There are some dresses that just make you feel instantly special when you wear them. In my modelling heyday, when I was shooting for magazines and clothes brands dozens of times a month, I would become quite blasé about the clothes I was putting on. Quite often, if it was a catalogue shoot, I’d be so bored by the tenth, fifteenth, twentieth outfit that I didn’t even look down to see what I had been dressed in! I just went on set, pulled out the classic modelling moves and waited for the photographer to shout “next outfit”.

But now and then there’d be an outfit that would grab my attention; a dress that was so wonderfully cut that it made me feel transformed into an entirely different creature, or a sharp trouser suit that gave me a new and interesting silhouette. Admittedly, it was usually the very expensive fashion that made me feel this way (sometimes I’d wear couture, and that was a whole new level of clothing, like wearing pieces of art), but now and then there would be a high street sample that would be just fabulous.
I’d pull it on and do my usual “where’s this from then"” to the stylist, always expecting to hear “Stella” or “Preen” or “McQueen”, but they’d lean forward conspiratorially and whisper “H&M, seventeen quid!” or “Primarni, a tenner!” And I would rejoice at the fact that I was wearing something I could even remotely aff...