Kaplan made multiple leather coach purses, then ''aged'' them. ''He stapled on these manila size tags like a charity shop's, then ripped off the tags, and left the staples and bits of paper ; pretty incredible.''There will be four new songs on the album, entitled 'Ten' - including the new single 'Something New' - and fans can vote on the tracklisting for Disc 2 of the record at www.girlsaloud.com from October 19.

The five girls have been secretly working on their single for a few weeks and had their meetings at the same hotel they stayed in when they won reality coach factory outlet show 'Popstars: The Rivals' in 2002.

So how do you break out of the saving-it-for-later rut? Like this:Nicola said: ''We stayed in the same hotel we stayed in the night we got in the band.''

'Ten' will be released on November 26, which will be followed up by a 12-date arena tour which kicks off in Coach outlet's hometown, Newcastle upon Thames, in Northern England, on February 21.

The run of concerts ends in Liverpool on March 20 and tickets go on sale on October 26 via the band's official website.

Actors she has quoted in the exhibition are just as committed to investigating their characters through costume. Landis quotes Ann Roth, the noted American designer whose credits include such varied films with Meryl Streep as Mamma Mia, Doubt and Hope Springs. ''She said that when she and Meryl get in the fitting room, they wait for the third person to appear.'' Streep always looks at herself in the mirror sideways, she says, ''to see if something's happening''. ''Because Meryl is 100 per cent committed, probably 200 per cent, to this transformation.''

Some actors want to build the character with the costume designer. Robert de Niro, says one display, went 1000 rounds in the ring with Jake LaMotta to prepare for Raging Bull, a precision he applies to costume. He says he looks ''for a real example of a person. I see what they're wearing and sometimes it's not what you think it would be. So how do you make it real? What are they doing that makes it real when they wear it?''A new solo exhibition called "Smell Me," at Envoy Enterprises (87 Rivington Street) opens this Saturday and runs through Nov. 18. The show is all about olfactory experience (so no sniffles, please) and features handblown chemistry vials containing Wawrzyniak's sweat, tears and hair, as well as a scent chamber (coach purses outlet lent a scent diffuser from her recent perfume launch for the occasion!) in which visitors can inhale a synthetic compilation of Wawrzyniak's bodily essence.

Why Bother: Martynka Wawrzyniak has been driven by her nose ever since she was a young girl growing up in Communist Poland. "I have incredibly vivid memories of liking certain people because of their smell and being afraid of others because of their smell," she says, recalling packed bus rides filled with undeodorized passengers. "Nowadays we do everything we can to mask our own essence. We use scented soaps and shampoos and laundry powder and perfume - we all smell like a horrible cocktail." In a quest to capture the body's true essence, Wawrzyniak spent the last year capturing and cataloging her body's own scents. "I wanted to create something completely visceral without any visuals - and that could only be experienced through the primary, primal senses," she says. "It's taking the nude self-portrait to the next level of intimacy, because I didn't know what I would smell like.

At first glance, these actorly concerns seem a world away from the red carpet, with its gowns and glamour. Landis is not so sure. ''That's also about character. That's another transformation. Stardom is different. That is what is expected. That's why they have stylists, who are costume designers in their own field. But stylists aim to beautify; costume designers may be helping to construct characters who are repellent or simply plain. Do they often meet resistance? I think every costume designer has faced that,'' Landis says.