What I bought in the sales

Time to see what kind of things I buy to make my wardrobe work a little better....

Manchester was my shopping destination on Friday 2nd January. Rich was rolled up on the sofa watching TV with a nasty cold so I made my shopping list of items to buy and escaped from the germs.  I'll leave it until as near New Year as I can to shop the sales. I LOVE sale shopping a few days after the sales have gone live; it's quieter, there are more staff to help you and you can get even bigger discounts. On the train to Manchester I plotted my route: Selfridges (I had vouchers to spend), Zara (ditto) and H&M (I just love H&M).

My shopping list: 

1. Basic tops in grey, white and black.

2. Black 7/8 trousers.

3. Leather pencil skirt.

4. Gold chain necklace.

5. Jacket.

First up Selfridges. Heading to the top floor I made my way over to Sandro. I've been obsessed with buying a Sandro jacket for a while and with Selfridges vouchers in my pocket I was all "yeeeeaaahhh! Today is the day! Sandro get in my wardrobe!" Sandro did not want to get in my wardrobe - nothing left in my size. After a quick whizz around COS to look for basics (nada) I went downstairs to the designer floor and LO! A Helmut Lang Jacket! In my size! (Note - not many descriptive notes next to number 5 on the list - so Helmut fitted the bill! But seriously - I wanted a fitted jacket which would go with jeans, pencil skirts, you know the drill.) Price? £565. Just kidding. Reduced to £250. Reduced to £195. With vouchers £145. Winner.

My jacket for the next 100 years

Then off to Zara. With Zara comes patience. It was RAMMED. Kids, pushchairs, clothes on the floor and a queue at the fitting room. Nevermind. I did a couple of laps picking up trousers and the odd top then headed upstairs and walked into the fitting room straight away. Zara sizing has puzzled me in the past year or so; I've got dresses in M and jackets in XS so I always take 2 different sizes of the same item into the fitting room with me. On the 3rd attempt I found the perfect trousers: high waisted, pocketed, slouchy and slim fitting all rolled up in a buttery £15.99 reduced from £29.99. Grabbing a chunky gold chain necklace from the accessory stand £19.99 reduced to £12.99 I made it out of there alive.

Ooof H&M - you've done thy self proud

Then I headed to H&M. Loads of clients have told me they don't like H&M - too busy, clothes are always on the floor, don't understand the layout - and before I worked there I felt exactly the same. But after working for H&M for over 3 years I am eternally loyal to them. Now even more so since I found the perfect grey marl basic t-shirt. Again, I had to do a couple of laps and try about 15 tops on but BY JOVE! (who is jove anyway?) it was worth it. I'll go back for more next month when I've seen how it wears and washes.

So - I'm giving myself 3 and a bit out of 5 from the shopping list- not all basics purchased and not a whiff of a leather skirt since Helmut ate up most of, nay ALL, of my budget. Greedy Bugger. But since I'll be wearing it until the Year Dot, I forgive him.

What did you buy in the sales?

Body Image, Self-esteem and Selfies

This week I was invited on BBC Radio Manchester by Elizabeth Alker. Her shows coincided with the launch of The Beauty Project; a festival put on by Selfridges to start the discussion around what beauty is with pioneering talks and interactive debate. The in-studio guest was Ilona Burton, a mental health and eating disorder campaigner, and I was adding my two penny worth on the phone. Introductions aside, talk turned to how negative body image affects mental health and self-esteem.

Conversation ranged from photoshopping and rise of the selfie to fast fashion and Kate Moss. Kate Moss? Why yes - during the show I talked about my own body image issues in puberty. I grew up in the 1990s with heroin chic models like Kate Moss plastered on the side of buses and billboards heralding the launch of CKONE perfume. Androgyny was in, curves were out. And after developing a text book hourglass figure no-one told me that having curves didn't mean I was fat...I thought I was fat and so began the battle. This lasted into my twenties when I started to celebrate my curves. Who can I thank for this? Kim Kardashian. That Kardashian Clan may not be everyone's cup of tea but they've done a hell of a lot to promote a healthy body image when it comes to curves.

I think we all suffer from negative body image occasionally. How did I get my head around my own personal conundrum? Well, realising that curves look better when they are shown off I started to experiment with tighter clothes: pencil skirts, more jersey fabrics, and I started belting dresses. I also honed my style. When it comes to your wardrobe, wearing things that are true to yourself, cutting through the noise of fashion on the High Street and embracing your style wholeheartedly can make a HUGE positive impact on your body image. Like I said on the show - getting dressed should be joyous and awesome and celebratory. When you get dressed you are saying to the world "this is who I am!" At huge risk of sounding cheesy, making sure your clothes are authentic and reflect the inner 'you' will always be a winning formula. No point wearing a suit when you want to dress like a cheerleader.

We are living in a highly visualised society: Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram are all social platforms which rely heavily on pictures and videos to translate our life experiences into an easily digestible format. And those pictures can be easily altered by applying the kingpin of image mastery: Photoshop. I couldn't agree more with Tina Fey when she says of Photoshop "Give it up. Retouching is here to stay." (see pages 157 - 161 of her awesome book Bossy Pants for the full argument.) Accepting that the images we see have pretty much all been tinkered with brings you to a place of disassociation with the images produced. I work in fashion and read about 10 fashion magazines a month. Do I feel the need to hit the gym and eat alfalfa sprouts after reading? No. I know the images aren't real - it's like reading a Disney story to me, to be appreciated but not believed.  But if you still feel affected by what you see then unsubscribe from the emails and newsletters that clutter up your inbox and stop buying the magazines that promote an unhealthy or unrealistic body image.

Finding positive role models (thanks Kim) is also a wonderful way of realigning yourself. I dedicated a Pinterest board to awesome, real women. Feel free to use it when your eyes need some reality. Click here to be transported. 

Aerie

Check out Elizabeth Alker on You Tube by clicking here

And to follow her on Twitter click here

Get involved in The Beauty Project by clicking here

To follow Ilona Burton on Twitter click here