Nicole Richie credits Vera Wang for inspiring her love of fashion.

The 'Simple Life' star insists she was drawn to the world of beauty and style as a youngster when she was a figure-skater and inclined to design her own outfits.

She explained in an interview with Britain's InStyle magazine: ''My love of fashion kicked off when I was 11. I was competing as a figure-skater, designing all my own costumes with my father [Lionel Richie]'s tour costume designer.

''This was at the time Vera Wang designed Olympic figure-skating costumes and when I noticed big designers like her, I started getting into fashion.''

Nicole used to turn to fashion magazines when she was bored on family holidays and would make collages to keep herself occupied.

She said: ''I remember my parents dragging me to Alabama every summer as a teenager. I hated it, so I would buy fashion magazines, cut out my favourite outfits, then make collages to ease the boredom! It sparked a desire to design.''

Nicole insists she doesn't make spontaneous purchases but always browses for an idea of what she wants first.

She added: ''I'm not a big shopper. I've never been a 'let's do lunch and hit the shops' girl. I'll browse net-a-porter or see collections on photo shoots. I always have an idea of what I want, then I figure out a way to find it.''