Anyone want to have a wee vent about their lack of style due to finances?

[shootfromthehip]

Whilst I have never been Kate Moss when it comes to style, of late I have been throughly depressed about the persistant state of my wardrobe. I have got a couple of nice items (formal) that I never wear because I don't go anywhere to wear them but my day to day wardrobe is hideous.

I buy nearly all of my clothes in Primark and the odd 'nicer' thing on ebay. Occasionally I'll get something ok from a charity shop but most of my stuff is junk.

I'll buy cheap stuff and it looks ok for the first couple of outings and then washes out/ loses a button/ falls apart. I'm sick of it and can't afford to change it.

I'm 32 and live in the middle of nowhere so tend to only need jeans/ tops/ jumpers but I do want to look nice and not like I'm wearing cheap crap.

I'd love it if the fashion fairy arrived at my door with £500 for me to get a decent wardrope.

I'm also hoping to go back to work soon and am dreading that side of things as I know I'll need to improvise until I get some money coming in.

Sigh.

Oh and I do have more significant things to worry about but am just wanting a wee moan about this particular area of my life.

Anyone in the same boat?

Everyone else well dressed then? So it's just me that looks a disaster? Ah well, as long as I know

Do you have time/possibility to go to charity shops? You need to be patient, and go quite often, to pick up stuff as it comes through, but you can find better makes of stuff for the price you'd pay for something in Primark.

Can I join in? I never have any money left at the end of the month for clothes and am lucky if I can afford something from the sale rale at Sainsburys. I used to be really well dressed, nice little suits from principles (remember principles) and smart shoes. Now it's baggy trousers that have lost their stretch and worn out tops. Can't remember when I managed to have a good spend on clothes.

In a cruel, ironic twist, it is only now that I am potless that I have grown to appreciate really expensive good quality items rather than H&M.

Thank goodness I'm not alone! I spent years buying crappy clothes and then just had enough money to go to places like principles... fastforward 6 yrs of being a SAHM and living on one income and I feel grateful when I do go to Primark and buy something new.

I still look like a hastily flung together scarecrow most of the time though. I do spend a lot of time in Charity shops bu rarely get anything of any real style iykwim.

I used to maon about not being able to get into anything and now I can I look a disaster. Never happy me!

I'll join you too.

I am not ovely interested in fashion, but I do live in the country and there is little reason to 'dress', BUT my clothes are truly awful. If I really wnted, I could earmark cash from elsewhere and use it for clothes, but that would mean less ofr utilities/odd days out/etc, which I feel are more important.

I got money for clothes for Christma and got a few things, but I still look a bloody mess most of the time. I need a good few hundred to sort myself out. Charity shops ore okay, but it's alwyas a compromise, isn't it? I'm sick of second hand and I'd love to go shopping and pick NEW things that SUIT me instead of being a bit big/small/short.

Falls apart after a couple of outings???

I buy pretty much all my clothing from Primark/Peacocks/Tesco/ various other cheap shops, and on the whole I find they last a good couple of years, sometimes longer.

I would suggest you buy yourself a sewing kit - needles, pins, scissors, basic colours of cotton, stitch unpicker etc. Then you'll be set up for any little mishaps that may occur. Also handy for repairing/altering any charity shop finds that don't fit perfectly, or any seconds that you might pick up cheaply in the posher shops.

Boot fairs and jumble sales are good for bargains too...

Throughly good ideas Janice but that's the point of this thread- I'm sick of making do and knowing that I'm wearing a cardigan with a darned hole under the arm (that I've worn 3 times, discovered said hole, darned and then worn because I had to). I'm sick of washing stuff and it ends up too short in the body and arms (I have a freakishly long body that Primark and other cheap shops don't cater for). I'm sick of buying £8 skinny jeans, wearing them twice and them ending up faded/ saggy. I can't do anything about it because I am skint but it doesn't make the reality of me looking in the mirror and feeling that I look rubbish any easier.

Like I say, it would be nice to spend some money on stuff that fits me and that I know will look good after 3 wears.

And I'm fed-up being cold. I either have to wear cheapo, ugly fleeces or wear 45 layers because I can't afford to go and spend hundreds of pounds on stylish, warm items. I saw the most gorgeous (stylish) North Face jacket the other day that I know would keep me warm and waterproof (I live in Scotland where it is always freezing) but at £200 I may as well want a Versace jacket. It's as likely to end up part of my wardrobe as Aslan from Narnia!

A girl can dream eh!

Sorry, rant over.

Well in that case you need to find yourself an outlet centre, put on your bargain-hunting glasses and hit the shops.

Previous finds include a Bench jumper for £9, Nike shox trainers for £20, Gap jeans for £12, Cotton traders fleece shirt for £5. You just need to hunt around a bit amongst the old tat.

Oh, and if you can find any way of getting to Birmingham NEC next December, I'd highly recommend Clothes Show Live - bargains galore. eg. Designer skirts rrp £45 each - on sale 3 for £10!

Does Gok Wan have a website? He's always making cheap crap look fab!!!

Thanks Janice- outlet places would never have occurred to me as I was always reliant on DH to drive me places and knew that he wouldn't take me. However, having recently passed my driving test I can get out and about on my own. Will need to have a google. Cheers

Yes I think you need to buy better quality (but not necesarily dearer) stuff if you are finding the stuff from Primark and so on doesn't last. I always get my jeans from Gap because they fit better but I only buy in the sales or at Gap Outlets. If an £8 Primark pair only lasts a couple of washes it is better to spend £20 in a pair from Gap, no? Basics like long-sleeve t-shirts I tend to buy from places like M&S - are often just as cheap as Tesco. If you find that things shrink when you wash them, buy a bigger size to start with. In fact, I remember reading an article a few years ago about high street fashion and it recommended always buying a size up as you would get a better fit then.

Apart for jeans and footwear, i don't find that I need to replace clothes that often - and if a top shrinks a bit, it's still fine for a layer under a cardi.

It's also better to find your own personal style and buy to suit that, rather than buying something because it is fashionable and then it looks dated sooner...

And as I said on another thread, in winter it's easier providing you have a reasonably ok coat. Whenever I have a bit of money that's what I tend to update.

I am also in the fashion dumps.

I would like to have enough disposable income to go and buy clothes because I see them, and like them, not just because they look okay and fit (Charity shops, car boot sales etc)

I'm not saying that I can't find great bargins sometimes, but it is lovely to go in a shop, see something and buy it - whether it is in the sale or not.

I haven't been able to justify doing that for years!

No style here. All catalogues in bin. Wearing holey jeans. Shall take tips away like buying a size up for when I have some cash.

Is there any chance you could get to a TK Maxx or somewhere similar? They have lots of good stuff.

Gap has great sales, and I find that there stuff lasts aaaaaaaaages, especially their T Shirts (I have some which I wear all the time, all year round, that I've had for four years and they're still going strong). They have things like jeans for £10, t shirts for £5 and so on, so it's worth waiting, saving and going to gap rather than to somewhere cheaper where the quality isn't that good. You can then start to build up a wardrobe of basics, and then accessorise with el-cheapo jewellery from places like tesco, sainsbos etc.