'I lay my clothes out the night before': how busy people get ready

What's the secret of a good morning routine? Jenny Agutter lays the breakfast table before bed, Esther Freud slips on her children's tracksuit bottoms and Brandon Flowers skips the shower...

I don't wear cosmetics during the day

I love the idea of a routine, but I don't think I've ever had it. The nearest I get is when I'm filming. If I have an early, the night before, I lay out everything that I need to take, that I'm going to wear. I even lay the table and put my breakfast things out. Otherwise, I tend to be quite last minute about dressing.

Because I'm an actor, I often buy clothes when I'm working on something that's current - you can get them at a discount. I got lovely clothes from Spooks. Then I think: "Am I that character or not?"

If there's no filming, I get up, have a green tea, put contact lenses in, have a piece of toast. Then I think about what I'm going to wear... I always go through, thinking: "OK, I'm going to wear something different today. I'm going to express myself in a different way... Oh, I can't waste my time doing this any longer! I'm going to wear blue jeans and a white T-shirt again!" I have quite a few white T-shirts and jeans.

I always leave the getting ready until too late. When I got married, I actually did my makeup in the car. (Ordinarily, I don't wear cosmetics during the day.) The main thing is being scrubbed and clean, which is something I feel strongly about. It's like being blessed in the morning, having water poured on your head.

I wear the same thing so I don't have to think about it

I get easily distracted by what I'm wearing. Countless times, I've screwed up a morning's work by putting on something I think looks fab and then getting into a big tangle in the rehearsal studio. So, now, I'll wear the same thing - basically black utilitarian sportswear - so I don't have to think about it. It's stuff like Nike Air Max, leggings, hoodies and jumpers.

There's a big theatrical aspect to clothes. Physically, you end up expressing a different side to yourself. For instance, I know that if I'm wearing skinny jeans and trainers, I will move differently, feel different and walk in a slopey, sulky way. It does affect your character. What I wear changes what aspect of my personality dominates that day. Sometimes, I dress in a way that will make me feel vulnerable. Sometimes, I dress in a way that makes me feel more feminine. The version of yourself that you are projecting can be manipulated by the clothes you are wearing. I get great pleasure from buying clothes. It's as if you project a future you on to this thing. There's something lovely about that.

I always think : "I'll change later"

I have a sort of anti-routine. At the end of the day, I quite often think: "Tomorrow I will make more of an effort." But I always put on the clothes that I took off the night before, and think: "I'll change later."

I have different times of the day where I recreate myself. Once I get home from walking the dog, I like to become invisible, to lose myself in my work. I put on castoff tracksuit bottoms from one of my children (who are now all bigger than me) and a tattered old cardigan. Those clothes live in my study. It's as if I go into a little cave. And I stay like that until I finish work at around 3pm, and then, you'll be pleased to hear, I change. I look in the mirror and brush my hair and make a bit of an effort: jeans and boots with a heel and a nice top. I put on some eyeliner. I would hate to leave the house without eyeliner.

Adding up all my changes, I spend about 10 minutes a day getting dressed. I feel very grateful to be someone who looks OK for remarkably little effort.

I think about my hair probably more than anything. else. I would just like it to hang in particular way and usually it doesn't. I think if my hair had been just right, my life would be brilliant.

I don't take showers in the morning

There was a lot of confusion in the early days of the band - I had an identity crisis. You have to fit into a mould what frontman should be. But as I get older, I'm looking to people such as Bryan Ferry or Paul Newman for inspiration; the more comfortable I am in my own skin, the less ornate getting ready becomes.

I almost have two lives: at home and on tour. When I am home, I don't take showers in the morning, I wash after the gym in the evening, and I don't have to do much to my hair. I put Rogaine, a product that helps men grow hair back, on it at night. Sometimes, when I wake up it looks really cool. I don't prepare what I'm going to wear the next day, either. I'll change my socks, but a lot of the time it's the same cream T-shirt, and I leave my boots on the ground with my jeans on top and they just go right back on. Maybe that frees my mind up so I'm not thinking about other stuff, it's just easier to drill on.

My beehive takes five minutes

I never think about what to wear the night before. It's more like mad, panic, dash, fuck, what am I gonna wear? On a good day, I can be out of the house in 45 minutes. I feel the cats, take a shower; the beehive takes five minutes. I tend to do my makeup in the car.

My day-to-day uniform is an A-line skirt and jumper. If I'm cooking, I roll out of bed and into a pair of jeans. If I'm going to meetings, maybe I will wear something that makes me feel confident - I have got lots of cute 60s suits.

I do have a lot of stuff - organized chaos - but I don't think it is excessive. I tend to buy pieces I can mix and match quite easily. I've got a rail that has my day-to-day stuff; a cupboard for my expensive, vintage dresses, such as Pierre Cardin and 60s Balenciaga; then a wardrobe full of jumpers.

My style is sort of 60s beatnik, with a bit of punk. It's definitely out there - I know that I look weird to a lot of people. Vintage is my thing. I love women in the 60s. I went to see [the file] 8 1/2 - a great example of how women did too much makeup, had too-big hair, too-short skirts and still looked fantastic.

I lay my clothes out the night before 

I get up between 7 and 7.30 am every day. If I have time, I go running as soon as I wake up. I lay my clothes out the night before because I like to sleep until the last possible moment. If it's a tough day, I listen to gospel music - or something spiritual such as the Fron male voice choir - otherwise it might be Michael Jackson or Stevie Wander.

When I am choosing my clothes, I try to think what I will be doing. Will I be at an urban farm or Buckingham Palace? Usually, I wear a blue suit, but now I'm in my 40s, I am becoming more casual. Most of my suits are from TM Lewin, but I have suits by Ozward Boateng and a designer called Marengo. God knows how many ties I have. I have kept them all since I was about 17, so it's definitely into the hundreds.

My style is quite preppy. I grew up in a working-class, West Indian home and there was a real pride in looking good and finding a bargain. I think that's similar to many of my constituents. I like jeans, but that's not how people want to experience their MP.

Dressing down at the weekend in jogging pants and a sweat top is a good way to delineate between work and family mode. I find if I am in casual clothes, people don't recognize me.

I just try to be smart and appropriate

For me, a lie-in is anything after 7 am. I check my BlackBerry and my other phone from bed, have a quick shower, then just pull an outfit together. I plan it in my head first, so I don't often put things on and then change my mind. If I can avoid getting changed for an evening event by wearing a dressier blouse and taking my jacket off, I prefer that. But sometimes it's fun to dress up and I take more pleasure in that now than when I was younger and more earnest.

When you train in the law, black suits become normal and, as a young woman in public life, you sometimes want the protection of a uniform, even if it is self-imposed. I think I've done trouser suits to death. Now I am older and have a bit more confidence, I just try to be smart and appropriate. Also, because of government plans to scrap the Human Rights Act, I am travelling a lot to events, and suits aren't very comfortable for that. I tend to keep clothes for a long time, and take care of them.

I've had short hair since adolescence and I don't think I would grow it now - it's easy and it suits me. It takes me about half an hour to get ready: I put on a little makeup, make my son breakfast, and I'm off.