Come sales shopping with me

What I've bought and what I want to buy, but probably won't, but think you should....

I’m doing more selling than buying at the minute - you can see that here - so I haven’t really gone all in on the sales. I have bought two things. Firstly, this dress:

It’s still quite pricey, but…. it has been flirting with me, via Instagram, for months and months thanks to those stalkers at Wolf and Badger and I’ve been drawn to it from the get go. But I at nearly £300, I couldn’t bring myself to. Having researched the designer, Julia Allett, she’s operates her small, slow fashion business from Moldova, so I’m sure the price is justifiable, I just couldn’t justify it for me. Then I got served the ad on that bleak rainy first Sunday in January and it was almost half price. How could I not? To be honest I have no idea if I’ve picked the right size and what I will think when I try it on, but I’m still excited to receive it. What do you think?

The second thing slipped into my basket when I was trawling the internet for you, my favourite subscriber. Yep, you. But look, it’s only £9 and it is exactly what I’ve been looking for, for some time. I seriously have been looking for a big-arse rose to wear round my neck.

I wonder if it’s because my daughter has been avidly watching Sex and the City from the very beginning, where Carrie’s corsage game is peerless. But again, you understand why I had to right? I’ll put on a black suit, throw this around my neck and be ready for dinner.

Here’s what else I recommend.

From Me+Em

My friend Sarah and I regularly send each other screenshots from the Me+Em website, always accompanied with the exact same comment: ‘FFS’. By which we mean…. They’re getting our money again, we are powerless. That Clare Hornby is one clever sausage who makes us fall in love with everything she does. It’s not the cheapest brand, but it’s the one that really goes the distance for me. Everything I buy from there could be styled for a trip to Lidl or Buckingham Palace. I can’t actually road-test that theory but I stand by it.

So their sale is really worth checking out because everything on here is great and you may as well look now when the discounts are pretty great too. I’ve chosen some hard-working basics for your consideration, which amounts to: useful, seasonally-fluid trousers. I particularly like the ones you can adjust to wear full-length or cropped. All of these muddy colours are also great foils for contrasting brights, like red, green, mauve. Try it.

I love to offset the grandaddy vibes of things like these brown cords with some sparkly shoes for an evening do. You really can make all of these work 24/7, any occasion.

Olive/khaki is such a great base colour. She works well with basic greys and creams, yes, but I love khaki off-set with a bit of pink or orange or turquoise. These trousers are another brilliant dress up or dress down piece of kit.

Don’t be fooled by the deeply corporate styling of these grey trousers. She could also party with something sparkly on top, and possibly even rolled up a cuff or two to show off your strappy shoes.

I mean, these velvet cropped trousers are just perfection. A genuine ‘buy now wear forever’ no-brainer.

Never Fully Dressed

Never Fully Dressed is a reliable go-to for clothes that can be sexy and pretty but not in ways that scare the likes of decidedly unsexy me. To ram home the point, their sizing ranges from 6-28.

This sequin dress for example: It skims, rather than sausage-cases the figure. It would look great with heels for a night clubbing or casual, with trainers and layered with a grey jumper.

Mexican-inspired embroidery is a brand signature and I think it gives this staple bomber a nice flourish.

I think this trenchcoat is fabulous. Useful but also glamorous.

Hayley Menzies

Now’s the time to stalk the pricier brands for some gems. One of my favourites is Hayley Menzies, because her signature style is all her own and doesn’t bow to seasonal trends. If you like something you see there, it’s because you love it, not because it’s ‘in fashion’ right now, so you’ll probably always love it. It’s a great time to get a showstopping dress like this for half price.

Substack’s nagging me about this email being too long, so I’ll stop. But I still more recommendations. Hit like or comment if you want more of this and I will oblige!

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