Yes, it is that time of year again. Red marked tags, whooping percentages, specially printed plastic bags, over swiped plastic cards, queues, grabbing, shrieking. It can only be the summer sales. I must confess, every year, I wander around aimlessly, picking things up at will and then deciding that it’s all a load of old tat that I would never wear and I end up leaving the store frustrated. Unlike a sample sale, summer sales for the most part in London is an excuse to mark down old toot 80% and try to sell it like it’s gold dust. Hysterical women fighting over a frayed purple corduroy Marc by Marc Jacobs skirt should not happen but it does year in, year out. However, with spring summer collections looking distnctly like you could carry them over to autumn and winter, I may yield something worthwhile! Victim-ish as it sounds, I really am loving the upcoming moods and feels of the new season (summer? pah…sick of it already…) and with the skies in London having taken on a rather nice shade of grey, my mood is decidedly sombre. Hopefully, this will be reflected in my shopping strategy.
I’ve never been the sort of person to make grocery lists and any sort of strategy I list here may never materialise but armed with a plan may give me some direction this time round. My plan being….
1) Get Knitted – Thin silk knits, texture knits with pom poms, thick crochet knits in neutral colours like grey, navy, black, taupe. All my existing sweater and cardis are very plain and a bit prim so I figure I could layer the thin ones in an interesting way and also go chunky and embellished this winter. I shall definitley visit the Get-Up boutique for some Weardowney goodness.
2) Wintrifi-able Dresses – This is something I buy yearly. This year may have marked the return of the dress but dress-aholic me has always worn summer dresses in the winter with polonecks, sweaters and shirts. I’ll be looking for interesting details like buttons, cool shapes, textures, luxurious materials, ruffles and frills – and then to contrast, long, baggy-ish severely simple t-shirt style dresses/tunics for slouching around.
3) Pants Ahoy – Every year, the holy grail for me is finding perfect fitting trousers (pants-US speak) and every year, I fail miserably. One time, I went sensible and tried Joseph, an apparent fail safe trouser heaven – too baggy around the bum! Another time, it was Stella McCartney, touted by many women as the perfect trouser maker – made my legs look like stumpy sausages. However, I may have an easier time this year as I have already found my perfect skinny cigarette pants in Hong Kong (ah bless A.Y.K.), so I’m going to go baggy baggy baggy – hopefully not in style of M.C. Hammer but more like Annie Hall. Wide wide legs, possibly high waisted in subtle tweeds, or basic black and grey.
4) Label-Centric – I know I would never buy tatty mc tat even if it was Chanel, but there are some designers which I always look out for in the boutique sales such as PPQ, Hussein Chalayan, Marni, Future Classics and Miu Miu – something fun and fabulous always appears out of nowhere. This year, I’ve had my eye on pieces by Milla, Bi La Li, Tashi and Peter Jensen. I find that designer pieces stocked at small boutiques have a more edited sale selection than say department stores like Selfridges.
5) Weird Shoes – Flats, boots, booties, heels, platforms, wedges – couldn’t care about the sort but I’m looking for interesting designs on the right side of quirky. I know people will say ‘Sacre Bleu, one must always buy classics like black pumps and sturdy boots!’ but the thing is, I already have those things and to be honest, I get more wear out of the odd and crazy rather than the classic and eternal. Paco Gil, Georgina Goodman, Miss L Fire, United Nude are all on my hit list.
6) The Misc Hole – Bags, jewellery, odd t-shirts shall all go in the miscellaenous hole. I’m not out to go bag happy. I most certainly won’t be queuing up for the bag sales at Harrods. When you have Dior bags laid out in plastic trays, you know there’s someting wrong. I can buy cheap jewellery all year round on eBay – costume jewellery that knocks the socks off the stuff usually on sale so it’s not something on my agenda. Scarves and hats – perhaps, but I know when I go back to Hong Kong, I’ll find a more delectable selection as they seem to be more embracing of the crazy knitted hat over there.
Here is a pretty definitive list of the sale start dates in London. Good luck in whatever you endeavour to achieve during this crazy shopping period.