January and February are a strange time in the fashion calendar.
Inside the Fashion Industry, February is the time to show ranges for next Spring/Summer (the Autumn/Winter collections for 2017 were, of course, shown in September).
Yet outside the Fashion Industry AKA in The Real World, most women including women of 50-plus, are just beginning to think about hitting the ‘Refresh’ button with a view to new Spring wardrobe purchases, while many others are still buying for the current chilly months.
If you are shopping for cold-weather knits and other warm stuff we’ll leave you to shop in peace.
But if you are planning a wardrobe refresh or you have a big event coming up, let’s have a chat….
Now, The Times ran a story last week in its T2 section, which looked at what we spend on fashion these days and how we spend, and we thought it had some interesting insights we would share with you.
The paper’s fashion editor, Anna Murphy, wrote about the reluctance among British women to spend large sums on clothes, compared to our counterparts in Europe who will spend on one good thing rather than lots of cheaper things..
She began by ‘confessing’ that fashion journalists and others who worked in the fashion industry tended to be “the worst people to ask for practical advice about clothes.” She said that this was because they could ‘justify’ spending mega-sums on a single item (her example was a pair of £700 Céline trousers). Ms Murphy then conceded that this was “far removed from the reality of every other woman I know.”
Even her “more affluent non-fashion friends” would never spend that kind of money on a pair of trousers. “Some could afford to, but they…wouldn’t. Most would balk at that sum even for a so-called investment purchase such as a bag.”
She went on to say that January was when she was “most reminded of this truth because…my friends … are looking for a sartorial refresh…” and ask her for advice.
What her friends were usually interested in, apparently, was the £300-and-something purchases. Which were “the best bags, shoes, jackets at about £300 to £400 — maybe a bit more or, even better, a bit less?”
These friends, who range from their 30s to their 60s, she says, have “grown out of buying lots of cheap things….”
Now, this is where The Times and SoSensational disagree. SoSensational’s view is that most of us, especially we savvy 50-plus and 60-plus women, have developed a pick-and-mix attitude to fashion shopping.
What do we mean? We cherish our ability to buy very inexpensive pieces yet still look amazing. Today, it is how we style ourselves that makes the difference. And yes, we may pair a £25 dress from a mass-market retailer with a £250 handbag, but that’s just what we do…
And while we’re talking money, we should point out that even inexpensive bags can be stunning, as can inexpensive shoes. Hands up who remembers that last-century advice about always wearing “good shoes”. Well that was then, and this is now, and we believe that you can find almost anything you want at the price you want to pay for it…
This is where our pick-and-mix ethos comes in. We think we are all addicted to the brilliant bargain (particularly when we can pair our bargain buy with a a pricier handbag) but we are prepared to splash out for Occasions and events…
What are your thoughts on shopping in 2017?
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