Did you bag any gems yourself or did you let the women fight it out amongst themselves?
Erm, I didn't take anything away in the end, although I did get some fab stuff to wear for the show. So that was great, but I donated a few things, which was really nice, getting to see someone leaving in your things. So yeah I gave this really cool Marc Jacobs puffball dress which was pale blue, which i gave to a girl and it never really looked quite right on me, because I'm so pale, but on this girl it looked gorgeous. She had like dark skin, dark hair and eyes and just looked stunning, so much better than me! And it did actually make me just want to give all my clothes away. I think it's the ultimate karma, and that's the bit which nobody expects because everybody is just like 'We'll get free clothes' but nobody actually realises how nice it is to give things away and it really genuinely is.
Tell me about your involvement in Fashion Strikes
I'm so excited about this it's going to be really cool and obviously having been to the frock swap, I think they thought I was the logical person. It's just really exciting, we're going to have cool bands and people donating clothes and hopefully it's going to be a really fun event.
How did you get involved with Orange's Unsigned Acts?
Well, my husband worked on that show last year, so I was an avid fan and thought it was fantastic. And this year Jo Whiley is having her baby, so she normally judges and couldn't do it this year, because she's on maternity leave. She's still part of the show though doing a bit on it and they needed somebody to step into her shoes in the judging world, so as soon as they asked me I just said 'yes absolutely, because I loved the show last year. So that was it really.
To anyone who hasn't heard of it, what's it all about?
It's basically like a talent show, but with actual talent so it's kind of musicians, band and singer/songwriters. It's also for people who write their own stuff, not just people who like singing and are like 'I'm loud' etc... No warblers allowed, it's for people who are genuinely creative and who want to get a big fat record deal off Simon Gavin, who is an extremely important record bloke and he's also got flawless business sense, he knows if something will go or not, he happens to have great taste too and more than that he knows what's going to sell and what isn't. Obviously you've also got other people on the panel like Alex James from Blur, who is pretty cool and his some pretty good pop star pedigree and will dispense opinion and advice as required and then you've got me! I'm just there with a lot of eyeliner on, going 'oh, that was nice!'
Have you had to make any tough decisions yet?
Definitely, that's the really hard bit too. Saying to someone 'I don't get it' or 'I don't really like what you're trying to do' so the dream crushing aspect is not something any of us relish. You've got to give enough credit to people by being honest with them instead of just saying how fantastic it is all the time, because you know it's a competition at the end of the day.
What's the level of talent been like?
It's been great, yeah because people go through such a rigorous process before they reach us, so we have some weird people still, but not on the same level.
So who are you listening to at the moment?
Well, erm that's a toughie. I really want to listen to the new AC/DC album. (ooh we've had that in this week!) what's it like? (I've not heard it yet, but the reaction has been good. ) Ahh well, it got 5 stars in NME last week, so I'm going to have to give that a listen
Is there anyone you think is being overlooked at the moment?
Ahh the tough questions! Erm... well I think there is such a lot of acts out there, and they are readily available on the Internet for people to dissect and discuss. There is no filter as such any more, so all the music that could be out there is ready for people to have a look at. And you have all these social networking sites like MySpace who play such a big role in the music industry now. It's the people who are the sifters now, they look through all the music, get people talking and create a buzz about someone they think is good. That's how it works now.
We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview and Sheree Murphy asked you if you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?
Well Sheree (laughing) I'd take my baby, my husband and my laptop. Providing they have Internet on a desert island. (I'm sure they do) oh well, that's ok then.
Lauren is a judge on Orange unsignedAct with Sony Ericsson, Sundays on T4, 12:40pm and is also an ambassador for Warchild. www.orangeunsignedact.co.uk
FemaleFirst-Laura Terry