Fashion (I initially trained as a designer at Central St Martins in the days before The Puppini Sisters), drawing (and reading) comics, black and white movies (1930s and '40s Hollywood, 1950s Italian cinema, Ingmar Bergman), sci-fi/thrillers (movies or books) , cooking big dinners for lots of friends, very long walks in the Italian Alps, mushroom picking (also in the Italian Alps),
alternative cabaret and burlesque performances.
I'd like to meet:
Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Dolly Parton, Moldavian accordeon players and Bette Davis. Artistic minded people who are not self obsessed. Glamorous ladies. The genius who created MAC's Ruby Woo lipstick.
Music:
Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Dolly Parton, Jacques Brel, Einsturzende Neubatem, Yma Sumac, Giacomo Puccini, The Tiger Lillies, Kurt Weill, Anthony and the Johnsons, Edith Piaf, The White Stripes, The Dresden Dolls, The Andrews Sisters, The Boswell Sisters, The Dinning Sisters, The Kransy Sisters, The Puppini Sisters, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Prince, Nina Hagen, Burt Bacharach, Rufus Wainwright, Marianne Faithfull, anything with accordion and strings, and Italian drinking songs.
Movies:
Invasion of the body snatchers, Whatever happened to Baby Jane, The Rocky Horror picture show, Delicatessen, Wings of desire, Habla con ela, The nights of Cabiria, La strada, Amarcord, Wuthering Heights, Cabaret, Peau d'ane, La belle et la bete, Fanny and Alexander, Belleville Rendez-vous, Lolita, Sunset Boulevard, The Shining, All about Eve, The marriage of Eva Braun, Mildred Pierce, Casablanca, all of the Alien movies (yes, even the one with Winona Ryder), Woody Allen's old films, It's a wonderful life, and all of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' movies.
Television:
This is what I'd like to see on it:
Books:
The Master and Margarita by Mickail Bulgakov, Joseph and his brothers, The Holy sinner and The Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann, The road by Cormac Mc Carthy, The turn of the screw by Henry James, 1984, Brave new world, Oliver Twist, Lolita, Wuthering Heights, Atonement, Enduring love, The Handmaid's tale, Oryx and Crake and so many more
Heroes:
My mum, David Duchin, Tom Waits, Joan Crawford, Dolly Parton, Colette.
