Double trouble: how to pull off two outfits in one night

The wildest perk of celebrity is not megabucks, mega-mansions or professional acclaim. It’s not fabulous parties mingling with other moneyed, talented individuals. The perk is rather more pedestrian — it’s preservation from inconvenience.

For mortals, life is awkward. Heels must be rejected after you make your journey mentally (15-minute walk, Central line, change to Victoria line, 10-minute walk, hours standing in queues for drinks and loos) and decide the hobbling isn’t worth it. Chaps would prefer not to wear a cagoule over black tie en-route — a greying flasher’s mac isn’t very Bond — but it’s raining, 10 days till payday and a taxi is unthinkable.

Epitomising the privileged status of celebrities, last week Myleene Klass switched outfits three times in one evening. New event = new dress, and she Instagrammed a picture of herself buckling a heel during one swap, captioned, “quick change ... in the car #oldskool”.

For most this would be wildly impractical but for some celebrities it’s as routine as a trip to the make-up chair before a public appearance. On her Diamonds World Tour Rihanna wore as many as six outfits in an evening. After the Met Ball, Cara swapped a punkish Burberry gown for a jacquard suit and BFF Rita switched her white cut-out dress for a kimono. At her book launch last year, Pippa switched frocks four times. Jourdan made a quick change at this year’s Harper’s Bazaar awards — carrying on the after-party rocking a different dress. Clothes horse Alexa Chung once mused: “I get changed about three times a day.”

Granted, switching to a second or third dress midway through the night sounds like good, clean fun (literally, if you’ve had a red wine accident). But if you did the same quick change on the Tube someone might pull the emergency alarm. However, as was pointed out to me, toilets make an adequate dressing room and handbags can work for storing outfits. So last weekend I channelled my inner celeb and tried double-dressing.

A point: picking two outfits is far trickier than picking one. I’m likely to have one clean and relatively respectable frock for the weekend but rarely two. I pulled a second outfit out of the washing basket and sprayed it with perfume. It was like the spirit of Myleene possessed me. Oh wait. Tip one: plan your “looks”.

Tip two: pick your occasion. Essentially, my evening was neither star-studded nor wild, so changing felt like a weird cry for attention. For context: Myleene’s started at the opening of new club Steam & Rye, detoured via Annabel’s and ended at another party. Mine started in one pub and ended in another.

Myleene’s MO was quick changes in a blacked-out car; mine was swapping outfits in the train loos, which reminded me of being a teenager, when I would leave the house in something tame like jeans and change — away from parental opprobrium — into something wild, perhaps pedal-pushers or leggings.

Another tip: select your moment — it’s unlikely Myleene’s mate banged on the door telling her she was about to miss her stop, startling her so she stepped in an indeterminate puddle on the City Thameslink.

“Sadly, us commoners are forced to deal with daily challenges which deem such high-fashion looks beyond impractical,” say Laura Faint and Rachel Arthur, the style team at personal shopping app, Mallzee. Indeed. “At worst, day-to-night events see us cowering in a dark corner in our office attire; at best, a statement necklace or pair of heels squashed into our bag just about sees us through.”