What music does Gok Wan use on his fashion fix catwalks?

Love him or loathe him, it’s impossible to deny that Gok Wan is a star of some sort in the fashion firmament. He’s mixed race, he’s gay and he used to be very overweight. He chose not to be very overweight in his early twenties but continues to capitalise on his fat past as well as making the most of his striking, unconventional looks and giving free rein to his own brand of camp self-expression in his mission to make as many people as possible look good, whether naked and not.

Gok’s the quintessential outsider, and one who’s made considerable capital out of exploiting his status. Despite his over the top public image, he wisely sticks to tried and true fashion principles as the basis of his style philosophy. Underneath the camp mannerisms, the tattoos, the gold fillings and the Dame Edna glasses, the man’s a tyrant of pared-down geometry and bling minimalism.

You might have been able to work out that he's a man of immense self-discipline just by the fact of the weight loss, but if not, you only have to look at his range of lingerie (each item given a deceptively saucy name) to realise quite quickly that Gok is an old fashioned arbiter of haut couture line. Lycra, spandex, elastane and (possibly) good old fashioned rubber all seem to be there in panels, gussetts, plackets and insets, to keep any burgeoning curves well under control so that they can't disrupt the clean lines he aims for so consistently. Underneath whatever is shown on the outside, Gok’s fashion fixed ladies are very well supported underneath by sleek but robust foundation garments.

Il faut souffrir pour etre belle as the French say, and by the look of the Gok underpinnings, he thinks so too. His strict adherence to good line is why he almost always wins the fashion fix shows. Whatever our personal taste in fashion, on the catwalk, a clean line is everything, and doesn't he know it.

He also employs cunning little tricks to discourage over use of sparklies, however much we may love them. Buy a plain black T-shirt by all means, but embellish it by hand, and every sequin or crystal must be sewn on personally by you. Now if that isn't commitment to the high fashion cause, I don't know what is.

Gok seems like a living embodiment of the art of the possible. On the face of it, he seems like the most unlikely style icon, and yet just look at the success and fortune he's achieved. If I can do it, you can do it too is the essence of his message to women (and men) who lack confidence in their appearance.

But his message is more than a superficial one; if you pare the text down to its essentials, Gok seems to be saying, gain control of yourself and you will have the confidence to go on and conquer the world. Obviously, world domination isn't everybody's bag, (and neither is high fashion, come to that). The success of style icon Gok Wan has some helpful pointers for us all though.