Picture this – you’re out shopping with your mates and you see a piece of clothing in your peripheral vision, you make a bee-line for it – touch it, hold it up to you and check the price tag. You’re thinking, “I’ll just try it on to satisfy my curiosity”. This is fatal, especially if you have chosen well and it fits like it was made for you. Your mates, the shop assistant all chorus, “You look so good in that, you have to have it.”
At this moment, maybe like me you turn into a fashion schizophrenic. One part of my brain is telling me I don’t need this (let’s say for instance) dress. I begin mentally scouring my wardrobe for something similar. I have had to cultivate this habit. My default position is “I love this, it’s so versatile, I can dress it up and dress it down, it’ll never date…” and so it goes on. I have already bought it, paying is merely a formality.
I used to be a true clothes shopping addict – no justifications, impulse buys, coming home with something very similar to another thing I have already and feeling slightly peer pressured into buying something slightly out of my budget and sticking it on my credit card.
Nowadays, I am more discerning. Generally if I find something I love that’s expensive I will look on the high street for something similar. A case in point is this gorgeous Zara green silk shirt I bought a few weeks ago.
It is £39.99 as opposed to a Raquel Allegra one (which isn’t silk) around at the moment, retailing at £318 – which also looks lovely. The problem with "high street" brands these days though is the prices have been steadily creeping up and so aren't always the cheap option. I saw a couple of dresses on the Topshop site for £600 yesterday. Not what I expected, but price point may be another blog post.
So my justification list is broadly this:
Fabric. This is really important to me. Silk and cotton always win, I struggle to pay a lot for polyester.
Workmanship/lining. I know a few amazing seamstresses and used to make clothes myself when I was a teenager, so finishing off a piece of clothing well is vital.
Is it going to stand the test of time? I will admit I have a lot of clothes, but I still pull out things I bought ten years ago and they haven’t dated.
Do I really love it?
Does it fit me perfectly?
I know we all have budgets, and we all go through phases of “being good” and not shopping (this was me in January and February) and then having the odd splurge on something we can’t resist. So, when you see something you love, how do you justify the cost?
PS: Last I tweeted the top picture, a beautiful Dolce and Gabbana dress. Those of you who know me will suspect I succumbed. I did. Old habits die hard; it’s on my credit card…Sssshh!