Breathe New Life into Your Wardrobe

What do you do if one of your favourite outfits from your wardrobe is now less than a perfect fit? Or if you've been reading this blog and have spotted a beautiful item in a charity shop or at a bootfair but it's not in your size? Well, don't despair, breathe new life into it with a fabulous restyle! 

The high street has so many drawbacks when it comes to clothes. Being a curvier lady myself, the high street has it's limitations if you're not a size 8-12, yet want to be able to indulge in designer labels. Plus, if you shop on the high street you're virtually guaranteed to see someone else wearing something that you've got in your own wardrobe! On top of this, of course, buying preloved clothes and giving them a new lease of life, is great for charities, the environment and especially your bank balance!

Let me share some of my favourite restyle tips with you, here:

I found a pair of Moschino printed jeans at a bootfair that were such a tiny size, they'd never have fitted me in my wildest dreams (unfortunately). I thought the fabric was cool though and I saw the potential in them. I paid just £1 for them and have turned them into a bag and clutch that look far better than they looked as jeans! Fabulous!

I also got a pair of D and G Jeans for free at a swish that are also far too small (I will lose weight)! I'm going to enlist the help of a creative tailor to make these into a funky denim skirt. 

At a previous swish I saw a gorgeous little top with embroidered flowers that just didn't fit across my back, so I got the top altered into a tie up cardigan that now fits perfectly! All for free!

A suit I bought for £2 from The Red Cross charity shop is in a fabric I love but the skirt just looks a bit dated. I'm going to get this taken up to a more flattering length and add a funky gathered effect to give it a more unique vibe.

Here you can see that a 'new' wardrobe can be born out of attraction and attention rather than cash and consumerism.

How to Bag a Boot Fair Bargain

What do you do if you’re in the mood to shop on a Sunday but the shops in town are closed? Well, head to your local boot fair for bargains aplenty! There are several local boot fairs worth checking out, for everything from electrical items to collectables to clothes. If, like me, you love a bargain then boot fairs are a great place to start.

In addition to books, CDs, DVDs and electrical items, what I really enjoy hunting for is designer clothes. It’s not all threadbare old jumpers when you look at second hand clothes, you know! In fact, it’s not even always second hand. I’ve got several items with the labels still attached.

Recently I’ve procured the following from the new Ebbsfleet boot fair: A Ted Baker jumper for £2.50, worth around £70, a skirt suit for my new job for just £1 worth at least £50, a Miso cardigan for 50p worth around £20, a brand new jumper with tags for £1 worth about £10 and a gorgeous on trend lacy FCUK top for £1 worth around £50. That’s at least £200 of designer clothes for just £6! That’s 98% off! You can’t get bargains like that at Bluewater!

Charity Begins At Home (In Your Wardrobe)

The recession is leaving many of us feeling cautious about cash. So how do we look like we've just walked off the pages of a glossy magazine when the shrapnel in our purse barely adds up to £20? More to the point, how do we do it without having a negative impact on our bank statement or our conscience?

Conscience can kick in in a variety of ways...we all know that sinking feeling when we open our bank or credit card statement and realise that the 'to die for' dress and the handbag we 'had to have' made more than a little dent in our pay cheque! Or when we see a documentary about sweatshops or global warming and the amorality of our apparel becomes glaringly apparent.

So what can we do about it and is there ever an ethical way to look ethereal? Beyond just more ethical ways to shop, is there a way to help others by updating your wardrobe, as opposed to harming them by buying clothes that may have been manufactured in sweatshops? Well follow the tips outlined in this blog to find out!

We all know what it's like, we've got a hot date and we open our overloaded wardrobe, yet have nothing to wear! We open our bulging purse and find it full of receipts rather than cash and there's just a crumpled £20 note to fund the all important outfit! So what do you do? Well straighten out that crumpled £20 and head to your local charity shops and browse of the biggest array of sizes, colours and designs that you'll find in any high street shop. Where else can you designer clothes, bags and shoes from just a couple of quid?

We all like the idea of being able to help others but it's fair to say that when the recession bites, the phrase 'charity begins at home' is on the minds of many of us. So is helping others something that should fall by the wayside when we're broke or should this be just the push we need to change our habits and help others by helping ourselves? The truth is, helping others doesn't have to be a totally altruistic act. Take the example of the hot date and the crumpled £20: If we head to the charity shops to find the perfect outfit for our hot date, then we could get a whole outfit for that £20 and be helping others in the process. So can we really get an outfit for £20? YES! Won't it just be old threadbare Primark seconds though (hardly hot date material)? Absolutely not!

So what can we get for our £20 and how will it benefit others? Well here's my latest finds for a completely glam outfit. Firstly a gorgeous Joseph little black dress for just £9.99 from Scope (worth around £200), Shelly's of London beautiful shoes from Oxfam for just £5.99 (worth around £50) and a DKNY handbag from The British Heart Foundation for just £2.99, (worth around £50)! So that's around £300 of gorgeous glamour for the price of a jumper from Peacocks! FABULOUS! And I still had £1 to put in the charity pot!

How does £20 really make a difference to anyone else? If we buy our whole outfit in Oxfam, that £20 is enough to supply safe water for 20 people, whether in a school or village for the first time or to restore supplies after an emergency. There are 2.6 million people living with heart disease in the UK. Research shows that people live longer when they receive nursing support at home. If we spend our £20 in the British Heart Foundation, we could help pay for a BHF nurse to visit a family and provide specialist care, help and support to a patient and their family. For just £20 the cost of 3 calls to Scope's support and advice service can be covered, so spending your crumpled £20 note in Scope can make all the difference.

If we can get a whole new outfit for our hot date then how do we find space in our wardrobe to hang it when it's bursting at the seams with things that no longer fit or we no longer wear? Well the British Heart Foundation alone prevent 25,000 tonnes of textiles going to landfill (and contributing to global warming) every year! So spring clean your wardrobe and let someone else fall in love with the items of clothing you 'had to have' but never wear. Your clothing donations can make a real difference to the lives of others in the UK and all over the world.

So when we look at the bigger picture, that new outfit for the hot date just became a way to look great on the outside and feel great on the inside!

Swapaholics

I went to Swapaholics at Juno bar yesterday in Shoreditch. You can find them on Meet Up at the address below:

http://www.meetup.com/swapaholics/

This is a friendly Meet Up group and the turn out yesterday was really good. The goodies are taken in rounds. You pick your favourite item first: Mine was a Donna Karen skirt. If no one else covets the same item, then you are the proud owner of a sexy new item. If more than one person is after the same gorgeous item then the item is raffled between the fashionistas who are desperate to take it home. Once any raffling is done, everyone can take their second item: Mine was a brand new (with tags) pair of Twiggy trousers.

Once everyone had chosen their favourite 5 items there was a 'free for all'. This meant that you could just take whatever you liked. I got a Joseph suit and many other goodies.

All in all, considering I took items that I'd got from freecycle, I've got a new wardrobe for the cost of a train ticket! You can't say fairer than that!

Credit Crunch Clobber

If you love designer clothes but only have the funds to look longingly into shop windows, then read on to find out how to fill your wardrobe with designer clothes without breaking the bank! Last weekend I got around £700 worth of designer clothes and no, I’m not rich, (I wish)! My stylish garments include a pair of Dolce & Gabbana Jeans worth around £100, a stunning £200 Nicole Farhi dress and a smart Jaeger top worth around £150. How much did I pay for these stunning items? Just the price of a train ticket from Dartford station to London! That’s right-the clothes themselves were absolutely FREE!

It’s a new trend called ‘swishing’. It’s Karma for your clothes and it works like this: You go through your wardrobe and take the things that no longer fit or flatter you along to a swishing party. The more fabulous the items you take, the more gorgeous the items you’ll receive in return. You then have space in your wardrobe to put your stylish new clobber in!

What’s more, it’s an eco-friendly way to enhance your wardrobe. In the UK 900,000 tonnes of fabulous shoes and clothing is thrown into landfills unnecessarily every year. Swishing keeps you, and the planet looking fabulous. So whether you’re ethically chic, a fashionista with an eye for style or just strapped for cash, then dig out whatever is lurking unloved at the back of your wardrobe and swish it for something you adore!

Swishing is an exciting way to restyle your wardrobe and try out a whole new look. It enables you to experiment with different styles without running up your credit card bill! Don't think jumble sale, think unrestricted access to a stylist's wardrobe (complete with stylists and tailors) but with added wine, nibbles and new friends! Swishing is like the best shopping trip you've ever been on, but without the price tag and that knot of guilt you get in your stomach when you've impulsively decided to flash the cash.

Most swishes take place in London and other major cities, but if you’re interested in a swish more locally then get in touch with me at theoriginalbargainhunter@hotmail.com

Take a look at these sites and the video from the bbc:

www.swishing.com, www.swishing.org http://www.meetup.com/swishandswap/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7563318.stm

by

Laura Whitehead

One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure

If the credit crunch has left you strapped for cash, like it has me, then read on to find out how to get gorgeous designer clothes for less than a budget outfit in Primark! With little more than spare change in your pocket, head into your local town centre. However, instead of heading for the usual high street shops, open your eyes and your hearts and look to the charity shops. Not only can you find designer clothes for peanuts, you’ll be helping people at the same time!

In the last couple of months I’ve bagged a whole host of designer goodies, including a Ralph Lauren handbag for just £8.99 (worth £50), a Jeff Banks top for £4.80 (worth £20) and a gorgeous full length dress from Monsoon for just £3 (worth around £100+) and a DKNY jumper for £5.50 (worth £40) and much more! That’s over £200 worth of clothes for under £25! You know the saying one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure? Well this is my kind of treasure hunt!

Charity shops benefit people with cancer, heart disease, cerebral palsy, deaf blindness and the elderly in the area to name but a few good causes. So when times are hard and it’s tough to spare the change in your purse to help others without getting anything in return, look to charity shops for a win-win situation. Wouldn’t you love to get a designer outfit and know that the money you’ve handed over will help others desperately in need in your community?

By Laura Whitehead