This 'no shopping for lent' kick that I'm on has really got to me. So far, what with my job, and my new obsession with weightwatchers, it hasn't been hard to resist. This is most strange.
I haven't had the urge to buy something new in at least a month. I don't understand it at all. I'm all about the new, that perfect item which will complete my wardrobe, which I must have. It is perfectly logical to me to take half a day off uni work and go and browse for hours.
H and R have a wise and valid explanation for my ambivalency - I've reached wardrobe saturation point. I need nothing more. There is no social occasion for which my wardrobe would not cater, from a hot date (miss selfridge white and black chanelly dress) to a country walk (wellies, leggings, long toast cardigan and a red bobble hat), from a job interview (wonderful tweed hobbes dress) to a sweaty gig (topshop liberty print playsuit). Its all there, with at least two options for every possible scenario. Lucky me, I suppose, but I feel strangely weird about the whole thing. This post has really go me thinking.
Spurred on by her example, I contemplated my extensive wardrobe. Which bits of it could I hand down to my kids? At a pinch, the stuff from toast, my one cherished designer piece - a black silk jersey Vivienne Westwood number, though I think I will have worn it to piece by the time they come along, some expensive italian leather boots, and a few cashmere scarves. Not much, but then again, I am all of 22 and t would surely be strange if I could reel off a list. Ever since credit crunched 18 months ago, magazines have been banging on and on about investment pieces. I'm a student, on a generous student budget but a student budget nonetheless, and therefore I largely ignored this clamour for quality and lasting pieces. But suddenly, it seems extremely attractive. No, I am not going to be scrimping and saving up for a mulberry or a miumiu for the next 6 months, but yes, I will be thinking long and hard about what I buy and why i'm buying, aiming for the whistles and cos end of the high street rather than the primark/topshop demographic.
My proximity to 4 amazing, musty vintage shops, which I can go to on my way back from work, means that when my thirst for a cheap fix returns, I'll be able to satisfy it quickly and 'greenly' . But even this isn't as simply as it sounds - there's no way of knowing whether there'll be anything I even want in one of them on the particular day I go in. It took me 4 months of diligent rummaging to find my fur coat for goodness' sake. All in all, as with most of the rest of my life, Paris has clearly been wonderful for my shopping habits. On my trips back home, i've stepped into Topshop ready to quickdraw my card from my wallet, to no avail. Everything was too cheap, too mass produced, too..Topshop. The girls were shocked. They could not believe it. But I was happy with what I had, and what I have. And I must say, it's a rather nice feeling. This doesn't mean i'm not still obsessed with clothes. I still see my future life in terms of 'what I will be wearing when...', but currently 'what I will be wearing when I am a 4th year' consists of tea dresses with chunky tights and high-heeled desert boots (check, check, check), skinny jeans with baggy cos tops and interesting scarves (check, check, check), and neat, well cut block colour tunics/dresses with a scruffed up bob and big glasses (check, check, check)
Now I suppose the only thing to do is to sit back and see if it lasts...
(Image from Toast's spring/summer catalogue)
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