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

In Love With Leopard

What is the first thing you think of when you think of leopard print? It could be punk girls in Camden, an over-the-hill perma tanned bar maid, a Russian millionaires on holiday, or a Saturday night girl wearing it skin tight. No other print straddles fashion genres so comfortably and can look mainstream, alternative or just plain wrong depending on who, when and where its worn. It can look expensive or cheap regardless of how much the item cost, or how rich or poor the person wearing it is.

Kat Slater to Catwalk (Dior Couture)

I have always loved it and worn it even when its not having a fashion moment (which, lets face it, is not very often). It is the LBD of the print world.  

This season the leopard madness has moved to accessories, last season it was all about the coats.  There has been a strong challenge to leopard's print crown by snake, zebra and dalmation prints but they will never have the versitily or durability of the humble leopard.  Here’s my pick of high street and designer items you'll wear over and over:

J Crew Edie Calf Hair Tote, £375, Net-A-Porter

Christian Louboutin Leopard Brogues, £653, Net-a-Porter

Adina Leopard Ankle Boots, £80, Topshop

Leopard Print Tote, £149, John Lewis Collection

I own (drum roll please) 2 pairs of leopard shoes (brogues and pumps), leopard print scarf, leopard print headscarf, leopard print boxy jacket, leopard print tights, leopard print dress, leopard print t-shirt x2, leopard print vest, leopard print mini bag, leopard body suit, leopard print umbrella…I think that’s it, I’m obsessed but insatiable I NEED more leopard in my life- on my wish list are leopard wedge boots, leopard leggings and another dress.  

I leave you with a small sample of my leopard collection.

Trend: Trousers

Jeans are over, you hear me, over.  For once the boys are leading the way with this trend. These days you are more likely to see boys wandering around in sand coloured chinos than you are jeans, and be prepared for more of the same, cordaroy skinny trousers have just hit down in Topman and River Island- men in cords are marching on the horizon.

But I digress, all summer long coloured skinny jean-trousers have been popping up all over the high street slowly weaning us off the same old boring blue denim. For AW11 there is a plethora of trousers, proper trousers, to choose from in gorgeous deep colours. I like them tight, skinny and rolled up 7/8s then worn with brogues or creepers, but you can style yours however you want.

I have some black ones from M&S I’ve been living in for the past two weeks. They make me feel like Audrey Hepburn or Coco Chanel, sporty and effortlessly chic.

There is also a shape to suit everyone- Capri, Cigarette, Peg-Leg, Chino and Pleat Fronts all offer variation on the skinny coloured trouser theme.

Over before it started?

Tesco and Asda's Flying Jackets

Topshop's Flying Jacket

Burberry's Flying Jacket

Flying jackets are everywhere- from full page pictures in Stylist magazine to the front cover of Vogue’s October supplement. On every single trend report/ must have and high street store’s home page. When Topshop’s first flying jacket drop hit two weeks ago, they sold out in a matter of hours and were trading hands for double the price on EBay the same day. From the moment Burberry sent them down the catwalk in February the seemingly unanimous decision was taken that they were to be A/W 10’s MUST HAVE.

Unfortunately, the temperature has not dipped below 15 degrees and I am already bored, yes that’s right, bored of them. I have reached shearling lined aviator jacket saturation point, and its not even mid September. If I wanted one in February, I don’t now, and you know why? Florence and Fred at Tesco and George at Asda have theirs in store, the vintage stores have rails of the things, and every high street store worth mentioning has a version, and guess what? They are all the same, one for every budget, every women, no matter their income, all-walking round, looking the same. I feel for Burberry, I do- their key piece for A/W has been diluted, what should look new and exciting now looks tired, old and predictable.

The problem is, and I hate to say it, the democratisation of fashion. Before the days of live streamed shows, catwalk pics on Style.com, front row bloggers and endless real time tweets one had to wait until September to know what the trends were for Autumn- this year, by the time the magazines reported them, I knew them. And so did everyone else. Reaction had been monitored, focus groups taken and every buyer came to the same conclusion: Flying Jacket = Commercial Success.

I love that I have the opportunity to watch all the shows and see all the pictures from fashion week, I do- its just, where before I thought the British High Street maintained a safe distance from designer rip offs and trends, now I just see it as watered down, cheaper versions of the same thing, and it makes me sad.

P.S I am buying a grey or navy cape as this years winter coat. Hopefully with gold hardware.

Vintage Academe at Topshop

After a minor tube hiccup and a member of Topshop staff that had no idea what I was on about I found the Vintage Academe talk at Topshop Oxford Circus at 18:15, a mere 15 minutes after it started.

There were people standing and two small rows of seats, one on the end near me totally empty, I wondered why no-one was sat there, tired from work and frustrated from the tube I decided everyone was probably just being polite so plonked myself down to marvel at the clothes and listen to Curator Judith Watt give a thoroughly entertaining and very interesting talk through the clothes on display, when she finished she made her way back to her seat…which I was sat in. oops.

Having just finished a Fashion Curation MA I was so inspired by the idea and accessibility of the garments. Vintage Academe is a great mix between museum and shop. On the course we questioned whether you could have a fashion ‘gallery’ in the same way art has galleries (where works are on display to the public but also available to buy) and Vintage Academe is about as close as you can get.

Unlike a museum the clothes were on a rack to be rifled through, touched and held. My favourites were a characteristically garish Versace pink and black jacket with the signature lion head gold buttons and a royal blue evening dress by Issey Miyake that appeared to be made entirely from loops of ribbon.

Photo of Versace Jacket courtesy of http://www.vintageacademe.com/

They also run a lovely blog at http://vintageacademe.blogspot.com