Daphne Guinness: ‘I don’t look in the mirror much. Growing up, I never thought I was beautiful’

The model and musician on wanting to be a spy, a brush with gun violence, and the pleasure of fishfingers with ketchup

Born in London, Guinness, 56, married at 19, moved to Switzerland and had three children. She went on to work as a model, fashion writer and muse to Alexander McQueen and Karl Lagerfeld. In 2011, she created a show from her own archive for the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She began recording music in 2011 and, this summer, released her fourth album, Sleep. Divorced, she lives in London.

When were you happiest?
I am often happiest on a shoot with David LaChapelle, being pushed to the extremes – either suspended from a harness or immersed in a tank of water. He calls it “extreme modelling”.