How to Shop on Black Friday

I'm not sure whose image this it - please let me know if this is your image and I'll attribute it!

We all love a craze, a band wagon to jump on - snap bands and Swatch watches in the 80's, grunge and Nirvana in the 90's and Trinny & Susanna telling us What Not To Wear in the noughties. Over the past few years us Brits have opened up our arms and embraced Halloween with a fervour that frankly didn't exist when I was a kid (I distinctly remember a couple of teenage lads trying their luck at "trick or treating" with just their hoods pulled up for a costume and my Dad telling them where to go in no uncertain terms.) And I think Black Friday is just that - a trend, a craze, an awkward phase in our shopping history. Black Friday has been a 'thing' in the UK for about 5 years but this year some retailers have gallantly bowed out of the Black Friday retail race including Asda, John Lewis, Oasis and Mothercare.

I was in the Trafford Centre doing a Personal Shop on Monday and there was already plenty of 'Black Friday' merchandising tickets on clothes. Many retailers manufacture items especially for Black Friday - think of these items as the less well designed, less well made, cheaper cousins of what's already on the shop floor. All I'm saying is:

don't be swayed by what deal you THINK you are getting ...

If you are shopping this Black Friday plan ahead and do your research: better deals may be available online verses what's instore. And ask yourself this:

1. Do you really need it? Or do you just want it? 
2. If it wasn't on offer would you still desire it as much? Are you panic buying?
3. Can you afford it? 
4. Is it essential?

Take care out there this Black Friday - shopping can bring out the worst in people!

Til next time...x

The Wardrobe Angel

Black Friday - catch yourself on, petal

Last time I checked we folk in the Great British Isles (you too Scotland) were British. Yet as the Black Friday hype enveloped Social Media this week and more and more retailers promised Black Friday discounts, it appears we have gone all American. Black Friday is a day of sales following the Thanksgiving holiday in America. Yet like proms and Twizzlers (Twizzlers are ace, though) Black Friday has found its way to our shores and we have jumped on it like a bouncy castle and bounced until we have our monies worth.

But are we getting our Black Friday monies worth? Two other Conscious Style Pioneers whom I mightily respect think not and I agree. A Thrifty Mrs dispenses wonderful advice today:

Catch yourself on, petal

Meaning just because something has a name which authenticates it, doesn't mean you have to join in with it. And over on Antiform's website they are saying NO THANKS to Black Friday and have closed their online shop for the day, boycotting the mindless consumption that Black Friday brings.

I'm all for a bargain, I love finding the perfect item at a reduced price BUT Black Friday is akin to one HUGE sale to me, and I know how many people go to pieces in a sale:

"It was only a fiver"

"I'll get loads of wear out of it."

"It looked great on the hanger."

The average British woman has £71 worth of unused SALE ITEMS in her wardrobes.

Before you make a clothing purchase this Black Friday step away from the mindless confusion of the sale shopfloor today. Breathe. Is the garment you are holding:

A) Worth the price tag - seriously, even at 30% off is it worth it?Will you wear it?
B) Something you need and have been looking for for a long time?
C) Are you buying the price or the garment? Get the two confused and you'll end up with a wardrobe full of reduced price tags that you can't wear.

Finally, is the garment YOU - is the garment YOU? Does it truthfully and authentically represent YOU, your style, your visual signature? Nope? Catch yourself on, petal. Better leave the shop.