hey guys im a brit living abroad, but will be in london soon, help me with personal shoppers :)

[iwanttobeamummy]

ok, so in may ill be in london for the weekend and I NEED a new wardrobe! all my clothes are old and worn. I have decided to treat myself, and spend some money on new gorgous clothes, but im clueless, normally i would just hit primark and buy as much as i could. but i want style, i want that when someone looks at me they say wow.

so I was thinking a personal shopper, i checked online and in selfridges, topshop and dorethy perkins have free personal shoppers :D

my question: have any of you tried there personal shopper appointments in the london stores, did you find that it helped you understand what suits you, what were the pros and cons.

I really need to get a "look" so need all the help i can get, i just dont want someone to tell me im gorgous when i look awful to get a sell.

thanks

I would probably go for John Lewis as they stock a large range of brands and maybe won't be as pricy as Selfridges.

Although I haven't used one personally, I agree with Dexter and would choose John Lewis. Banana Republic also has personal shopping in some of its stores, so I think I'd go there too. Have a look on the website and see if it's the sort of stuff you like.

The best Topshop to go for would be the Oxford Circus branch (is that where you're planning to go?) because it is absolutely huge and having a personal shopper would be more useful there than in any of their other shops. Having said that, my personal feeling is that Topshop is good to develop your style, or accentuate it, but for me the clothes all feel a bit too of-the-moment to be a solid basis of a new wardrobe. That's just my style though and it might be different for you.

I had a good experience with a personal shopper at House of Fraser (west London Westfield) a few weeks ago. I did a 90 min outfit appointment and tried on plenty but they also offer a 3 hour wardrobe refresh appointment if needed. Absolutely no high pressure sales tactics, infact she was suggesting I should visit other stores that might carry a wider range and was happy to make recommendations. So a great way to try on lots of different looks, find a style you like and then go elsewhere if nothing is quite right. She was also very knowledgable and up to date on what was available, especially considering it was her first day back after maternity leave. Only downside was it was very warm and thirsty work and they had recently got rid of their water cooler, so take a drink in with you!

I've had personal shoppers at many central London stores including John Lewis last week. I think they are very good to exposing you to what is available; new trends and searching their stock for specific items.

However, although they can tell you basics they are not very good at what you want:

my question: have any of you tried there personal shopper appointments in the london stores, did you find that it helped you understand what suits you, what were the pros and cons.

For that you need an independent personal stylist.

Personally I think both independent stylists & shop based personal shoppers are helpful.