About Lily Cole: Lily Luahana Cole is an English model and actress.
I don't believe there's an afterlife - but I don't believe there's an end to life. Consciousness goes beyond the bounds of your body.
I love modeling but also see it as a platform for the million other things I want to achieve and create in life.
I found going to school when I was modeling very grounding. It's really kept my perspective on bigger things in my life.
I'll always try to follow my heart into things I love, and modelling is not something I'm dreaming of pursuing forever.
I paint - I tend more to abstraction - but not as much as I would like to because of time. I would love to do sculpture - I've toyed with the idea of fitting in a sculpture course.
In British culture, redheads get teased at school. But I've grown up enough to realize I love my hair.
I always used to love couture because it was more theatrical than the runways. The runways always felt more like part of the machine.
I love yoga. I don't do it as much as I'd like to, but I feel wonderful when I do.
I love beautiful things; I like having nice clothes, and I can appreciate why other people do - but I've also started to learn more about the impact of what we buy: how things are made, how much you buy and the quality of everything.
I think the media are so hypocritical a lot of the time in the way they chastise something just so that they can print it again.
It doesn't make me very happy to be on my computer all the time. I've never been drawn to that world.
The average Londoner knows just one neighbour. I travel a lot, and I'm always surprised by the strong sense of community in some countries. We've lost something fundamentally human, and we don't even realise it.
Giving triggers social cohesion. It's also the basis for an economy not based on money.
I have to admit I've always had quite a complex relationship with modeling and with the idea of advertising: not always knowing what I'm advertising and selling.
It's not that I don't believe in creativity and innovation and new ideas, and the creativity that comes with fashion, which I really respect. But one of my biggest concerns is just how cheap we expect everything to be.
