The high street is a thing of the past

My wife only shops online for clothes; the high street has become a thing of the past.
She has her favourite stores listed in her internet browser and an account set up for each of them.

Her details are all stored and the items get charged to her various accounts and gets sent usually next day delivery. She tries them on, and if she doesn’t like them, it’s straight in the returns envelope and it’s deducted off her account without a penny usually leaving her purse.

Sales online is like waving a red rag to a bull, she knows in advance what items she wants from her favourite catalogues and when it gets reduced she pounces.

She uses a cashback site every time she shops to save that little extra few pennies and it all adds up in the long run. She really does have armchair shopping down to a fine art.

Try things on

Women are, without doubt, buying more and more clothes online, but I don’t think there can ever be a substitute for a girlie shopping trip.

Buying clothes online does have its advantages, such as the many, many bargains to be found; the fact that you don’t have to deal with communal changing rooms and that you don’t even have to leave the house!

However, these advantages are far outweighed by the disappointment one faces when that eagerly-awaited package arrives and….. doesn’t fit!! Although using the internet for clothes shopping is convenient up to a point, it no longer seems so convenient when you take into account the fact that you can’t try the clothes on, and you have to wait around for them to arrive and then if they don’t fit, you have to wait around for someone to pick them up so you can return them!!

If you know exactly what size you need and aren’t bothered by the wait, then internet shopping is fine, but for those of us who prefer to ‘try before you buy’, and who see clothes shopping as a social activity, there really is no substitute for a good shopping trip.

Buying online is best!

Buying online has huge advantages to buying in the shops, there is no hassle of driving there (or even worse, getting the bus) only to find there is nothing you want anyway, or such a huge queue it’s not worth the effort. Online, you can browse through the stock, free of pushy sales assistants forcing the store card on you or telling you that top looks great on you when you later realise it really doesn’t. Impulse buys are much easier to avoid when you don’t have to make a snap decision.

There are downsides to online shopping. Shopping at home, alone, misses out on the fun social side of meeting up with friends for a coffee and a look round the shops. Additional postage fees are annoying, even more so when you have to spend up to a certain amount to get free postage (so you end up buying more than you intended to get the discount). The thrill of snapping up a bargain is gone too. It’s also harder to know if clothes will fit, although I have found that my size in a certain few high street shops always fits. Shopping online doesn’t have to mean buying from the shops official website though. Ebay is a great source of bargains, and is fun to bid on.

Accessories, Accessories, Accessories

Designer shoes and bags dress an outfit up rather than look out of place.

Providing the dress is tactful, designer shoes and handbags add that extra something to an otherwise average outfit. If a person cannot afford to buy all designer items then having one signature item can make the outfit different to other peoples and stand out a lot more.

They can also make the whole outfit seem more expensive, a designer dress will not always be that obvious that it is in fact designer whereas shoes and handbags tend to be more obvious as to whether they are designer or not.

This could cause people to assume that in fact your entire outfit is designer.

I suppose at the end of the day we have to ask us, does it really matter?

I don’t need a special bag to make me feel special

What is the appeal of a designer bag? Who really cares? Of all the things I could possibly spend my money on I think a designer handbag would be way down the list. I have plenty of original bags, though I generally run around with my gym bag. My bags are mostly from high street stores, but at least they are not fakes.

I know it is lovely to match a handbag, shoes etc to a stunning outfit but how many of us in the real world wear the stunning outfits on a regular basis? Yes, I buy the occasional very special outfit for say a wedding or christening and usually accessorize but even then I don’t think I have ever been able to run to a designer bag. I am not saying I wouldn’t love to have a designer bag but I just can’t afford one so I have learned not to miss what I have never had.

Gucci, Prada, YSL, Chanel, DKNY – aaahhhhhh! Do I sigh longingly after these? No, not really, I only ever read Hello in the dentist’s or hairdressers so I am not really up on what is hot and what is not. I am a mother of three children, dress in an up-to-date but practical way and perhaps I am a bit of a yummy mummy but I don’t need a special bag to make me feel special. Designer jewellery – now that’s another story…