British fashion stylist Gok Wan was once an ugly duckling.

Born in the United Kingdom to a Chinese father and British mum, Gok was constantly taunted for being grossly overweight when he was young.

The incessant bullying spurred him to lose weight in his teenage years.

Now he is a fashion guru with three TV shows to his name, including How To Look Good Naked and Miss Naked Beauty.

On his new series, Gok’s Fashion Fix, he wants to make fashion accessible to the masses and dispel the myth that people have to buy expensive designer clothes to look good.

“Fashion to me is very important because it can make people feel good about themselves,” says the 35-year-old.

Since entering the fashion world more than 10 years ago, he has worked with celebrities such as Vanessa Mae, Bryan Ferry and All Saints, and his work has appeared in top magazines including Glamour, Cosmopolitan and The Face.

So he is used to be being around the rich and famous.

And since getting his own TV show in 2006 with How To Look Good Naked, he is also used to fans wanting his attention – perhaps too used to it.

“You keep thinking that people are coming up to you for autographs, and once, I was having a bad day and I snapped at this well-meaning woman who wanted to tell me I had toilet paper stuck under my shoe,” he says, almost apologetically.

On Gok’s Fashion Fix, he “competes” with four fashion buyers who have unlimited budgets to produce outfits for a catwalk faceoff at the end of the show.

He has to keep to a budget of £200 (S$442) an outfit.

Viewers will vote for the outfits that they like at the end, without knowing whether they are designer or high-street fashion.

While he claims to be experimental in his dress sense, he tells Life! over the telephone that he will never be caught dead in a dress or looking like a drag queen.

“But, maybe one day, if you ask me nicely,” he adds, chuckling. His greatest fashion indulgence this season is a Chanel bag, which is now “hidden from his housemate”.

To all budding fashionistas, he does have some simple but effective wardrobe tips. “You must cleanse and organise your wardrobe,” he says.

“I call it ‘Wardrobe Fengshui’, so it’s out with the old and in with the new. Organisation is also very important.

Arrange your clothes according to your work/dating/home personality because the last thing you want is to be confused about your wardrobe,” he says.

Another thing that is often ignored is the correct underwear, he points out. “It’s important to have good foundations, you know.”

Gok’s Fashion Fix is showing on BBC Lifestyle (StarHub Channel 83) on Sundays at 7.10pm.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.