Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

INTERVIEW:Her family name is a privilege as well as a burden, but it doesn’t stop Daphne Guinness from working with some of the most visually creative artists in the world of fashion, she tells DEIRDRE McQUILLAN

IF THERE’S ONE thing that 42-year-old style icon Daphne Guinness detests, it is being described as a “society heiress”, a label that seems to adhere like flypaper whenever her elfin frame appears in the limelight. Considered one of the world’s best-dressed women, celebrated for her idiosyncratic sartorial choices, her interest in armour and signature black-and-white hairdo, she is also an involuntary standard bearer for her famous surname, one of the most beautiful and high-profile members of that family.