Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Dawn O'Porter

I trawl online for great designer pieces and basically never stop. I try to be very selective, I don't just want the site full of stuff, I want it full of great pieces that all sorts of people can wear.

I couldn't keep up with trends, I couldn't really be fashionable. But I really loved clothes. And then I discovered a vintage shop, and realised that I could dress for myself rather than for an industry or trend.

Apparently only a third of us know our partners phone PIN, so the majority of people keep it secret. I find that really surprising, I think if my husband's PIN was secret I'd be so suspicious of what he was hiding.

I've never really spent money on or known how to wear coats, so I'll ruin outfits by putting a coat on.

So many designers now look to the past for their inspiration when creating new looks, but if you get one from the past, it won't go out of fashion.

I thought we were getting more liberal as a society, more inclusive and I'm gutted racism has come back stronger with Brexit, devastated and I feel Brexit promotes a racist attitude.

I live in 50s/60s/70s sundresses with cardigans.

Art or no Art, 2015 was already going to be the busiest year of my life. I'm not sure how I'll make it all work yet but I'm feeling like a warrior and I'm prepared to work hard.

I'd love to whip back to the 20s for thirty minutes, just to have a look.

It's amazing to think that every item of clothing we wear began as an idea in somebodies head. Whether it's a designer dress or a cheap remake, someone somewhere had an idea and brought it to life.

I'm not used to performing in front of people. When I make TV it's very intimate. In front of a crowd I get so nervous and I'm not that great at it.

I love the charm of fashion from the past, I love how the clothes were revolutionary and how they changed the way that women lived their lives.

I'm often asked who my style icon is, and almost every time I try to think of someone current who excites me. And although there are a few women who interest me - Tilda Swinton, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore - the real answer is Twiggy.

In my opinion the essence of the 'wiggle' shape is one of the most flattering styles a woman can wear, and I urge you to give it a go even if it terrifies you.

I'm not sure what came first, the hemline or the Charleston, but skirts needed to go up so the gals could kick their legs out.

I treat writing like a nine to five job.

I'll admit, my fascination with Lesley Hornby is entirely about her looks. I don't feel unfeminist saying that, because she was a professional model at a moment in history that I am mildly obsessed with.

I love to think of some of the greats like Dior, or Chanel, lying in bed at night unable to sleep because the image of a dress came creeping into their minds and they couldn't let it go, so on went the bedside light as they reached for their pen and paper to translate that vision into an image.

After the baby boom of the second world war 40% of the population were under 25, and it was London that realised they needed to be dressed for their age and state of mind.

But deleting work is sometimes the best decision you that you can make. Because you try and make this thing, that you know in your gut isn't right, and you just have to let it go. You have to be brutal.

I have literally wanted a vintage business for as long as I can remember, but I am glad I waited. I've learned so much over the past ten years. So much about quality, shape and how to spot what truly is vintage and what isn't.

Working in the shop has taught me how utterly ridiculous the female fear of knees is. It's a bloody knee. It's bone. We can't control our knees, our knees are not our fault. We cannot let this continue, we have to abandon this ridiculous new obsession and set the knee free.

I was very ready to be a mum, so was ready for the challenge.

When lockdown happened, and I didn't have that focus to sit down and write a novel, which is what I was supposed to be doing. I still found myself having to write: It was a really interesting thing to learn about myself, that this is a part of who I am, and without it I get frustrated.

I read a lot until was about 12, then as a teenager I was more interested in kissing boys. But I kept a diary for a few years, so words were a big part of my teenage years.

I was living in a house in the West Village of New York and trying to be Carrie Bradshaw. I wrote a whole 5 pages about this character who wasn't going to wear high heels because it was not empowering. I've read that article 1000 times, it's so boring! I was writing really cliched women's stuff which is exactly what I didn't want to write.

But as the years have gone by, I've got such a thrill out of shopping for other people. Every time someone tells me they have purchased something, I feel so happy.

We didn't ask for our wombs and ovaries, and this presumption that we have to use them because otherwise it's a waste, otherwise we're not emotional or not sensitive in some way, it's a really cruel diagnosis of a woman's character.

I've always had this 'carve out your own existence' attitude and I'm always encouraging other people to do this, if they can. Of course not everyone has the choice. I've been lucky.

The British fashion industry had major players, Mary Quant and Biba to name but a few, who were making incredibly stylish and youthful clothing for a generation who didn't want to emulate their parents.

I want people to fall back in love with clothes like they did in the old days, and value what they buy a little more, and look after clothes better.

When I read my own diary, a lot of those feelings came flooding back, such as the idea that the first boy you fall in love with will be your last. You can never imagine that you could ever love anyone else and that they're just the one.

I recently discovered that Karl Lagerfeld sketches every single design in the Chanel collections. This made me so happy. I know it seems obvious, that the head of a fashion house such as Chanel would do this, but it isn't always the way.

I still love chips. Chips are still my favourite potato dish. I struggle not to have chips every day.

One of the main reasons I wanted to write about female friendship is because it's so powerful and underestimated.

Wiggle dresses today are certainly around, but variations have been made to make them more practical. A genuine wiggle really does make walking a challenge, so often you find them with a vent in the back so you can at least move your legs, or cut more like a pencil skirt.

I do haggle. It's easier when you buy in bulk, so I will up my arms and then tell them what I think I should pay. We go back and forth until we find something we are both happy with.

When I feel down I put on my most bonkers vintage dress and it always cheers me up. The way we dress is an expression of who we are, and I use clothes to let people know that I don't care about fitting in.

It's hard to find genuine 20s vintage in good condition, but it is out there. One tip would be to look in the 70s rails. When the first Gatsby film came out in 1974, it promoted a 20s trend, so you often find 20s style pieces, that were actually from the 70s.

Unfortunately here in the UK we have got into the habit of being nasty about people in the public eye. It's all so vicious. In the States they are happy to just say people are great or that they look nice.

One of the big things that I have realised since styling people is was how many women, size 14 and above, think that covering up in lots of fabric is the best way to dress. I literally could not agree less.

More women have come out of the changing rooms slagging off their knees than any other body part. I recently developed a complex about my own knees, so I totally get it.

So when people tell me that dressing curves is hard, I tell them to look to the 50s as there is an entire decade dedicated to it.

The vast diversity of looks from the 80s are why we mustn't ignore it completely, there is plenty to build a modern and relevant wardrobe around, and I am enthusiastically kicking my leg warmers in the air in its defence.

When you're writing in first person, like I do, you can't give a fluffy version of someone's thoughts because even the most prudish woman in her head will go to dark places, whether she says it out loud, you can still have these kind of thoughts.

I used to hide behind doors pretending to be a mouse listening to the grown up's conversations. I always wanted to hear them plotting peoples deaths so I could dob them in to the police. unfortunately there were no murderers in my family.

I think that's what vintage offers people - there's no point in trying to follow fashion if you're trying to do vintage.

I love designers sketches, they're like poetry. A vision of an idea intended to make someone feel wonderful.

Some might say the mini skirt is a whimsical piece of clothing, worn only by good time gals who just want to have fun. Well, the latter might be correct, but whimsical? Never! The mini skirts positioning in fashion history is highly significant.

When I wrote 'Goose' I gave my assistant my password, she locked me out of Twitter, and I wrote the book in five weeks. Sometimes I fantasise about how wonderful life would be if I went offline, but I can't - because I really need affection and adoration from strangers!

When the mini skirt arrived on the scene in the 60s it was both hailed and hated. It represented female liberation, but also encouraged exploitation. It was the uniform for a new breed of feminist, even though most of them didn't even know it.

I think Brits are more confident probably, and don't rely on self help in the way a lot of Americans do. But we've certainly got our share of hang ups.

I love the life in LA, it really suits this point in time, but London is home. I feel like I'm lucky that I get to have a bit of both, so rather than have to choose life just works out where I have to be in one place.

In Hollywood most of the films we see are all about the relationships between lovers, but as massively important as that is in someone's life, my relationships with women have always been really dramatic and powerful.

I can't imagine living in a time where us women had to dress like 'ladies' because that is what was expected of us.

They are wild animals that live in your house - that's the only way to describe a toddler.

I guess I want men to understand how hard it is to be a woman.

The 60s was nuclear for women. New laws gave them stronger standing in both marriage and divorce. They went back into the workplace so had their own money, and the pill spurred a sexual revolution that they needed to dress appropriately for.

My aunt and uncle, who bought me up, were big players in the fashion industry in London during the 60s. They were furriers and designers, and my aunt dressed some of the major windows on Oxford Street.

The 1920s was the beginning of the media age. For the first time people were taking influences from the radio, Vogue and Hollywood.