I haven't got a clue about fashion, admits Sex And The City star Jennifer Hudson

May 14 2008 By John Dingwall

OSCAR-WINNING actress Jennifer Hudson felt like a fish out of water when she joined the cast of the Sex And The City movie as lead character Carrie Bradshaw's assistant.

Jennifer, who first appeared on TV when she tried to win American Idol in 2002, admits she didn't even know her dolcelatte from her Dolce & Gabanna.

And while Sarah Jessica Parker dons 80 high-fashion designs during the big-screen version of the hit HBO television series, Jennifer, 26, found herself forced to dress down as her assistant Louise.

As she relaxed during a round of promos ahead of the film's release on May 28, Jennifer admitted she longed to get dolled up like characters Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte.

"I wanted to dress like them," she confessed. "But it was unrealistic for my character. Her budget was not their budget. She was just a college kid, living in a one-bedroom apartment with three roommates. So she couldn't afford any of that stuff."

But it didn't bother her too much as Jennifer says the last thing she'd be seen dead in is a pair of Jimmy Choos.

"To be honest, I don't like any shoes," she explained. "And I can't stand heels.

"I don't know what are the highest heels I ever had. And I won't last in them too long, at all. See, I'm tall. So how much more height do I need?

"Also, I've never been label-crazy. But I wouldn't do a knock-off. In my last interview, they asked me what was I wearing. And I said I have no idea."

At 5ft 9in, Jennifer would barely have been tall enough for the catwalk had she chosen a career as a model.

But her bid for fame as a singer on 2002's American Idol led to a breakthrough acting role in Dreamgirls, the film which won her an Academy Award for her role as Effie White.

Now, she says the transition to a Sex And The City girl has worked out perfectly.

"I loved it," Jennifer beamed.

"Dreamgirl and then SATC girl? That's hot. I don't mind singing in a film, but I don't want every film to be like that. I want to just act too."

As well as Parker, Kim Cattrall returns as man-eating PR Samantha Jones, Cynthia Nixon as neurotic lawyer Miranda and Kristin Davis as homeloving Charlotte.

Having missed all 94 episodes of Sex And The City, based loosely on the book by Candace Bushnell, Jennifer had to catch up on the show by watching DVDs. "That's when I fell in love with it," she recalled. "I was nervous being the new girl. But they made me feel very welcome and right at home, because it's like one big, huge happy family.

"I kinda felt like the baby of the family."

STARRING in the film, which is all about fashion, flirting and feeling sexy, helped Jennifer pick up one or two tips.

"I'm more into fashion now. It's more exciting," she said.

"And it makes me want to experiment with my style."

To research the role, she swapped places with her real-life personal assistant, much to the surprise of some callers. "I think it's fun being somebody's personal assistant in a movie," she said.

"But I'm not that organised.

And I can't work a computer at all. But I did switch roles with my assistant to get the feel of it. I don't think I did too good a job."

When asked which of the SATC characters she relates to most, Jennifer didn't hesitate.

"I'd say Charlotte (Kristin Davis), because she's more the wholesome, traditional girl. That's more like me.

"Sarah Jessica was definitely a huge support system, and a cheerleader as well for me, for the role."

Having taken a tongue-lashing from Simon Cowell on American Idol, she is getting the last laugh by becoming the biggest star to come out of the series.

"I have not heard from Simon," she revealed. "Didn't he apologise to me on Oprah or something like that?

"He ate his words."

Meanwhile, Jennifer's singing background does come into play on one song in the film.

"It's called All Dressed In Love," she said. "It's great because it takes fashion and love and ties them together. It's like aperfect Sex And The City song."

And she is desperate to get her hands on the Bafta award she won for Dreamgirls back in 2007.

"All my awards are in my house and are kinda like my furniture," she said.

"Because I'm never home. You know, I never had time to furnish it. So the awards are pretty much all the furniture.

But the one I'm missing is the Bafta.

"They never sent it to me. If anybody knows where I can get my Bafta, please tell me."

From factory to high street: the hidden cost of cut-price clothes

Poor working conditions have always been a part of the fashion industry. The owners of the first British textile factories in the 18th and 19th century paid low wages, employed children, forced workers to do overtime and allowed hazardous working conditions.

As costs spiralled over the years, factories moved to low-wage, developing countries. In the 1970s it was Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea and today it’s Bangladesh and Indonesia among others.

Making clothes is complex

Making clothes is a complex task and it’s proved difficult to develop machinery to do it. Today you still need an army of people to machine stitch clothes and produce finished garments in a factory. One person sews the sleeves, another the collar and someone else the pockets.

Low pay and unsafe working conditions have not gone away, the problems have simply shifted to developing countries.

Paying workers low wages means a factory owner can make clothes more cheaply, so they’re more likely to win a big contract to supply high street chains.

Some sewing workshops use children as a source of cheap labour, although this practice is decreasing, according to the Ethical Trading Initiative, an organisation that works to improve conditions for workers.

11p an hour

In the developing world, a seven-day working week is common when the pressure’s on to finish an order. And hourly wages in the clothing industry range from 11p an hour in Pakistan, to 43p in China and £5.58 in the USA. Typically, the worker who made the garment will receive as little as 0.5% of the average price the garment sells for.

Trade unions are one way of helping workers achieve fair rates of pay and working conditions but unions are often officially or unofficially banned by factory owners.

The more progressive UK fashion companies are starting to look seriously at what they can do to improve conditions for the workers who are making their clothes.

Buttons from China

High street names such as Monsoon, Marks and Spencer and Next are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative. Members agree to a code of practice that covers basic workers' rights. It looks at hours worked, wages, health and safety and child labour. Members work with the factories they use to achieve improvements each year.

But one of the challenges that fashion companies cite is monitoring working conditions across a complex supply chain – raw cotton from India may be woven in Bangladesh, while buttons and zips may come from China. It can be difficult to ensure working conditions are fair in factories thousands of miles away.

Check the chain

Another challenge is that factories can sometimes sub-contract to other companies without the knowledge or approval of the retailer. So a UK high street store may check its main supplier, but not the next level down in the chain. So unfair working practices and low wages continue and every so often, a high street name hits the headlines.

The Ethical Trading Initiative encourages members to look at the whole chain and to reach out to particularly vulnerable workers, such as homeworkers. Embroidered clothes and accessories are often made by people who work at home doing 'piece work' – they get paid for each item instead of an hourly wage. Because they work at home they are less visible and often suffer poorer living and working conditions.

Campaigning organisations such as Labour Behind the Label want high street stores to go further. For example, instead of paying a minimum wage, Labour Behind the Label wants high street chains to make sure their suppliers pay a living wage – a wage that enables workers to feed, house and educate their families.