Cheryl Cole's £455 mini: What you'd look like in the patterned dress

By Alison Tyler for MailOnline
Updated: 03:19 EST, 22 October 2009

Cheryl Cole

Cute: Cheryl Cole in a Phillip Lim dress with matching peep-toes and bright orange belt

Last weekend's military leotard with-slashed-trouser leg X Factor debacle aside, Cheryl Cole is usually one of the best-dressed women in Britain.

Back at the show's auditions earlier this year, she stepped out in this cute and colourful dress by edgy New York designer Phillip Lim, teamed with a pair of green peep-toe heels and a bright orange belt that accentuated her small waist.

But when we tried it out on a mere mortal, the results were very different.

For a start, she looks as if she's wearing a doll's outfit - the dress is ludicrously short, and the cut and colour makes it look childish.

Her waist is nowhere near as slim as Cole's, and her hips are wider, so the skirt skims her thighs instead of kicking out as it does on Cheryl.

Despite being short and cute, on an ordinary girl it manages to look frumpy and twee.

A less garish pattern and a slimmer cut - with an extra few inches of hem - make a world of difference.

This dress , which is a tenth of the price of the £455 3.1 Phillip Lim dress, looks grown-up and glamorous, proving that bright isn't always best.

Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole dress

Ludicrously short: The multi-coloured mini-dress, by 3.1 Phillip Lim, £455, from net-a-porter.com, left,  made our model look childish while the grey and white mini-dress, £45, from Wallis, wallis.co.uk, right, was more grown-up and glamorous



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