Sale Shopping Guide

Right, Christmas is over, you've unwrapped your gifts, got your vouchers and money ready to spend in the sales, but how to navigate the unending piles of discounted merchandise, Where to begin? What to buy? DO I EVEN NEED ANY OF THIS SHIT?! 


I have a secret, I find shopping overwhelming at the best of times, the sales only make it worse. I did a cursory sale scout round sleepy Worcester on Boxing Day (having already checked out all the online sales on xmas day) and formulated a PLAN. You can use this plan too. It might stop you having a mental breakdown in Selfridges. 


1. Think about what you actually need. Perhaps your mum forgot to buy you perfume for xmas, or you want a designer leather bag in black. Get these first. 


2. Do your research. Look at the website first, that way you'll already know what is in the sale allowing you to edit out the crap quicker because you already have a vague idea of what is there, what you like, what you don't. 


3. Plan a route. Linked to 'Do your Research' you can't go everywhere and everywhere has good discounts. Department stores are my favorite- best discounts, lots of choice. House of Fraser, Selfridges and Harvey Nicks get my vote. 


4. Upgrade. If, like me, you fritter your money away on cheap tat the whole year round, stop. Don't buy the same tat but cheaper. Go up a price bracket- Cos instead of H&M, Whistles instead of Topshop, Selfridges instead of Debenhams. 


5. Don't buy clothes. The bargains are to be had on Make-up, Perfume, Bags, Shoes and Jewellery. Better discount, easier to find, less seasonal. 


6. If you do Buy Clothes Buy Classics, designer ones if possible. White shirts, black trousers, garments that fit. If its faux fur, fairisle or any other big trend from AW11, if you don't already own it, forget it, everyone else will buy mid Jan. 


7. Only buy it if you love it. Or if you considered it full price, if you thought it was ugly at full price, it is no less ugly because its only £20


8. Set a budget, stick to it.  


9. Outlet Shopping. Bicester Village boutiques have sales as does the Outnet. Yes. Go. (but remember the plan, this plan)


10. Ignore the sad looking sale and buy full price shiny newness. This is what I did on Boxing Day.  


Items that fit into THE PLAN and are in stock at the time of writing: 

YSL Four Colour Eye Palette, Was £37.00, Now £24.66 at Debenhams 

Other make-up brands with fab discounts in all dept stores include Lancome, Guelian, Benefit and Estee Lauder (gift set of advanced night repair is reduced in HOF)

Prada Amber Gift set, Was £50.00, Now £33.33 at Boots

All boots fragrance gift sets have between £10 and £15 knocked off- as do everywhere else's. 

Micheal Kors Skorpios Large Leather Hobo, Was £780, Now £390 at Harvey Nichols

ITS HALF PRICE FFS! 

  Harvey Nicks has the best accessories sale I've seen. 

Brain Atwood Maniac Nude Courts, Was £470, Now £329 at Selfridges

Black Leather Trim Cigarette Trousers, Was £45, Now £20 at Topshop

I wanted these full price, they fit, they are classic, they are cheap, I will wear them with a man's white shirt and red lipstick and look french.

I would also recommend buying a half price designer wallet- Mark Jacobs, Mulberry and Vivienne Westwood are usually marked down. Not that you'll have any money to put in them. 

Gold Classic Leather Orb Purse Was £96, Now £48 MyWardrobe.com

Selfridges: Museum of Everything and The Shoe Galleries

The Museum of Everything forces you to confront questions that History of Art students have been pondering for a 100s of years: ‘What is art and who decides? And, Who is qualified to make art and what is it for?’  The space is laid out like a dilapidated old house, with peeling wallpaper and the walls crowded with work, the exact opposite of the open white gallery walls we usually view art on and the opposite of the shiny retail heaven that it sits within.

Many of the ‘outsider’ artists work is often (not here) displayed next to contemporary artists, this blurs the line between ‘outsider’ artists and regular artists challenges the viewer to make a distinction when both are displayed as equals, in the same context, the same space.

Entrance to the Museum of Everything at Selfridges

Ruby Bradford Print, £80, Selfridges

Tom Wagener Print, £80, Selfridges

Jean-Jacques Oost Print, £80, Selfridges

The same could be said of shoes (stay with me here) I left the Museum of Everything in a thoughtful mood, which invaded my shopping orientated brain. I started thinking about setting, how the context of objects affects how we judge them, the value we assign to them. The revamped Selfridges shoe galleries, which celebrates it 1^st birthday this week, brings all its shoes, high street and designer, together in one fabulous place and in so doing makes it difficult to tell one from the other.

The biggest shock was River Island shoes- normally the reserve of 17 year old party girls- every pair in Selfridges seemed grown up, chic and very desirable. If it wasn’t for the neon sign, I would have put a 4 in front of the number on the price tag and might have mistaken some for Rupert Sanderson or Charlotte Olympia.  It was amazing- I wanted almost every pair and I don’t think I would if I’d seen them in a River Island store. My picks are shown below…but they might have lost some of their Selfridges magic online. 

Black Glitter Peep Toe Wedges, £70 River Island

Colour Block Sling Backs, £60, River Island

Dark Red Patent Brogues, £25, River Island

Dolly Platform Shoes, £590, Charlotte Olympia at Selfridges

Diana Patent Brogues, £430, Viktor and Rolf at Selfridges

And finally...CAT FACE WEDGES, £625, Charlotte Olympia at Selfridges 

If you would like to know more about outsider art or shoes you can visit the Museum of Everything Website or the Selfridges website