I have friends who look to piggy back this process by asking for my style edits every season. I find this highly amusing as I really don't think that I get it right much of the time and my lifestyle now means that I hardly get to dress up. To be fair those friends knew me when I was working, so I would turn up on the school run in my outfits. Now - it's more like jeans every day...I get so tired of jeans...constantly scanning to find interest-adding options for jeans...
I have an almost obsessive aversion to very cheap clothes. I worry about sweat shops. I find it a false economy. The fit is never right and as I get older, fit starts to matter a whole lot more than when I was a slim(mer) 20-something. But by the same token I hate to spend an inordinate amount and honestly, who has the money? I am often staggered by the purchases you see paraded online on fashion blogs; designer everything in every shot and I wonder: who can spend £400 on a pair of shoes?! Who actually buys Isabel Marant? I guess it's all relative but even if I do a straw-poll amongst my wide range of friends (with vastly varying circumstances) even those with lots of disposable income draw the line somewhere. Unless you are a Fashionista, the key decision points are more to do with value, style and suitability than fashion.
I hate crappy buttons, wonky seams, bad stitching. Ditto cheap leather. I love the little details; the pin tucks, the nips of fabric that mean it fits right, the colours that are spot on rather than slightly off. I am always in the grey/blue/white palette. I hardly own anything that is red. Florals have to be bold but elegant. I am sometimes partial to ironic wording but when it comes to words on clothes; less is more. As well as a preppy side I clearly have a darker, subversive style side and hanker after being a 1980's surfer chick. Really need to get over that one and move on...
I am fiercely loyal to certain brands and go back to them season after season. Because I get everything online I like to know the sizing inside out. I LOATHE sending stuff back and hate going to the Post Office with a passion. Why is it that no one has clocked the enormous market there would be in this country for collecting packages from people's houses? Why must we stand in a Post Office queue in this antiquated process of weighing every item? Drives me insane!
The new layer of shopping consideration is whether the item is actually appropriate for a woman my age. I have amassed a wardrobe of classics which I try to improve upon when I can afford. Trench coats, good black boots, blazers, white shirts, leopard pumps etc. That is the territory I am in now; gone are the days of pink ra-ra skirts (I can still hear my friend Dawn saying to me when I had one such purchase in my hand: 'but when are going to wear THAT?!"
But in summary I do think it borders on compulsive for me and for sure my bank balance is a testament to that. I am sure that many, many women do not expend anyway near as much time as I do thinking about this stuff and fundamentally they are probably richer for it (financially and mentally). I acknowledge it is a strange and shallow pursuit, the research I undertake to shop. But for as long as I like it, I will do it!
God bless Google and the supply chain network... ;-)
The shopping edit...
Reviewed by axiata
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
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