A good section of Denise Van Outen's wardrobe is a homage to 90s fashion, with vintage designer clothes, sentimental dresses and a very special tiara. As she A approaches her 50th birthday, Denise talks to OK! about how her style has changed over the years, what her teenage daughter Betsy "steals" from her wardrobe and why she'll never airbrush her selfies.
"I think it's nice to keep certain clothes because they evoke certain memories, so I've got loads," Denise says, laughing. "I always thought, 'I'll keep these in case I have a girl.' I've got a little shift dress I bought from Vivienne Westwood that I wore on TFI Friday around 1997.
"I've kept it and I really wanted my daughter to be into it because it would fit her perfectly now, but she's like, 'It's not really my thing.' But there are some other things she takes out of my wardrobe. I've got a really old vintage Vivienne Westwood necklace from the 90s and she keeps stealing that to wear. I'm like, 'Please don't wear it to the school disco in case you lose it!""
Another of Denise's treasured pieces is a tiara she wore on The Big Breakfast, which she presented from I 1997 to 2001 alongside Johnny Vaughan. While not especially valuable in monetary terms, it's hugely important to Denise. "When I used to do The Big Breakfast I always used to wear a tiara and Johnny would call me Princess Denise of Basildon," she grins.
"I've had it since 1997. I love the fact that I've still got it." Denise's big break into television came just at the end of the so-called "heroin chic" era of fashion, which was characterised by waifish, emaciated features and started around the time of Kate Moss's Calvin Klein Obsession perfume ads in 1993. The trend subsided in 1997 as campaigns began against the glamorisation of heroin.
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