Blonde on blonde!

These days, Kim Wilde has really got her act together. Not only has the 23-year-old singer stormed back into the charts with a great sound and a sizzling new image, but she’s also getting her personal life into gear, too. The recent purchase of her own London flat means the end of zipping back and forth from the family home in Hertfordshire and always keeping a complete stage outfit plus full make-up kit in the boot of her car – just in case.

“I bought the flat for practical reasons really”, she says. “My room at home is quite small and I’ve collected lots of clothes over the years and I never know where anything is. It takes about half an hour to find the particular skirt I want to wear. I need to have my own place with my own things.”

Life for this particular “Love blonde” changed dramatically again when her single of the same name zoomed into the charts after the flop of her previous release. To mark her triumphant comeback, she shed her trademark tight blue jeans and stormed on to our screens in a black leather mini skirt.

“Yes! It was as if I didn’t have a pair of legs or that I’d deliberately kept them hidden for years because they were horrible.” She laughs. “Mind you, they’re not exactly the legs that I would choose but it was so hot in the summer I thought right, that’s it, I’m going to wear a skirt!”

And with the same single-mindedness, Kim takes time out from her busy schedule to tell Jackie readers a little more about her current lifestyle…

Home

“I bought my flat over a year ago and it’s taken until now to even put some curtains up! It’s an old apartment which hasn’t been modernised but I’m glad that it hasn’t because I think most conversions are tacky and horrible. All I did was rejuvenate the old walls and doors and spruce up all the tiling. It’s terribly difficult finding furnishings because I’m so choosy. I want everything to be absolutely perfect.”

Eats

“I’m a very irregular eater. Occasionally I have breakfast but most times I have nothing through the day except cups of tea. I hate being taken out to lunch because I tend to stuff myself and feel bloated for the rest of the afternoon! Usually I have to go because we have quite a lot of business meetings over lunch, but I am getting quite self-controlled now. It’s just so difficult to go for the melon when there’s a lovely seafood salad with lots of mayonnaise on the menu!
I don’t cook much myself but once I get into my new flat I will. I do enjoy cooking. I really get into preparing all the food. It’s great fun.”

Clothes

“The useful thing about being on TV is that now I know what looks good on me. Fashion isn’t important, it’s what suits you that counts.
“I used to wear jeans all the time but in the end I got bored with them. I find myself buying a lot of black now.
“My favourite shop is Joseph but I also shop in markets and in the King’s Road. The worst thing I ever bought was a red skirt and top which I wore on ‘Top Of The Pops’ for ‘View From A Bridge’. Everyone told me it looked OK but I wore it for a photosession later and it looked terrible!”

Souvenirs

“I don’t collect my Press cuttings now but I do keep photographs of moments which are precious to me. There’s one of me receiving a BPI award… I think that must have been the most glamorous evening in my life. I was sitting at a table with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson and there were chandeliers everywhere. It was just like watching the Oscars on TV!
“I also have a photo of me meeting Princess Margaret. She was really sweet – but I really don’t know if she knew who I was!
“I still get star-struck about meeting famous people. I’ve met a few whom I really wanted to meet: people like Elton, Gary Glitter and Elvis Costello, and they were all lovely.
“It’s funny, it seems to me that the more famous people are, the shyer they are.”

The press

“Sometimes I read stories about me which are totally untrue and I just have to laugh. There was one about me getting married which was completely untrue and another about me receiving a quarter of a million pounds from an American deal which was completely non-existent. Just little things like that!
“In the early days I would get hurt when they wrote nasty things, but now I rarely read what’s written about me. Sometimes I can’t resist and have the odd peek to see what they’re saying, but not often.”

Career

“It’s an exciting life, full of surprises. Sometimes it’s not always things I want to do and sometimes I’m not always prepared, but I guess that’s the price we pay.
“I have a management agency which is run by my mum and a guy called Nick who look after all my affairs. It’s called Big M Productions after my dad, Marty. He doesn’t like being called Dad, so we’ve always called him Big M.
“We’re also building a 24-track studio. It won’t just be for me, it’ll be for other bands, too.
“It’s only now that I really enjoy my career. People don’t treat me with that here-today-gone-tomorrow routine any more. I’ve had a lot of success now, and that helps.
“Last year, I did have my doubts, I must admit, but if you’ve got it, you’ll pull through whether you wear a leather mini skirt or just stick to faded blue jeans!”