What is your idea of perfect happiness? Two scenarios immediately unfold: dancing at an all-night milonga, ending the last turn in my husband’s arms; laying on a blanket in the shade, absorbed in a new novel.

What is your greatest fear? Becoming homeless.

What historical figure do you most identify with? “Identify with” isn’t the right phrase, but a figure I’ve admired since I was a teenager is Sylvia Pankhurst, an English suffragette, social activist, and antifascist.

Which living person do you most admire? Gladys Grullon, a local dancer, choreographer, and fitness teacher, has the largest heart of anyone I’ve known.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Self-doubt.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? Lack of empathy.

What is your greatest extravagance? The omakase menu at Oishii every April.

What is your favorite journey? The one I’ve yet to take.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Acceptance of what is.

On what occasion do you lie? When telling the complete truth would discourage someone from making an effort.

What do you dislike most about your appearance? The girls I’ve met dancing over the years, especially the salseras, have taught me that whatever your shape or features, if you think you’re beautiful you really are. Of course, it helps to live with someone who reinforces that message.

Which living person do you most despise? “Despise” is a strong word that I’d turn less toward a particular individual than certain actions, usually when those in power take advantage of those without power.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? None of which I’m aware, and I would hope that my friends would tell me if I did.

What is your greatest regret? That I don’t have more opportunities to dance.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? My husband, Michael.

When and where were you happiest? I’d have to say now and here. My home life is peaceful and I’m working on a project that, however overwhelming, I truly love.

What talent would you most like to have? Fluency in many languages.

What is your current state of mind? Exhausted, but in good spirits.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’d like to overcome my absolute certainty when in a car on a heavily trafficked road that all these large pieces of metal hurtling along at high speeds are bound to collide at any moment. 

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? That I could see them more often and with greater individual focus.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Loving well and being loved well in return.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be? I’m fairly sure this is my one time around.

What is your most treasured possession? A simple Victorian hatpin of a swallow in flight, which my mother gave me.  It floats atop a framed photo of a gathering of Kennedy women and makes me think of possibilities.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? To be utterly abandoned.

Where would you like to live? Well, I’m a California girl who still believes that the Pacific is the one true ocean. That said, I love our long-time studio in a building full of artists on a corner of the South End where a lot of interesting stories play out.

What is your favorite occupation? Dancing.

What is your most marked characteristic? Compassion.

What is the quality you like most in a man? An equal measure of curiosity, passion, kindness, and strength.

What is the quality you like most in a woman? An equal measure of curiosity, passion, kindness, and strength.

What do you most value in your friends? Integrity and generosity of spirit.

Who are your favorite writers? Writers I return to often: Flannery O’Connor, Angela Carter, Jane Austen (yes, Miss Austen), Russell Banks, Tim Gautreaux, Raymond Chandler, John LeCarré, Donald Hall, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx, Mary Gaitskill, Denise Mina, Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell), A. L. Kennedy, William Trevor, Natsuo Kirino, Philippe Claudel (whose Brodeck is astounding). I’m currently reading poems by David Ferry and the most recent novel by Nicole Krause.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Quite a number of flawed characters.

Who are your heroes in real life? The women and men who, with little outward recognition, work in the hot zones of the world trying to protect and empower the disenfranchised.

What are your favorite names? Ones whose meaning reflects the named.

What is it that you most dislike? Lima beans.

How would you like to die? Content and with grace.

What is your motto? Never settle for “good enough.”

Which era of fashion history do you personally romanticize the most? The decades to come.

Which three fashion icons, past or present, would you most want to meet? Madeleine Vionnet, Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela.

Who do you think has made the greatest contribution to the art of fashion in the past 10 years? Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan.

Where did you first experience the power of fashion? My mother always dressed beautifully. But we never had fashion magazines in the house until 1976 when a visitor left three copies of Vogue, which I flipped through, more taken by the photography than the clothes. At the time, I was shopping in vintage stores or with my mother’s help sewing an occasional piece. Not until many years later did I realize that one of the ensembles I had put together and wore with great drama both to school and to my summer job at a bank was a poor-girl’s version of a full-skirted baroque number from Saint Laurent’s Russian collection in one of those Vogues.

What is your current go-to fashion accessory? It’s always been a watch, most often, a stainless-steel bangle whose oblong, numberless face requires some deciphering; these days though, my iPhone may take precedence.

How many pairs of shoes do you own? About three dozen, but then I still wear the black suede stacked-heel Geoffrey Beene sandals that I’ve had since I was nineteen.

Which contemporary designer do you believe will stand the test of time? Nicolas Ghesquière.

Which fashion designer do you believe most influences your personal style? I like clothes that function as a uniform, but off-kilter. Perhaps I could rephrase the question to say that if I had the resources I’d be wearing Ann Demeulemeester, Rick Owens, and Yohji Yamamoto.

How do you weigh in on fashion versus style? Fashion involves design intent — how to solve the problem of clothing the body in ways that are, variously, functional, theatrical, an embodiment of a lifestyle, or even a questioning of the act of clothing itself. Fashion is also, for the most part, committed to constant revision and the search for something (a shape, a combination of colors or textures) that strikes us as new. Style loops in and out of fashion. It’s how we make the things we wear reflect our fundamental selves, or the personas we wish to project.

What trend do you regret having followed? I’ve worn a few wild pieces — a backless, twisted piece of unbleached cotton by Comme des Garçons, whose rubber buttons resembled the pistil of a denuded flower — but they’ve never been on trend and I’ve never regretted them.