Catrin: Well, I was a bit of a 'tomboy' when I was little and was always in wellington boots and that kind of thing. I wasn't really into dresses and skirts!

Nia: When you went to college in London, it must have been a bit of a shock going from Llannon to London?

Catrin: Yes it was! There was quite a difference as far as fashion goes between the two places! I started thinking what I was wearing and what brand or label they were. My friends call me 'The Diesel Queen' because I go straight to Deisel when I go shopping. Then Miss Sixty, Karen Millen and Ted Baker. I go straight to Selfridges when I'm in London because I can get everything under one roof!

Nia: How many wardrobes do you have?

Catrin: Two. One for everyday clothes and the other for 'posh' concert clothes and I keep them separately. So the first wardrobe has clothes I've chosen myself.

Nia: I can see one top from a distance and I'm nearly sure it's Diesel?!

Catrin: You're right. The rips in the top are fairly typical of Diesel clothes. Mum thought I was silly buying clothes with rips already in them. But I try to say to her "Look Mum, it's cool!"

Nia: This coat's nice

Catrin: This is my Grandmother's old coat and it's amazing. It's about 60 years old but it's still amazing. It's mink.

Nia: How about Catrin Finch the performer, the harpist? Do you remember what you wore for your first television appearance?

Catrin: Yes! Hel Straeon, S4C and Blue Peter with John Leslie were the first couple of programmes. I was about 8 or 9 years old and I wore a flowery black dress with a peach bow on the back. There wasn't much cash at home then, so Mum used to make them for me and they were just gorgeous. I look at them now and they bring memories back to me.

Catrin: There's a harp company in London called 'Salvi'. At the time whilst I was in London, the company were offering up-and-coming harpists help to buy clothes. I was lucky enought to get this help from them. Julia Salvi from the company used to take me to choose clothes and she was fantastic with me. She took me shopping once a year and used to say "Oh, Catrina, we must go shopping to Harrods now, we must go straight to Harrods for some dresses." I remember going there once and we bought an Amanda Wakely dress which is black with a red satin train and is an absolutely amazing dress. The dress didn't have any straps and unfortunately when playing the harp, you move a lot

Nia: In 1998, Catrin was appointed the Royal Harpist for Prince Charles

Catrin: The only time there were strict dress codes was when I was the Royal Harpist for the Prince for four years between the ages of 18-22, 1998-2002. The code was posh, posh and more posh! One thing that I found amusing was the comments of some of the palace staff of my choice of clothes every now and again. When I was about 20 years old, I was trying to wear less formal clothes and noticed that the staff were starting to get jittery about it! Every now and again they'd say something like "Oh, remember Catrin, the Prince IS very traditional you know. You do know it's a black tie event don't you." So they were just really testing the water just to make sure that I knew what I should be wearing for an event and that I didn't turn up in trousers!

Nia: I remember these red leather trousers. There was a lot of fuss in the press about them wasn't there?

Catrin: Yes! I wore them to an event where all the other harpists were wearing traditional dresses. Everybody was like "Oh my God!"!

Catrin: I have an exciting new project on the go with the designer Jane Davies. I've always been a fan of Jane's designs so it was so exciting when she designed my first dress for me. The dress was designed for a special concert in St David's Hall. Jane's brilliant at allowing me to have an input into the designs she does for me - I can say for example that I'd like a yellow dress with sequence on and she then works her magic!

Catrin on clothes...
Every dress I have has a story behind it or a particular memory. Because of this, I could never throw out any of my dresses.