Coleen McLoughlin - Welcome to My World

That was 2003, and although it seems like ages and ages ago it really wasn’t that far back. But things were different. In those days I can’t remember there being the same interest in footballers’ wives and girlfriends. Yeah, there was Victoria and David, and there was Footballers’ Wives on telly, but in real life the newspapers weren’t interested in taking pictures of footballers’ girlfriends for no reason – there had to be a story to go with it. Sure, I was seeing Wayne, and the way things were going with us I expected we’d be pictured together at some stage, but no way did I ever expect the press to be interested in just me.

It’s comical to see that picture again, and to think of the stories that followed. Back then, the majority of newspapers wrote negatively about my dress sense, yet today the same people describe me as a style icon, and commentators say that the fashion industry closely watches what I wear.

The Guardian has said I am ‘the leading style icon for British young women today’, while the editor of Vogue , Alexandra Shulman, who I did a shoot for, once wrote in a newspaper that I was ‘a phenomenon of our time’. My word! I’m not sure whether I would go so far as to describe myself as any of those things, but I do love fashion, and always have ever since I can remember.

I can never quite get over it when that happens. In Germany, a few of the girls went out for dinner one night and I was wearing a cream Alice Temperley dress with bell sleeves. I didn’t realize what an impact that dress had made until I returned home and the girls at Cricket, my favourite shop in Liverpool, told me it had been ‘manic’. As soon as the photograph appeared in the newspapers their phone never stopped ringing, with girls wanting the same dress. They could have sold thousands, apparently. In a different situation I’d be one of those girls ringing in. If I see someone else wearing a top or skirt that I really like, I’ll be the first to go out and buy it for myself.

Cricket is this top boutique with great labels. Justine, the owner, who’s become a friend, is great at saying what’s in and helping to put outfits together. She’s played a big part in how my style has developed over the past few years. It’s not surprising that people knew where to call for the Alice Temperley dress because everyone associates me with Cricket now. Sometimes you’ll get girls

I don’t believe in slavishly copying anyone’s look from top to toe. The key to creating your own individual style is to borrow from others, add your own ideas into the mix, have confidence in your own fashion sense and, most importantly, have confidence in yourself.

Here are my six golden rules of fashion:

1. Never be afraid to experiment

An item of clothing will never hurt anyone.

2. The more money you spend doesn’t necessarily mean the more style you buy

Team up designer with high street and a touch of vintage.

3. Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!

That doesn’t mean go all bling, but you can change the accent of an outfit just by adding a simple scarf or necklace.

4. Be true to yourself

Don’t be a fashion victim, wear what suits you no matter what the magazines say this season.

5. Less is more

Don’t go trying to over-dress in everyday situations. You can look good without looking like you’ve just stepped out of the pages of a magazine.

6. Have fun

If you look in the mirror and like what you see then that’s the only compliment you need.

from as far away as places like Milton Keynes travelling up to Cricket just to see me shopping and have their picture taken with me. I’m really grateful for the support but I do go shy when things like that happen. I just think, ‘That’s amazing, they’ve come all that way just to see me!’ One time, I was out shopping in Liverpool when a mother and her young teenage daughter ran up asking if they could pose for a photograph with me. They’d been to Cricket and missed me so they thought they’d try one of my other favourite shops. I suppose they had a few to choose from! Things like that make you feel really self-conscious but it’s also lovely to know people think that way about you.

I have my own icons who I admire. Kate Moss is always someone I’ve really loved for her sense of style. With her it just seems so effortless, as though she could wake up in the morning, throw anything on and it would look great. I wish I could do that. Of the other British girls, I’m a big fan of Cat Deeley. I love the way she puts her clothes together. She’s always fashionable but she never looks as though she’s trying too hard, managing to go out all glammed up but pulling it off in a casual way. Sienna Miller used to be a favourite of mine when she first arrived on the scene – she has the figure to carry off a lot of stuff that I could never get away with. At the moment I really like girls like Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton – they’ve got a lovely ease about everything they wear and they are always introducing new fashions and labels onto the scene.

I’m always looking at magazines for ideas, whether it’s Vogue , Elle or Marie Claire for high-end fashion, or mags like Closer , who I write my column for, and who are a great source for high-street designs. I really like to mix. If someone asked me to describe my style I really couldn’t pin it down other than to say I’m a real girl’s girl when it comes to fashion. I prefer pretty, girly-girl clothes as opposed to going for the drop-dead-sexy look.

In terms of my style, the one thing I’m certain of is that I always go with my own mind. I might love fashion, but I’m not a follower. I’m totally of the view that the most important rule in fashion is believing in what you like and trusting in your own sense of style. All my family and friends will recognize that stubborn streak in me!

If there’s a dress or a top that I like, then I’ll wear it no matter what other people think. Fashion is all about experimenting, and sometimes you’ll experiment and get it wrong, but that’s part of the fun of dressing.

Finding your own style is all about trying things out to see what suits you and not being a slave to the latest trend.

You’ve got to mix things up a little, combine designer with high-street with vintage. I might buy a pair of designer pants, but if I need a plain top I’ll go to a high-street store. If you find it’s not working when you get home then take it back! As I say, there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. There have been quite a few times that I’ve looked at myself in a newspaper and thought, ‘Why did I wear that?’ But hopefully I get it right more times than I get it wrong.

My big bugbear is when the newspapers write that I have a stylist, as though I haven’t got a mind of my own and the only reason I’m still not walking around in a five-year-old three-quarter-length puffa jacket from H&M is because someone’s told me it’s no longer in fashion this month! I don’t employ a stylist and it really annoys me when people say otherwise. I remember watching This Morning just after I’d signed my contract to front the George at Asda range. There was a big story about how much I was earning and they had a national gossip writer from the Sun on the show. She was saying that my stylist had done a great job of transforming me, telling everyone that the way I presented myself, walked and everything, was totally different from the first time I’d met her. The problem is people watching that programme will hear something like that about me and think it’s true. A journalist from a national newspaper is on national television telling everyone she knows me, so why would anyone think otherwise? Except it was all made up. I’ve not been through some expensive Eliza Doolittle transformation. I can dress myself, thank you very much.