REAL LIFE: 'I dress the world's most beautiful women'

'Iget such a buzz out of seeing dresses I helped to create on the stars. A few months ago I was watching Top Of The Pops and Madonna came on wearing one of Matthew's outfits that I'd helped to make. Now that's a good feeling. I've also made dresses for Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz, Kate Moss and Jade Jagger, so I've become a bit blase about the celebs - I just love making the clothes. Even Kylie came in to the studio to be fitted once - she just turned up with her driver, no big entourage.

I started sewing when I was seven, making outfits for my Barbie doll, then I progressed to creating my own clothes. I remember making a tweed A-line skirt and being so chuffed, I lived in it for weeks afterwards. If I go into a shop and see a dress I like I'll look at the way it's been constructed and then go home and make it for myself. It's a lot cheaper doing it that way. After I left fashion college I had to get any old job in order to pay back student debts, so I worked as a shop assistant in a candle shop for a few months. While I was there, I sent my CV out to fashion companies and looked out for relevant job advertisements. I got loads of rejections because I didn't have any experience. When I saw the job for Matthew Williamson I was in two minds as to whether I should bother to apply. I loved Matthew's work, but I didn't think I'd stand a chance. However, I sent out my CV with a letter and waited to hear from them. I had to go into the studio for a day's trial and I must have impressed him with my sewing and pattern-cutting skills, because they offered me the job. It was the best news. I got the phone call when I was in a bar with my boyfriend, and he marched straight over to the bar and bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

I've been with Matthew for three and a half years now, but I'm still learning. My job as technical manager is to oversee the pattern cutters and machinists, and ensure that the garments are made correctly and to the highest standards. I also fit the clothes on celebrities and models and make sure everything is made on time. We work in a basement studio which sounds really drab, but it has big windows and there is a mass of colours, with zips, ribbons and cottons on the wall and clothes everywhere. In the beginning I was very nervous because I was working with big stars and very expensive material like printed silk georgette, which costs around pounds 40 a metre. I was so nervous I might stick a pin in someone or say the wrong thing to a celebrity. Rachel Griffiths from Six Feet Under came in to the studio to be fitted and I had to take the dress out because it was too small for her. I felt quite awkward having to tell her, but she didn't seem to mind. It was only later that I found out she was pregnant at the time. We make most sample clothes to a size 8, however when I fitted Sienna Miller our standard size 8 was hanging off her and we had to take it in.

Not all A-listers can carry the clothes off, mind you. Britney once wore a nude-coloured dress with butterflies and gold beading I'd made, and it looked awful on her. There was a big spread in a fashion magazine saying how bad she looked, but it wasn't the dress itself because it looked really good on another celebrity - it just didn't suit her.

I wear Matthew Williamson clothes a lot of the time. I get a discount, which is a fantastic perk of the job. Sometimes I can't believe how much people spend on clothes, though. We had one range of evening dresses which cost pounds 1,500 and they flew off the shelves in minutes. I also get to go to New York Fashion week, and am invited to loads of parties where it's wall-to-wall celebs. I'm more into the clothes than the people in them, but you hear all sorts of gossip at these bashes. At one party I went to recently, a pop star was having sex with a girl in the toilet...'

The dresses don't always work...

Sarah says Madonna looked amazing in her Matthew Williamson creation, while Britney Spears' frock just 'didn't suit her' - but don't blame the dress...

SARAH'S GUIDE TO GETTING A JOB IN FASHION

What you need to do:

Send out your CV to all the fashion houses

Do work experience

Look through fashion publications. Draper's Record is particularly good

Know what's in vogue, and do your research

Depending on the size of the fashion house a technical manager can expect to earn between pounds 20,000 and pounds 30,000

Sarah's CV

B-Tec Fashion and Textiles

BA Honours Fashion and Textiles

Textiles work experience with Ali Capellino

Technical Manager at Matthew Williamson

KELIS

'Kelis and Matthew are really good chums and she wears loads of his clothes. She wore this dress at the opening of our new shop - where she actually sang a set. The dress is made from assorted silk chiffons with beaded silk georgette in sunshine yellows. It took me two days to make and she looked so beautiful in it. She is such a sweet and bubbly person, always smiling.'

RACHEL

WEISZ

'I was probably most excited at meeting Rachel at the shop opening. She was wearing a dress I had made especially for her and we had a brief chat about it, but I was quite awestruck and I'd had a few drinks by then! I love her films and she is such a huge star.'

SIENNA MILLER 'Sienna is really sweet and very small - a size 6. She had seen a dress in Matthew's collection and phoned up to see if he would design a similar one in green for her to wear to the Oscars. She knew exactly what she wanted so she was easy to work with, but she was really good fun, no airs or graces at all. I couldn't believe my bad luck, though. The only day I have had off work ill in the last 12 months was the day Jude Law came into the office with Sienna to say hello.'

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