Cat Deeley on her wow-factor National Television Awards dress: ‘It’s like wearing a nightie’

Cat Deeley blended sentiment and environmental credentials for her sartorial choice at this year’s National Television Awards.

The co-presenter of ITV’s This Morning donned a figure-hugging vintage Saint Laurent dress that is the red twin of the one she wore to her wedding party in 2012.

“I saw it come up on an Instagram site and it’s almost like wearing a nightie,” she told The Telegraph ahead of Wednesday evening’s ceremony. “The dress does all the work.

“I knew it would work because I had worn it already for my wedding…it’s done and done, I will love it forever.” This Morning may not have come home with an award, but Deeley’s look was undoubtedly one of the standouts of the night.

Although she often wears high street and designer pieces on TV, Deeley still loves thrifting and sourcing the perfect vintage “diamond in the rough” to add to her growing secondhand collection.

Usually, the presenter finds the best vintage items while shopping in-person, rather than online, and she insisted that it happens when she isn’t looking for anything in particular.

“It’s difficult if you go looking for something and I think that’s the problem lots of people have,” Deeley explained.

“If you go looking for something it’s very rare that you will find it. My technique is always a bit like, go, have a mooch, see what treasures you can find and if you see something get it… If all the stars align and luck is on your side you’ll find something absolutely exquisite.”

This year, the presenter is fronting Oxfam’s Second Hand September campaign, which has encouraged people to shop for pre-loved clothing to help reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry since 2019.

Deeley said she had recently “opened her eyes” to the extent of the carbon footprint the fashion industry has, particularly fast fashion.

“Because I style myself, I have a view to either buy things that I keep and recycle again… or I find something secondhand, something vintage and secondhand,” she said.

“Sometimes I buy it and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is from the 1920s so I don’t know if I’m gonna get two wears out of it, it’s hanging together with a hope and a prayer’”.

One of her favourite items in her wardrobe is a decades-old pair of ballet flats by River Island, which she suspects couldn’t have cost her more than £20.

“I’ll have them forever, they weren’t a lot of money, but I will hang on to them. Just because I don’t pay very much for something doesn’t mean I won’t hang onto it, it’s whether I like it or not,” she insisted.

The former star of the hit US talent show So You Think You Can Dance revealed that her love of thrifting came from childhood visits to antique fairs with her mother.

“We used to love having a little potter around and it was everything from old perfume bottles, bits of jewellery to plates and cups and pictures. I loved it from being a little girl,” she said.

Deeley also revealed that she will choose some pre-loved items to wear on This Morning and insisted that no clothes worn are one-wear items that are binned after the show.

“It’s certainly not disposable in any way, shape or form,” she said, adding: “I only pick pieces that I love.”

This attitude to fashion “transcends seasons,” Deeley explained, and at 47, the star said she has finally come to know “what suits me and I know what works for my body”.

Her style is now “more about being comfortable in my own skin” rather than following the latest fad.

“It’s like what you wear for a day is like your suit of armour that you put on to go and face your day,” she said.

The presenter also joked that she can “never buy shoes” because of her larger foot size, lamenting: “I can never get shoes because my feet are so big! I’m always peeking with serious jealousy at my small-footed friends because I can never buy shoes.”

More recently, Deeley’s love of thrifting has morphed into being more environmentally conscious with her sartorial choices.

“Like everybody else, I think we’ve all just become much more environmentally aware… it’s a slow-burn but I feel like we are slowly educating ourselves. I’ve just learned as I’ve gone along really,” she said.

“We don’t operate in these individual bubbles anymore. We’re much more aware of the world around us and doing the right thing and how we affect the world around us for future generations.”

New analysis conducted by Oxfam has found that buying just one pair of jeans and a T-shirt secondhand rather than new could help save the equivalent of 20,000 standard bottles of water.

Lorna Fallon, the charity’s retail director, said: “It is clear from these statistics that we are drowning in fashion. Given the world is running short of fresh water due to climate change, the water-intensive cost of clothes production could be vitally reduced if we mixed up our wardrobes with second-hand purchases.

“By recirculating our clothes – buying, wearing and donating second-hand – we can help to reduce the demand for new clothes.”

Deeley said: “I love everything from a carboot sale to an Oxfam to Christie’s – I love the gamut of secondhand.

“You just never know, it’s the thrill of the chase.”

To get involved in Oxfam’s Second Hand September campaign or find out more, please visit: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/second-hand-september/