Love shopping, fashion and cool new things. Do I?

The very sentence 'we know you love shopping, fashion and cool new things' was in an email to me from some marketing person. It doesn't really matter who from, in fact it was no one I'd even heard of, but the sentence had my eyes popping out of my head. Really, do I?

Actually no I don't like shopping, except for some reason in French and Italian supermarkets on holiday. I do like shops and I do like checking out stock and knowing what is in them. But I would never choose to shop. One of my clients asked me for help the other day in choosing a birthday present. I introduced him to Net-A-Porter. He loved it. For him it was the most pleasurable experience, no effort required. I suspect his girlfriend will love me too.

It is why people love Ocado, it is why if you could you would buy your food only from M&S and Waitrose. Anything that makes the shopping experience less of a chore and more pleasurable is the key.

Then there is fashion. Well of course I love the fashion industry, it enthrals and amuses me in equal measures. But I don't love fashion in some blind must have latest thing way. In fact I think fashion needs to reclaim some moral high ground and create an expression of culture through clothes. Of course marketing, profits and big companies dictate otherwise. Then there is the issue of people buying to create wealth. Our disposable incomes actually helped to fuel economic growth in the developing countries. Yet now we face such hard times (thanks to a few!) we need to not love fashion as we did.


I've fallen off the wagon of late in respect of not putting money aside as savings and instead spent it. However, I need to get a grip and return firmly to the fold of making do. On Sunday I decided to do a Make Do Magic post which provides useful shop things from range of products - please don't expect laptops or laptop folders type products - and I'll continue to do this. Which promptly puts me in the actually do I look bothered about cool new things. The coolest new thing I could ever get is a Miele washing machine.

My spending spurt is in direct correlation to the outpourings of our coalition government. I find their use of the word 'austerity' 'deficit' and 'cuts' rather preachy. I feel as if I'm being told off and I ought to know better. Being a bit rebellious by nature I want to do the opposite. Ah, that would require the means. I'll just keep switching the radio/telly off whenever they are on instead, it will stop me ranting at radio/telly too.

All of which puts me back firmly into the slow fashion camp. I think the buzz words should be cherry picking, creative and cunning. Both Vintage Vixen and Fashion's Most Wanted have impressed me with their resourcefulness (cunning) and I'm planning a Make Do 12 month strategy to ensure I employ more cunning (resulting in healthier personal finances) but satisfy my creative nature and my vanity. I think if you love fashion on any level you have a good healthy dose of vanity. I'm going to devise a cherry picking plan which will allow me to buy but within parameters. And in a way that doesn't really involve shopping particularly for cool new things.

Girlynomics in the bag

Liberty London Girl raised a very good point in the comment box regarding my high street pick of the week last Saturday, "M&S are very good at giving great quality at a low price point, but my eco head makes me think that it's maybe better to save up for a piece that will last both fashion & quality wise for a few years".

This brings me back to one of my favourite subjects, that of saving up for a splendid item that you covert and really desire rather than lots and lots of items. I suppose it is quality over quantity. And one person's quality choice will be different to another's.

Take, as an example, my dream to have a Chanel 2.55 - this has been for so long now its silly and next year I will begin to address this (once I've paid my career development loan back). If I was to allocate myself a £100 monthly clothes budget then in 12 months, if I hadn't spent a penny, I'd have enough for a 2.55.

By buying lots of little items you deny yourself the opportunity to buy something you really want. Alternatively you could set up a handbag fund by saving £25 per month and take four years to buy the bag.

Whatever you desire then surely it must be worth waiting for - that's the slow fashion bit. If something is worth waiting for then abandon the immediacy of trends and this moments look for something more lasting...

A badge!

The very talented and delightful Delicious Industries has produced a logo to accompany the slow fashion movement.

It can be right clicked on and downloaded! What fun to be officially branded. The brand values of the slow fashion pack people are:-

Quality over quantity

Only buys things you love rather than get caught up in trend fever

Advocate/petition for some designer staples that remain come high or low hems

Reconnect with shops you loved not just ones in the fashion editors radar

Smile! Well clothes and fashion are fun regardless...

Fan Capellino classic

(front row bloggers at LFweekend show)

The London Fashion Weekend is a mixed bag when it comes to sample sales and other bits and bobs. Undoubtedly it is a great day out and if you save your pennies there are some great bargains to be had.

Being the penniless student I did part with £10 on a Melissa Odabash black long sleeve tee with a collar and button down, plus two pockets. The material and quality is fantastic and I wish I'd bought one in white too.

However my discovery du jour was a forgotten love Ally Capellino. How could I have forgotten this! I realise I've been so caught up in the head lights of fast fashion and top trends that old favs have been relegated to the Vauxhall Conference League (non Brits this is football league a far few rungs behind the Premiership- again of no use really if you know nothing or care not for football!). I need to compile a list of staple stores to give me some slow loving items rather than lusty moments.

Which fits in neatly with my new cause - SLOW FASHION, remember you heard it here first!

In the world of food there has been a return of sorts to the 'old ways'. It started with a bit of organic veg, moved on to free range pigs and has ended up with a country awash with Farmers Markets and a return to eating proper food, stuff you've gathered your ingredients for and cooked.

The slow food movement is concerned with local produced and banishing fast convenient food.
The health benefits are enormous and lots of other things too.
So what's the link? Well it made me think fashion needed to think like this too. I'm not advocating the end of trends, new designs, direction and the shows, heaven forbid! Not all fast food impacts are bad news, for goodness sake where would we be without the convenience of take away coffee. Fashion is about creativity and new adventures and that's not just the cut but the fabric. BUT, would it hurt to reclaim an element of staples, a few basic items, some classic cuts that remain whilst all around changes. Some foundation pieces that represent the designers cut and ethos but deliver not for a season but for a few years. Take these Chanel tights...



....I would love for them to remain as a Chanel staple. Does this reduce their cache? Does it impact on the Chanel brand or its value? I don't know but as a consumer I need some certainty in my wardrobe as well as the latest must have. Is that too much to ask?