Quotes from Dawn O'Porter

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.

It was Yves Saint Laurent who realised the high-end design houses could make a lot more money if they sold more accessible clothing than the usual couture, when he opened his pret-a-porter store, Rive Gauche, in 1966.

It really is the very top of the fashion world; nothing comes above haute couture. But not any old designer can create something magical and call it haute couture; the term is strictly protected for a very special few.

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

At school, I had academia shoved in my face, but it was just stunting my creative development.

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.

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.

There are two things that I really love; vintage clothing and books. Mash the two together and I pretty much peak on personal joy levels.

So my advice is always buy essentials, like jeans, on the high street or designer if you are willing to invest. Get a pair that fit you perfectly then put together the rest of your outfit with vintage finds.

I just want to clear something up... vintage doesn't mean cheap.

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

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.

Selecting what gets sold in smaller shops and online is a long and artful process, it takes precision and care. The people who stock the successful vintage shops are great buyers, and you pay for their skill as well as the quality level at which they sell their clothes.

Online vintage shopping is the best way to find something really unique with minimal effort.

A lot of sites offer free postage over a certain amount and are pretty cool with you sending stuff back, if you do it within a particular time frame. However, occasionally some sites don't accept returns on vintage items, so make sure you know that before you spend your cash.

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.

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.

When someone has told me they have the 'world's worst knees' I've done all I can to find them a hem line that hides them. Luckily, as my shop is predominantly vintage, I have clothes from all decades and therefore pieces of all length.

If you can't afford the prices at one store, go to a store you can afford. There are plenty of options for all budgets in the vintage world.

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.