I’m from Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro. When I was younger, we’d go to visit my grandma in Buzios every weekend. It’s a little beach town, two hours from Rio, and it was my favourite place. I have so many great memories from there. I love the sea and I love to be in the water — I was quite a fish.

When I was a teenager, I got a body board, and from the age of 14 or 15, I started diving. All my Buzios holidays were with my best friend, Marcela. I remember I would take a big bag of sarongs to the beach that people had brought me back from Bali, and all my friends would come along and get a sarong. Pretty soon, a big stretch of the beach was covered in a patchwork of different prints and colours. I look at my house in London now and it looks like that patchwork of sarongs.

What I miss most about Brazil is the sea and the sunshine. Now, when I need to recharge my batteries, I have to swim in the sea. It has to be somewhere with sunshine and warm water — not the English sea. I go to Ibiza, the South of France or, sometimes, Greece. Whenever I’m in Asia, I go to Thailand, I’ve been seven times already. I love Thai food, Thai service and the fabulous warm waters. I’ve tried to learn Thai cooking and flower arranging; I love it so much. One of my favourite places is Krabi. The landscape is so dramatic and the beaches are dotted with huge limestone rocks that remind me of Rio. I remember I’d wake up every morning to find monkeys in my villa. The first time, I’d left food out by mistake, and I woke up to find four or five on the balcony. The second day, I wanted to photograph them, so I deliberately left food around. About 40 came in. I took some amazing pictures of the mothers carrying their babies.

I’ve been living outside Brazil for nearly 18 years.

I moved to New York after school, aged 17, to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology. The first time I went to New York, I was 11, and I said to my mum, “I’m going to live here.” I just loved it. In New York, everything is so convenient and fast. You can get anything delivered. But I got to a point when I decided I’d had enough of America and felt it was time to move to Europe. I knew that London was the place. I’ve always loved London.

A holiday to me means freedom, fun and pleasure. I also find holidays inspirational for my work. When you are on holiday, you end up meeting people from all over the world, and I learn a lot about other cultures. Travelling has taught me about life. Instead of reading books, you should always explore. Every country I go to educates me with ideas and inspiration.

I’m looking forward to my next holiday. I do tend to go to the same places, but I made a new year’s resolution that, this year, at least every two months, I’d travel somewhere I hadn’t been before. So I’m going to the Maldives with my boyfriend soon. I love diving and snorkelling. I’ve bought a book of amazing diving destinations, so I’m using that as my guide.

I really want to go to Egypt and Middle Eastern countries — Jordan, Libya and all those places — but my favourite getaway is an island called Fernando de Noronha, off the Brazilian coast. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. It’s a tiny island and the whole area is a nature reserve. The marine life there is to die for, and they have the most amazing rare birds, too. From one beach, you can swim with turtles; on another, we went to watch the sunrise.

As we sat there, hundreds of dolphins came dancing in front of us. It’s a simple place, but it’s perfect for those who love the sea.

Whenever I travel, I take my cape dresses with me. They’re like an oversized T-shirt; they’re so comfortable. The last time I was in Thailand, Kate Moss and Lucy Tang were staying at the same resort. Lucy sent me a message, saying, “Daniella, I need some of your cape dresses.” But I just had my own clothes. She pleaded with me, so I gave her one of mine. I took it to their villa and Lucy put it on, then Kate wanted one. She ended up coming back to our villa and taking them all out of my suitcase. So I ended up giving her one, too.

Daniella Helayel talked to Abigail Cattell

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