Celine's code.

 //Selecting Item Colours
 $(".dress-container .select-colour a").click(function(){
   //find the colour range
   var colourRange = $(this).parent().next(".colours");
   //find the links in the colour range
   var colourRangeLink = $(colourRange).find("a");
   
   //showing colour range
   $(colourRange).show();
   
   //choose colour and make default colour the selected colour
   $(colourRangeLink).click(function(){
     //getting the choosen colour and replace default colour
     var colour = $(this).attr("href").substr(1);
     $(this).parents(".dress-container").find(".selected-colour").html(colour);

     //hide range
     $(".colours").hide();
     return false;
   });
   return false;
 });

 //Adding selected item on mannequin and adding item to cart list.
 $(".dress-container a.add").on("click", function() {
   //get item id, type (for layering), price and name
   var id = $(this).attr('href').substr(1);
   var type = $(this).siblings('img').attr('class');
   var itemPrice = $(this).siblings(".itemprice").html();
   var itemName = $(this).siblings(".itemname").html();

   //add respective item image to mannequin
   var itemImage = '<img src="site_media/img/dress/full/'+ id +'.png" title="" alt="" class="'+ type +'" witdh="400" height="600" />';
   alert(defaultColour);
   
//    if ( colour == null) {
//      colour = $(this).siblings(".selected-colour").html();
//    }
   var chosenItem = '<li>' + itemName + ' - ' + colour + '<br />' + itemPrice + '</li>';

   $("#dressing-room").last().append(itemImage);
   $("#dressing-cart").append(chosenItem);
   $(this).hide();
   return false;
 });
but i'm not putting it in a function
 $(".dress-container a.add").on("click", function() {
   var li = $(this).closest("li");
   choose_item(li);
   return false;
 });

 function choose_item(li) {
   
   //getting the default colour
   var defaultColour = li.find(".selected-colour").html();

   alert(defaultColour);
   
/*    //Adding selected item on mannequin and adding item to cart list.
     //get item id, type (for layering), price and name
     var id = $(this).attr('href').substr(1);
     var type = $(this).siblings('img').attr('class');
     var itemPrice = $(this).siblings(".itemprice").html();
     var itemName = $(this).siblings(".itemname").html();

     //add respective item image to mannequin
     var itemImage = '<img src="site_media/img/dress/full/'+ id +'.png" title="" alt="" class="'+ type +'" witdh="400" height="600" />';

 //    if ( colour == null) {
 //      colour = $(this).siblings(".selected-colour").html();
 //    }
     var chosenItem = '<li>' + itemName + ' - ' + colour + '<br />' + itemPrice + '</li>';

     $("#dressing-room").last().append(itemImage);
     $("#dressing-cart").append(chosenItem);
     $(this).hide();
     return false;
   */
 }