Christina Ricci gets style inspiration from her mother

Christina Ricci says her mother is her biggest style inspiration.

The ‘Bel Ami’ actress is famed for her feminine style with a gothic twist, and admits her love of all things ladylike comes from her mother Sarah, a former Ford model, who gave her the confidence to experiment with her clothes.

She told Net-a-Porter’s magazine The Edit: "I’ve always loved 60s clothing, ladylike stuff. Seeing all my mother’s tear sheets must have had an impact on me.

"[As I got older] I got smaller and more comfortable with myself. It was a gradual thing … I became more like my mother. I began to wear what I wanted to wear."

The 33-year-old star is very conscious of her reputation as a former child star and says she always strives to look older when she puts an outfit together, as well as becoming more daring over time.

Christina explained: "I do have this mentality of trying to dress older. I find people treat me more seriously if I’m well-dressed and put together.

"I’m finding I don’t want to stick to my rigid rules any more. Now I think, ‘Well, I’ve never worn those kind of pants before – let’s try them!’ "

However, the brunette hasn’t always been so fashion-savvy and revealed she used to dress herself for big events in the early years of her career – often to disastrous results.

She reminisced: "It was the mid-90s, so you didn’t have to borrow clothes, or wear the latest thing The first time I went to Cannes – for ‘The Ice Storm’ – we went to Barneys and picked out the gowns ourselves."