#7 – Reinvent the wardrobe

It is sometimes assumed that all women love to shop ...but for me this is definitely NOT true!  I hate to shop.  Don’t get me wrong, I love having nice new things, I just hate the process of acquiring them.  The racks and racks of fashionable clothes which I simply do not like, or the styles which were not designed with the human body in mind, the clothes I do like and get excited about only to try on and feel like a whale or just wonder what was I thinking!  Or even the too many people squeezing in between endless lines of clothes, the horrible lighting and overheated changing rooms.  Many a time it has all combined to reduce me to tears!  So when I do buy new clothes it has generally been a quick easy purchase based on a safe design or in a tried and tested colour (black or blue); I have many clothes that I have owned for a VERY long time and many are just not that flattering (because either they never were or they are just too old and worn).

My original idea for my list was to buy a really nice dress and wear it to some nice, slightly posh event.  But then I decided that better than that was to reinvent my wardrobe, but making sure that dresses were included.  So first I had to find a shopping companion…

My first trial shop was on Christmas Eve with Steph after our annual Christmas hot chocolate at Marks and Spencer.  We wandered over to Outfit and wandered around the different store areas picking out interesting items, discussing styles and colours which would suit me and those which would not.  I had not come out with the intention of buying anything and so felt under no pressure to come out carrying bags.  This was definitely good initial retail therapy.  We had fun picking out and mocking some particularly bad items and just wandering.  It also gave me some ideas of what I might want.

After that I did some online browsing to see what shops had clothes, dresses in particular, that I liked and at a price that I also liked.  And so the first shopping trip was born…  though it did wait until the beginning of February!  Corinna, an expert shopper, offered to accompany me to Enfield Matalan which is nicely situated out of any hellish shopping centres or precincts, with easy parking and therefore easy access to an escape route.  The car park looked encouragingly deserted but as we walked in and started browsing I could feel my spirits failing and the sense that nothing I had seen online was looking quite as nice in the reality.  But soon I had a growing handful of possibles to try on, including some "just ry it on, you never know"s that Corinna picked out for me.  After a leisurely meander around we went to try on.  In opposite cubicles there was a constant stream of outfit demonstrations and I soon realised I was actually having fun AND finding clothes I liked and wanted to part with good cash for! 

I came away with 2 dresses, a skirt, leggings and a jumper, still with change from my allocated shopping budget, and a smile on my face.  I have new preeeetty clothes and I even enjoyed getting them.  Shopping trip number two will have a lot to live up to!

Watch this space for further events on this one... 

…(11 Feb 2013) …My second wardrobe reinvention adventure was not exactly a planned venture.  During my holiday with friends Els and Elisabeth in the Netherlands we got lots of snow which was very pretty and all, but did also demonstrate to me just how much my boots leaked.  Walking for hours with wet, cold feet is really not much fun so after a failed solution of sandwich bags tied to my feet we took a break between museum stops for a whistlestop tour of shoeshops along Amsterdam’s main shopping street.   

My current boots have done me proud and I wanted something similar, but more than anything I wanted to walk without squelching.   The first few shops we tried all seemed to have great sales but no suitable boots, some had possibles until I looked at the price tag and discovered they were way outside of my budget.  Then we went into Dolcis’.  First stop the sale section – but yet again nothing and I was beginning to feel quite discouraged at this stage.  But then I wandered by the fully priced section and saw a few possibles...  one even just about inside my budget.  It wasn’t the same as the boots I already had and at first I wasn’t sure, but after a while on my feet they began to feel right.  So now I have a smart, slightly heeled pair of boots and my feet are dry and happy once more!