The close-up

Ni Lenette, restaurateur

That's quite a dress ...

I loved it as soon as I saw it. It's a real 1950s Hawaiian wedding dress. I'm from Mauritius and our national flower is the hibiscus, and so is the flower on the dress. I'm particularly proud of it because the dress was a different shape when I bought it - a lot wider - and my friend and I altered it. We made this accentuated back that puffs up the bum a bit - it's very sexy, Hollywood-siren style.

Where did you find it?

In a vintage shop in Los Angeles - it came with a Hawaiian wedding shirt for a man, in the same fabric. I haven't yet found anyone to wear it, though. Perhaps I would wear this dress if I got married. And maybe he would wear the shirt. Why not? I like colourful, happy things.

Would you say your clothes express your personality?

Aspects of it. Because there's so much to me as a human being and I feel different every day. I have to have a wardrobe built specially for my clothes. But it wouldn't matter if I had nothing, because that's how I started - just having rags and putting them together. In the Bananarama days, you would make your own little skirts and cut up things, such as stockings. I don't think you have to spend any money. I can always find something and make something out of it. I grew up in the punk era.

How did you look?

I was a full-on punk. I had a shaved head, spiky hair, mohicans, and I hung around the King's Road. But that's my whole point. It's not about what you do, it's all in the expression from within. I said to my auntie on our way here, "Fashion is fickle, style transcends eras", meaning that style is a living energy that comes from within. Real style icons are real people, and they are people who really have something vibrating within. If anybody was to ask me who my style icons are, they're usually people I recognise in the street who are totally individual, don't follow fashion and are true to themselves.

You work in restaurants - do you ever wear an apron?

Never. I'm not into the woman-behind-the-oven thing.

So what is your new wardrobe like?

At the moment, my clothes are everywhere - in the living room and the spare room. I live among clothes. I need to have it more organised - it's like an artist's palette. My new walk-in wardrobe will be Japanese, with sliding doors, and behind them will be all my incredibly colourful clothes.

How long does it take to get dressed in the morning?

Usually 45 minutes, including makeup. At the moment I'm sometimes having to get up at 6am, so you will see me fully styled on the bus with all these people who are half asleep. They think, "Where did she just come from?"

What do you wear when the world isn't watching?

My grandmother's nightie. She's died, but she's been my best friend, a wonderful woman. She was so crazy. She would wear this Chinese dress, bright green with black dragons, with crocodile shoes and a wig and black glasses that went up at the corners with a golden handbag and bright red gloves. She was like that.

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