalli

I began to speak well at a very advanced age - 15, 16, 17 years old. It was psychological: the trauma of war, my family and growing up on my own. I was more or less a street kid.

Sometimes incompetence is useful. It helps you keep an open mind.

Every girl creates a dream in her mind; everyone needs an idol.

The judge said I was a menace to society because I had put crime on a scientific basis.

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.

I have a naturally camp sensibility and a camp sense of humour. I love the icons that gay people love.