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What is it about opera that keeps you coming back?

The visual - what happens on stage and how it looks - is very important to my personal enjoyment of opera. I'm too easily distracted when listening on CD or radio. Almost all operas have been conceived as stage or TV/film events and throughout its history, the look has been as important as the sound.

In 18th century London, the advertisements promised new costumes and spectacle even if they didn't tell you who wrote the music! So I love productions by Robert Carsen. I've never seem anything he's directed that has disappointed me visually. Particular favourites are ENO's Semele and Les Boréades in Paris.

So how do you choose what to see at the opera?

My rule-of-thumb is anything 17th and 18th century. I love the way that most of these works have been re-discovered in the 20th century and so seem very contemporary. 20th century opera is also very important to me. It's really only 19th century Italian operas that I have issues with - there's something about Woman as angel/martyr/whore/wife that jars with me.

But I'm also governed by the director and singers. I love directors whose work challenge you and make you re-think a piece. Richard Jones, David Pountney, David Alden, Peter Sellars can all read a score, so you have to take their interpretation of it seriously even if you don't agree with it.

Similarly, I want to see singers who can act, not canaries. Some highlights for me would be the Royal Opera's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Greek Passion, WNO's Jephtha and Mazepa, Opera North's Wozzeck and ENO's Agrippina.

So give us some costumes you love.

Some individual costumes capture the spirit of the character so perfectly that they seem iconic. For me, there's something incredibly right about Callas' act two outfit in Zefferelli's production of Tosca at Covent Garden. It never seemed as perfect on any other singer I saw there.

Another Tosca act two dress that stays in my mind was in Jonathan Miller's production for ENO. Set in the 1940s, Josephine Barstow wore an evening dress with a wrap skirt, falling to a train. As Scarpia became more insistent, he stood, then knelt on the train. When she tried to move away, the wrap opened to reveal her legs, inviting his hand on her thighs. There was no escaping him; she was trapped centre stage by her dress.

I love ENO's 'Desperate Housewives' Agrippina. I don't think I've ever seen Sarah Connolly's legs before! She looked wonderful. How she managed that stage rake and running up and down a flight of 24 stairs to the throne in 4-inch heels while singing glorious da capo ornamentation, I shall never know! Totally fab!

And the frock horrors?

My biggest complaint comes when costumes seem to be designed to make singers look as unattractive as possible for no dramatic reason. Some designers don't seem to be able to grasp that an opera chorus will not be made up of Kate Moss and Brad Pitt look-alikes. All women look better with an implication of a waist but something sack-like often appears for non-size-zero figures.

My most recent horror were the costumes for Simon Keenlyside and Gerald Finley in Covent Garden's Pelleas and Melisande. Why would two well-proportioned, handsome men have to be dressed in Joey Grimaldi clown outfits? There's nothing remotely funny about Golaud!

So what's in your wardrobe?

I like accessories - shoes and silk scarves in particular, though hats, umbrellas and gloves come a close second! OK, I'll admit it, I'm an accessory addict! In a recent attempt to clear my shelves, I reduced my shoe collection to 138 pairs but still found the strength to buy a pair of over-the-knee, Captain Jack Sparrow-style boots.

Silk scarves and leather gloves come from the back streets of Florence where two sisters buy direct from manufacturers and offer incredible value and hats and umbrellas are always more interesting in Paris!

I'm not a designer-label queen - I always prefer something that catches my eye and shouts 'buy me'! That said, I adore anything by Vivienne Westwood, though sadly my corset-wearing days are probably over!