Summer is almost upon us and women across the land will be contemplating one of the most important issues of their lives, their summer wardrobe!

With this in mind we have grabbed two women respected by all, the style duo that is Trinny and Susannah. The two who are best known for their no nonsense approach when it comes to clothing will be live in our studio to tell you what’s hot and what’s not this Summer.

The fab duo, who recently appeared in a Littlewoods spy spoof advert, have created a style guide based on body shapes called “the Rules” and will be giving advice to women of all sizes, whether you’ve got big boobs or no boobs, short legs or saddle bags. It’s time to throw out those frumpy jumpers, kick off those crusty crocs and burn those skintight jeans!

Join the golden girls of fashion as they swap balaclavas and wetsuits for cutting edge style… all in the name of fashion!

H: Lis Speight, host
T: Trinny
S: Susannah

H: Hello and welcome to the Lifestyle Show brought to you today by Littlewoods Direct, I’m Lis Speight. Now, Spring has got off to a scorching start and summer is just around the corner. If you’re anything like me you’ve been rummaging through your wardrobe thinking “help, I’ve got nothing to wear” so it’s time to get off down to the shops and buy yourself some new summer outfits, but how do you know what’s hot this season and what’s not, and more importantly what’s going to suit you and what’s really not? It might look good on the hanger but dreadful on you, and I can’t think of anyone whose maybe better suited to telling us what not to wear than our guests in the studio today. I’m delighted to say that style stars Trinny and Susannah are joining us today. Welcome along ladies, looking fabulous

T: Thank you

S: Thank you

H: You wouldn’t look anything less really would you, you look absolutely lovely

T: You have to work it

H: Now the weather’s been fantastic hasn’t it?

T: Yes

H: Really have seen some lovely sunshine. We’ve all been worrying about updating our wardrobes – can you get really good fashionable, stylish bargain on the high street these days or should we be spending a little bit more in the boutiques, do you think?

T: I think what’s so great about shopping now compared to shopping about 10 years ago is that so much of what’s on the catwalk is diluted down and affordable for everyone wherever you shop, you can find things that you feel are kind of inspired by fashion

H: And quite quickly as well, it hits the high street relatively quickly these days doesn’t it?

T: So quickly you know I once went into Zara and there was a Prada skirt I loved there before it was in Prada, I mean it’s that quick

H: Amazing

T: But as you said most importantly it’s got to suit you, and there’s a lot of fashion – Susannah and I were discussing earlier today how last season the fashions for her were fabulous and I hated them, all that pencil skirt and showing off your cleavage and this season I’m loving the puffbally stuff that makes Susannah have four breasts!

H: So importantly then it’s got to suit you, there’s no point going out and buying something just because it’s in fashion

S: Totally, I mean I really do think that’s kind of rule number one because then you’re not going to make mistakes, it’s fine if you’re kind of 25 and younger and you’re still learning and educating yourself, and that is the time to make the mistakes, but you know you can take elements of it so for example this jacket is a kind of in a mustard yellow and it’s a very very fashionable colour for this season –

H: And it looks lovely on you

S: Thank you so much, but this jacket was in the kind of boxy, smocky shape which is terrible for me, so I took it down to my local dressmaker and had it changed so it’s now kind of waisted, it’s shorter, the sleeves are coming out which make my upper arm look smaller so you know you’ve just got to be clever and always remain true to your body and your body shape

H: Yes that’s the key isn’t it? Now this is an interactive show of course and we’d love you to get involved, so if you’ve got any questions for Trinny and Susannah about what’s coming up in fashion this summer or how to suit your body shape with the right clothes, then all you have to do is type your name and where you’re from in the box that’s on the screen and press submit and it’ll come through to us here in the studio and we’ll try and get through as many as we can. Now we’ve already got some questions in for you ladies, and the first one comes from Josephina, and she wants to know “what are the key colours for this summer?”

T: Well as Susannah said mustard definitely is a key colour, and lots of bright colours are – those acidy colours which on the majority of skin tones aren’t great, so if you have a black skin tone or a sort of darker skin tone –

H: Lucky you

T: It can look really great, lucky you. If you have a sallow skin tone it can look quite good, but if you are that sort of pinkiness, not very good, so Susannah’s yellow is a mustardy yellow, my yellow because I’m a little bit more olive is a lemony yellow

H: Right

T: So it’s just you know, when you’re kind of thinking which colour is the right colour, the best way sometimes is to just take up four versions of a colour – so like blue, I don’t suit a really like a blue / black blue because it makes my eyes drained so if I put it up my eyes are drained and everything

H: So that’s the way to do it then –

T: Yes

H: Maybe go into the changing room –

T: And then just keep pulling them up, and like this blue is my best blue because it doesn’t fight me –

H: Pings your eyes out

T: Pings my eyes whereas the sort of pastel blue, you want to look at me and vomit! You know so usually intuitively we always grab that old haggard jumper in what was probably one of our favourite and best colours and it’s kind of listen to your intuition a bit

H: Yes. So lots of hot colours around, there’s also lots of pattern as well isn’t there? That doesn’t suit everyone does it?

S: Pattern doesn’t suit everyone and you have to be – I mean if you’re a larger size you have to be careful, but then again a larger size can sometimes get away with a bigger print and it really suits them because it makes them look a bit smaller, whereas if you’re petite you have to be very wary of big prints, and if you’ve got bigger boobs then it’s better to wear block colours, so you know there are a lot of the maxi dresses around at the moment which have a lot of florals and a lot of different swirls and kind of the hippy style which looks on someone like Trinny whose tall and flat chested –

H: And can carry it

S: But if you’re smaller it will wear you and you’ve got to be careful

H: Because it swamps you a little bit doesn’t it? Now you’re quite famous for the rules. Can you talk us through a few of those?

T: We kind of – I mean the rules have grown by osmosis – we’ve worked together about 13 years and we’ve always felt whenever we were dressing women and we’ve dressed so many different women over the years that you know if you have big boobs and you have a sort of smaller bottom, that this is the kind of thing that will suit you and you should never wear like a ribbed polo neck, sleeveless top because you’ll look like one boob

H: Right

T: I think if you’re very pear – I think women in England I’d say 50% of women veer towards being top heavy and 50% veer towards being bottom heavy and there’s a certain amount in between. You could define shapes by about 12 different categories, but it’s important to remember where do you carry your weight? So if you carry your – wherever you carry your weight is where you should wear your darker colour ok?

H: Right well that’s a really easy tip to remember isn’t it?

T: That’s just like such a black and white tip – excuse the pun. And also where you have something you don’t like, hide it without hiding everything, so like a lot of women hate their tummy, hide everything and therefore they don’t show off their waist

H: Just wear a big old sack and –

T: Yes exactly

H: And that actually can make you look bigger sometimes can’t it?

T: Much bigger. A lot of women who are pear shaped will buy a trouser that’s far too big for them because it will fit on their hip but it won’t fit on their waist, it will be too big, so you know by a more hipstery trouser, not a waisted trouser and then you’ll halve your butt and you’ll hide your saddlebags. So all these kind of rules which you know we’ve done the style advisor online enable you to go in –

H: We’ll talk about that later on actually

T: Yes but it is – it is just very – like Susannah said earlier, it is so important that if you know your body, and we always advise women to stand naked in front of the mirror, be really honest with yourself – say ok what do I like about my body and what do I really dislike, and those bits you dislike hide, but remember to show off the bits you like

H: Exactly, everyone’s got something that they like about themselves haven’t they?

S: But what we found kind of over the years sadly actually is that the majority of women can only see their bad points

H: Yes. Too hard on themselves

S: It’s really - we’re too hard on ourselves and that is the time when maybe you need a friend who you trust to say actually you know what, you have got the most amazing arse, I know you don’t like it, but if only I had a bottom like that and quite often what you hate about yourself will be the envy of your best friend, so you need another voice I think –

H: And not maybe your partner who would be kind to you

S: No no no I don’t want to hear it –

H: Yes you look lovely darling

S: My husband this morning I left this morning, he goes you can’t wear that. You just can’t walk out like that so actually I did go and change and upped the ante a bit, and then I looked at him and I went listen can you walk kind of 10 paces behind me dressed like that please before we get on the train. But yes so don’t listen to your partner

H: We’ve got another question in from Becky, and she asks “vertical and horizontal stripes what are the does and don’ts?”

T: Ok if you are, something we discovered only last week shooting our new book, but if you are what we call a sort of brick shape which means you’re kind of the shape of a brick with legs poking out the bottom and arms at the side, horizontal stripes can really work for you because you could have a top and the stripes are going round and round like that and they’re giving you shape

H: Right

T: So they’ll pick up any shape you might have and it’s a very good time to wear them. And if you are slightly kind of you know just shorter and don’t really have you know many boobs or anything, then to have horizontal stripes, so let’s say you have a coat to the knee and it has horizontal stripes, it’ll be really good at kind of giving you height

H: Lengthening you

T: And lengthening you and I think you know when you put it on, it’s always – like you were saying about pattern and print, if you put it on and you feel, I see the outfit not me, take it off

H: Right, yes

S: I think you’ve got to be careful with parallel stripes that go up and down that you, like on saddlebags, so if you carry your weight on your hip and you’re kind of drawn to a pinstripe trouser, really look hard because if it’s too tight the pinstripe will bend over the saddlebag

H: Yes and sometimes on cheaper trousers particularly the stripe is actually cut like that as well which is not very flattering is it?

T: No

S: Not at all, you don’t want a striped bend

H: To draw attention –

S: You’ve just got to be careful the stripe doesn’t bend, be it horizontal or parallel

H: Yes that’s a good tip

S: it’s got to be as straight as possible

H: Yes. So Becky I hope that’s helped you out with your stripy purchases! Now we have a question in from Annette Goodwin, she’s just logged on and she asks “I tend to go for darker colours” as she’s a little bit overweight and she was led to believe that it makes you look slimmer. Is that the case or not?

T: Bullshit! Sorry. No it’s just it’s such a – I remember the very worst What Not to Wear we did and we dressed this woman who was a size 18, and we put her in a white trouser suit and she looked fabulous and the reason she looked fabulous is she had quite a curvaceous figure but it was all one colour which is great, so if you’re bigger all one colour is sometimes important, or tonal, and it had shape, and you know the jacket was a perfect shaped cover for her, and she could put on a black boxy trouser suit and looked another size bigger.

H: Yes that’s really interesting

T: So don’t you worry about colours you know just remember that principal of where you’re bigger it’s a bit darker and where you know, but that could be, if you’re wanting to wear bright summer colours you could wear, you know fuscia on your bottom half and orange on your top half, as long as the colour’s go as well

H: And it looks nice – it’s just to have a go then I guess

T: Have a go

H: Try something a bit different, don’t just wear black all the time. Right well you’re watching the Lifestyle Show brought to you today by Littlewoods Direct. We’re about halfway through now, I’m delighted to say that we have our wardrobe wizards, Trinny and Susannah with us and Trinny and Susannah you’ve been in a bit of an advert recently, bit of a hush hush deal. Tell us about that?

S: Well it’s for Littlewoods, and we were very spoilt in so much as we were flown to Rio

H: Wow

S: In Brazil and where we did actually work our butts off, we were working between 16-18 hours a day

H: Oh my goodness

S: Being these kind of –

H: Just for an advert

S: Just for an advert, for 9 days, but we did make 3

H: Oh well right

S: And we had so much fun but we were basically we were like these special agents who are trying to get to the merchandise that’s locked away, the new Littlewoods merchandise that’s locked away and we’re desperate to get it

H: Bit James Bond-esque then?

S: Sort of, kind of a cross between James Bond and Inspector Clueso

H: And the Milk Tray man!

T: And we were kind of 42 degrees heat and it wet suits and this sort of black camouflage stuff on top of that, and the killer was the balaclava, we had to wear this balaclava and I remember we had this whole thing that we had this amazing hairdresser from New York who’d come down to do our hair, and he’d done this beautiful hair, and there’s this scene in it where they have to pull off our balaclava, but the hair had to be perfect. It could have been the John Barry hair commercial actually. But he was so amazing in keeping our hair in these very frizzy temperatures, you know and we’d just plonk it on at different angles and trying to pull it off and pull it off without pulling off the make-up

H: But it worked though. It looked like fun

T: Yes good time.

S: But we worked so hard and for so many hours, and literally you go like that and it’s gone, and you can’t believe it. We felt we were making Gone with the Wind

H: Well let’s have a little look at it, here’s time for an ad break now, let’s have a look at Trinny and Susannah in action:

Video footage

“I’m stuck”

“You and your curves”

“Just because you’re jealous”

“That’s much better”

“Littlewoodsdirect.com. The home of big brands”

“You’re jealous. Maybe I am a little bit”

H: That’s really funny. It’s nice that you can laugh at yourselves actually. And when is it actually out? It’s out at the moment –

S: It’s out now yes

T: It came out on Friday

H: So have you seen it yet on the telly?

S: I’ve seen it once but I literally, it was my son who saw it – “mum, mum” and by the time I got there it was nearly over but we’ll have to look out for it

H: It’s lovely, it’s good fun. Your questions are still coming in so thanks very much, we’ll try and get through as many as we can. And Jenny asks “hi ladies” she says “what is going to be this summer’s – this season’s – must-have bargain buy?” Any top tips?

S: I would say actually the maxi dress, the kind of peasant dress and if Jenny is the right shape for it and she’s not too big boobed and her arms aren’t too big, and there is, there’s one that I noticed, I read somewhere which is 12 or £16 from Asda

H: oh fantastic

S: And there’s, the kind of original is by DKNY which is £360 –

H: There’s a saving

S: But I think that you will be able to pick up and there are some – we’ve chosen two or three from Littlewoods which are online which are stunning, which Trinny will be wearing and sadly I can’t

H: Oh, there we go. But a lot of the supermarkets are really – their ranges are fantastic aren’t they?

T: Yes they are, they really built up, because I think people have so little time to shop

H: Yes, especially if you’re a mum and you know –

T: And it’s going more and more that you’ll either shop in a supermarket or you’ll shop online, because you’re with your kids and you’ve got too many commitments and you’re working and being a mother and all those things together

S: Wouldn’t it be great not to have to go onto the high street again to go shopping?

H: Well I know, but I quite like browsing as well, I quite browsing round the shops, because then you know what’s in. I quite like having a look, but now I’ve got a little girl you haven’t got so much time have you?

T: No

H: Another question in from Diva, hope you live up to your name Diva, she wants to know “what do you think of these newspapers that show a celebrity in an expensive designer outfit and then tell you how to get the same in the high street for a few quid? Good for the shopper but bad for the big name label and designer?”

T: I think good for everyone, because the you know the big name designer is yet again getting a name check

H: That’s true

T: You know in Heat, Closer, Next, whatever these magazines are, and the person whose earning £10,000 a year can say “I can be like that person too” so I think nobody loses

H: Yes it’s a win win isn’t it, and if you’ve got loads of money then you’re hardly going to go down to Asda aren’t you, you’re probably going to go and get it from the posh shops. Right now we’ve talked a little bit about the rules, but Trinny and Susannah have also put together something called the style advisor which I think is a fantastic idea.

S: Thank you

H: Talk us through that then, how does that work?

T: We had the idea when we started that internet business ourselves which flopped unfortunately a few years ago, it was that kind of internet boom time in the late 90s, but we always thought it would be so great to go online and be able to say this is me, this is my shape, what have you got that I can get? And we actually did it for the whole high street, but it was so time consuming and took years to build it

H: We’ve got it on the monitor here actually, this is the front page

T: So we talked with Littlewoods and they came up in a nanosecond with all the technology because obviously they have far greater resources than we had

H: Yes, so you’ve not got to work that all out yourself

T: Not got to work it out ourselves, so you go onto this bit, and it is like shopping with Susannah and I and you click and you go through and you’ll be shown, which is going to come up any second with modern technology

H: So you go through to the next page

T: This is it and you make this you, it’s a great thing actually to use in the office and send to somebody too, as a bit of a thing, if you kind of go up and say “my boobs are” you know a 38b or whatever, it will go neeeeugh on your breasts as we’ve done here –

H: So you make your body shape on the screen

T: Yes

H: That’s fantastic

T: And your size and everything, and you put it in, and it’s like what advice do you need, do you need advice on how to dress for big boobs or whatever, so we then give you some key rules and then you can go through and buy something appropriate for your shape

H: so this finds an outfit for your body shape?

T: Yes

S: Which we’ve pre-chosen

H: That’s fabulous isn’t it?

S: We go through every piece of merchandise and at Littlewoods which is a huge amount, they have the most amazing selection of stuff and we pick out kind of our particular favourites which are relevant to our rules and so which also once again saves time, and it’s kind of – there’s loads of other things in the catalogue as well and online but these are our particular favourites

H: So I think we’ve even got swimwear and lingerie as well

S: Lingerie yes

T: Which are so key because to us they’re the kind of you know support network for everything else

H: Yes so if you get your bra right, everything else –

T: Everything else, and on the beach it’s the hardest time, you know on the beach, so you know that bikini on the left you know it’s that kind of figure you envy of everyone is probably – but this one, I think this one is actually the miracle swimsuit and it’s quite an expensive swimsuit but if you kind of weigh up feeling confident on the beach versus cost, that’s the best investment you can make if you’ve got a flabby tummy

H: And you don’t wear them for that long do you so it probably would last you a long time?

T: Years

H: And is that black or dark blue

T: That’s chocolate brown I think

H: I mean that’s just going to last you ages isn’t it, if it pulls you all in, gives you a bit of confidence, you’re going to feel fabulous aren’t you?

T: We actually went to a – where did we go, not Torremolenos, the Canary Islands and we did this kind of makeover on the beach and we got these six Irish sisters, and we grabbed them and we found the one in the worst swimsuit, and we got this actual product and we put it on her and we did some – it was so funny actually and she looked incredible

H: And she looked – just shows what a difference a swimsuit can make, and on that note actually Rachel’s written in, she wants to know, well she says three words – “boobs, belly and cellulite” – we’ve all been there haven’t we? “What should I look for in swimswear?

S: I would say that

H: That one, that’s the one to go for?

S: That one yes and then wear a sarong

H: And if you’ve got big boobs then that’s –

S: Big boobs and if you’re worried about your cellulite which we all are as we’ve seen in all these hideous magazines that every celebrity on the planet has cellulite too

H: Every woman’s got it haven’t they?

S: Try and get your head round that but if you can’t then get you know they get those lovely kind of chiffon or chiffon-esque sarongs which are a bit see-through, so you feel like you’re showing your shape but you’re hiding your cellulite

H: They’re brilliant actually and they’re quite cheap on the high street as well aren’t they?

S: Yes

H: Now we’ve got a question in from James and he wants to know, well he says “women, women, women – what about men, what should I be wearing this summer?” So what’s in for the boys

T: I’d say that in for the boys, boys have – ok this is being very candid, but I think that boys sense of fashion is more gay-led, that men are prepared to be more fashionable if they are you know just far more conscious of what they’re wearing and traditionally you would find that you know to me the gay men in my life would be far more fashion aware than the heterosexual men

H: Yes

T: So for a heterosexual man, it’s more important that you get the proportions right because lots of men have shorts legs – my issues with me are either you have short legs and a long torso and then you need to wear clothes that broaden – you know your long torso needs to be broken up so layer things like a navy t-shirt and over it a pin stripe shirt so you’re breaking up and doing things, and then top halves usually for men it’s man boobs or beer belly, and it’s how, you know a lot of men will wear a shirt and tuck it in under their beer belly and winch it in you know with a belt and you know it will really all tumble out, and it was no different for a woman you need to kind of just skim it but still show shape on your side, so if you do that and follow the right colours you’ll feel cool and trendy but it’s up to you then how far you want to take it in terms of fashion for me

H: Ok

T: Do you want to wear a sarong? That’s –

H: Maybe not unless you’re David Beckham. Now we’re nearly out of time but Kelly wants to know is there such thing as the perfect shape?

S: No. I mean I think it’s all in, what I might consider the perfect shape may not be what you consider to be the perfect shape, or Trinny or anybody else, so I think it’s you know beauty is in the eye of the beholder

H: Well exactly. And if you feel fabulous –

S: You’re going to look it

H: You’re halfway there aren’t you? Yes. Ok well look we’re out of time I’m afraid, we could talk about this all day couldn’t we, we’ve had lots of questions in, we can’t answer them all, I’m really sorry we’re out of time, but thank you ladies for coming in, it’s been really interesting

T: Thank you

S: Thank you very much

H: And we’re looking forward to a fabulous summer with our maxi dresses and our geometric prints, and of course if you want more information about the style guide, all you have to do is log onto the website which is www.littlewoodsdirect.com or you can of course click on the link that’s on the screen. So that’s it from us, thanks ladies and thanks to all of you who sent in questions and we’ll see you next time. Bye bye

Still got a question or comment?

Name

Your question Question

Enter code