Sophie Ellis-Bextor: ‘I dress like a tarty nanny’ - Mirror Article

The singer, 30, on her individual style, why being booby is not her thing, and pushing out the fashion boat

I love getting dressed up. Being a pop star is the most brilliant job for that. A lot of girls love shopping, but they might see the most amazing outfit and think, ‘When am I going to wear that?’, so it’s my duty to exploit the fact I do have events I can wear these things to.

My most outlandish stage outfit was for G.A.Y. – sparkly pants and Minnie Mouse ears, a little sailor romper suit, just stupid stuff, but fun. For something like that you feel obliged to go for it, it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity if you dress too safely.

When I’m performing I never wear trousers or jeans, it feels a bit casual, but I’m not averse to a little hotpant or a playsuit. Playsuits are great – you can run about and you don’t have to worry about anything riding up. Otherwise I’ll give anything a go.

I try not to wear anything I have to fidget with – there’s nothing worse than wearing something and pulling down the hem and re-adjusting the top. My pet hate is when girls wear those strapless dresses and spend the whole night yanking them up.

I’ve got quite a curvy shape so I try to wear stuff that’s tailored. I don’t mind getting my pins out so I’ll wear something short usually. Nothing very booby, that’s not really my area of expertise.

I’ve had hundreds of wardrobe malfunctions, horrible things that I’ve worn, stuff I cringe about, shoes I’ve not been able to walk in. I’ve never had anything truly awful like falling out of a top or realising you can see my pants.

I’m more of a high street and vintage girl but I’ve had a couple of occasions when I’ve thought, ‘I just want to know what it feels like to spend a lot of money on something’. I once bought some beautiful Christian Louboutin boots, but they’re so expensive I feel a bit like I can’t wear them out because I don’t want to ruin them, which is stupid because they’re shoes. So I’ve learnt my lesson from that really.

For bargain buys I love Portobello Market. And I still love eBay every once in a while, you can get good bargains if you’re patient. When I go away I love vintage shops. America’s really good. In this country, because of the war, we had a lot of the old dresses chopped up and re-used, but in the US they’re lucky they’ve still got a good back catalogue of outfits that are in good condition.

In terms of influence, my style icons have been a mixture of Julie Andrews and Olivia Newton-John. When I was little I used to watch Grease, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music a lot. If you put all those things together you do kind of get my outfits. A slightly tarty nanny in a second-hand outfit. That is pretty much what I wear.

I’ve got loads of stuff that’s been worn to death and some of it’s really unexpected. I bought a really good black shift dress from New Look when I was about 17 and I still wear it, it’s still holding up. We’re lucky in this country, we’ve got some of the best high street shops. I love H&M and Urban Outfitters.

By Dina Behrman, 13/12/2009

SOURCE: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/celebs-on-sunday/2009/12/13/sophie-ellis-bextor-i-dress-like-a-tarty-nanny-115875-21890585/