Sweet and sassy Katy Perry has set the music world alight and the fashion world alight.

When it comes to clothes Katy, 26, is no shrinking violet. Her cutesy curves are far more realistic than the stick-thin models on the catwalk – and she knows this is part of her appeal. And it is no doubt one of the features that caught the eye of her outrageous hubby Russell Brand too.

Plenty of pop stars have tried to straddle the line between sexy and innocent but Katy actually pulls it off. She may be a married woman but Katy’s style is still as young, fresh and funky as ever before. Her quirky, vintage-heavy clothes and playfully sexy style is the stuff of stylists’ dreams.

Here Mrs Russell Brand lets us in on her beauty secrets, tells us where she gets her fashion ideas and gives tips on how to be a spendthrift but still look high fashion.

By Nathalie Gale

You are a worldwide style icon – who or what is your biggest style influence?
Well, it’s a bit of a concoction of different things. I started swing dancing, lindy hop and jitterbug when I was younger. I would go to the Santa Barbara rec hall and I would learn how to dance there and I would be taught by some of the more seasoned dancers. It was a little bit like rockabilly but not as annoying. These girls would get out of their old vintage Cadillacs with their pencil skirts and their tight little cardigans and their bullet bras and I thought it was just so unique and different. I love details. I love different colours. I love funny things. I have this one shirt that’s like got smiley faces as shoulders so it’s really cute and humorous. It’s an instant smile and that makes me feel really good. I like to make people laugh. I love a good sense of humour in clothes. I guess you would say my style is a mixture between Dita Von Teese and Agyness Deyn. There are definitely flavours of that 1940s pinup in how I dress but I’m also nutso for anything ’80s – big bows, strapless dresses and neon, neon, neon.

What is your favourite item of clothing?
Oh gosh, I love my romper suits. The all-in-one things. They’re great and so comfortable. I wear them all the time and have worn them for years. I’ll wear them forever, I’ll wear them until I get fat and old. I am going to get really old and have cellulite.

What is your favourite dress you have ever worn?
Wow – there are so many! Probably the carousel dress I wore at the Emmys, mainly because it was so out of this world and like nothing I’ve ever seen before and my friend who is also my stylist, Johnny Wujek, he saw it online and said ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to track that dress down. But there’s only one of them in the world and you have to wear it.’ So luckily we found
it and I put it on but it was a little too small so we had to sew some things in it to make it a little bit bigger because I’m not model size. But it was just so fun because you could turn it. It made everybody laugh. That’s just kind of what I try to do. You know that.

Do you enjoy shopping?
Of course I do. I love it. I love shopping for vintage, most of my wardrobe is vintage. It means it is unique and one of a kind – and that is what I kind of strive to be.

You have some awesome clothes, where do you do your shopping?
I do a lot of my shopping at the most random places. I’m one of those treasure hunt girls that loves to just find things, and I know when I go on the road and I have down time I’m going to have all the runners take me to their stores and look for bargains. I can’t help it, it’s in my blood.

Have you always been a savvy shopper?
My dad would always wake me up early and go to garage sales and go thrifting and go to antiques and flea markets. I love that stuff. I think that’s where my love of vintage clothes stems from. I love vintage and I’m a big collector of little things here and there. I’m like a magpie, anything that’s shiny I want it.

What is the weirdest thing you have bought from a garage sale?
Well, I mostly stick to jewellery. Funny trinkets, bad pictures of ‘80s rockers. It is stuff like old music memorabilia that’s just totally ridiculous. And clothes and accessories. I’m a sucker for all of that.

Do you plan all your outfits before you do a show?
I don’t necessarily lay them out but I have a general idea, yeah. I’m getting a bit more specific now since I actually know people are watching. Like I’ll see comments from people on Twitter saying ‘That was so interesting what she wore, I wonder why she wore that. Did she have to tone down?’ Y’know, because there’s been times I have just decided I want to wear one thing but people will put reasons behind it. But actually I wouldn’t even realise I had put so much thought into it, I just wanted to wear pink.

When you travel, do you travel light?
Oh no, never! Definitely not. I always have tonnes of luggage. I have a lot of stuff I need to take with me. Have you seen some of my costumes and dresses?

Do you enjoy being pampered in your work with make-up artists and hair stylists. . .
I love having a make-up artist in my team. It’s nice when you’re a girl because usually you’re asking people to come in different cities and stuff like that. When I started out I had that a lot when I was doing promotional stuff in the States and I would have different people every day and usually I would look like a drag queen. Every day was a challenge because it was new
people. Bless their hearts they would do their best but some of them were horrible. I would turn around in the chair, see myself in the mirror and want to cry but it would be too late because it would be time to go and do the interview and there was nothing I could do.

What are your make-up must haves?
I live by the secret camouflage concealer by Laura Mercier, I put that stuff under my eyes and it covers up all kinds of tell-tale signs. I use Nars lip gloss too. And my mascara has to be Maybelline.
And I love all the bright Mac lipsticks.

How do you feel about being rated one of the world’s sexiest women?
I love my job. I’d like to think I’m considered to be an elegant, sophisticated yet sassy pin-up.

Have you always been a stylish dresser?
I used to dress like a surfer chick. I come from Santa Barbara, California, which is a very beachy town about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles. So although I have porcelain skin and black hair now I actually grew up tanned and very blonde.

So are you a natural blonde?
Well, I’m actually a lighter brown, a dirty blonde-ish.

Did you have a nickname when you were younger?
Yeah, I would get called Nip-Slip. That was when I didn’t have boobs, or didn’t have much of them.

Do you have a diet or eating plan that you stick to?
Not really. I mean drinking water is like the easiest trick in the game; I mean drinking tons and tons of water. I drink maybe eight bottles a day sometimes when I can. Sometimes, I’ll add a little bit of apple cider vinegar. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar; I drink that a lot. It helps with my throat, if I have any congestion, and with my whole circulation.

And finally… do you work out?
When I’m on the road, my metabolism is up and already full throttle and I’m getting a bit of a workout being on stage for 45 minutes to an hour every night. So I don’t have to really do a whole lot. And also one thing I can swear by is jumping rope. I hate working out, but I love jumping rope. I think it’s like dancing. There’s a rhythm. And I love going out dancing. I’m a really good rope jumper. I can double jump, I can cross, I can do all of it. I look like Rocky when I jump rope.

Thanks Katy!