Trinny and Susannah

They've spread the word about "magic pants", told women whether they're a "brick", an "apple" or a "pencil", and grabbed more breasts than it would be polite to mention on a family website. But, seven years after they first came to our attention on What Not To Wear, Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are still helping women to feel more confident about the way they dress. We gave Susannah a call to find out more about the new series of Trinny and Susannah Undress The Nation.

What are you up to on the new series?
"We're on the campaign trail again. We're looking at various issues that we've found problematic in the past when we've been focused on individual women. This time we're taking a step back and looking at how we can deal with these issues more generally: how women feel about certain parts of their body, how women approach shopping, how they feel about being glamorous."

One episode finds you encouraging women to be more positive about their bums. Why do you think British women have issues with that part of the body?
"I don't think British women are different to any other women in the world. All women have issues with their bums - it's a part of the body we choose to ignore for some reason, so when we do see it it's a bit of a surprise. It's either, 'Ooh, that's quite nice actually,' or 'Oh, f**k, what is that thing hanging down there?' We wanted to get women to embrace their bums and realise the real story of their bottoms wasn't as bad as they thought."

Are you keen on your own bum?
"I am so mad about my bum I ought to be homosexual actually."

You and Trinny pad yourselves out to size 20 for another episode. Did you find it hard to find well-cut, stylish clothes in plus sizes?
"F***ing impossible! It was really, really hard. While we've always listened to women and understood that it's very hard to find clothes once you're over a certain size, we certainly couldn't empathise with them before. Now we're certainly able to, having shopped like that and seen how people treat you and how clothes fit. Once you're over a size 18, the tents come out because retailers assume that all women over a size 18 are the same shape, which is rubbish of course. They're all individuals and they all carry their weight differently."

Do you think British women dress well generally?
"It all depends on location and how accessible shops are. I think if you're in a metropolis there's more of a pressure to dress well. Generally, we do find that the further north you go in Britain, the more effort women make: they'll wear make-up, they'll get their hair done once a week, their nails are always beautifully-manicured. Down south, people don't really give a f**k or they feel they don't need to. There's a slight arrogance about it, I guess, that isn't around the further north you go."

Do we hold our own with European women in the style stakes? The clichéd view is that French women are more chic, for example.
"You know what, it's only the mistress that's chic, the wife never is. It's just more acceptable to have a mistress in France."

If a woman's insecure about her body and the way she dresses, why should she come to you ahead of Gok Wan or Nicky Hambleton-Jones?
"Do you know what? Everyone has their place. It depends what you want. It depends whether you want to change your appearance physically and have surgery; it depends whether you lack a gay best friend in your life; it depends whether you feel more comfortable being given advice by a woman. I think Gok is fantastic and I'd certainly rather go shopping with a gay man than a woman, so I think he definitely has his place."

Trinny and Susannah Undress The Nation begins Wednesday at 9pm on ITV1.