London, UK
Where I Shop For Fashion
From an early age, I was always a bit of a shopaholic. I can probably owe this to my Mum. She would dress me in the most adorable dresses, coords, skirts and pinafores as a child with the cutest black shoes with a gold buckle strap. I can still remember so many pieces of clothing that I would wear through my youngest years and can still feel the happy emotions I felt back then when I wore something I absolutely loved. It was probably one of the first times I ever acknowledged the feeling of dressing up and feeling more beautiful. I always felt so special putting on a brand new outfit and showing it off to my family for the first time.
Since then, I guess I continued to adore clothing. Through my childhood, me and mum would go shopping in Wigan town centre, a small town near Manchester, and pick up the latest styles at Tammy Girl (blast from the past) and New Look and I remember when Topshop first came onto the scene. Fashion has always been the thing I preferred to spend my pennies on, and when I got my first job at 14, it was certainly where all of my money would be spent. And it continued through University where I became slightly addicted to ASOS, and I remember my friend Steph coming into my room and exclaiming, “Babe, are you really shopping on ASOS again?!”…
But it was always designer fashion that I would look up to. I studied textiles, art and finally Fashion at University and PhD level, and throughout each part of my education, I always found the most inspiration from the biggest fashion designers. I was going to pursue a degree in fashion design after my textiles A Levels, but decided my mind would be better put to use in the business of fashion. So instead, I studied retailing and fashion marketing.
Throughout this time, I dreamed of working for the biggest premium brands, somewhere within their offices, surrounded by clothing and powerful people. I remember the first pair of designer shoes I ever bought around 5 years ago. They were a pair of nude Louboutin Pigalle Pumps, and I bought them for the day I would walk into Net A Porter for an interview. At the time, that was my dream; to be a marketing manager for Net A Porter, and I decided buying the shoes first would only push me further towards applying for a position. Of course this never happened, because a few years later I started the blog and began working towards my career as a lifestyle blogger. But, my love for fashion, and especially premium fashion, has never dwindled. And I’m still just as passionate about it as I ever was.
And for that reason, I wanted to share where I go to shop. In honesty, I barely ever shop on the high street anymore, unless it is for extra special purchases, such as Dior, Chanel or Celine – only because they are not sold online. For everything else, 90% of the time I will buy it online, delivered to my home and tried on in my own mirror, with my own bags and shoes. And here are the places I search first when I’m looking for something new and the brands I really adore:
CLOTHING
For clothing, I find my main inspiration from the big online department stores, such as Mytheresa, Matches and ASOS. They generally stock all of my favourite brands and I can see everything refined by price, colour and style, so its so easy to shop. But otherwise, there are so many other brands who I will search through their latest pieces to find something amazing:
Mytheresa / Matches Fashion / Selfridges / Maje / Reiss / LuisaViaRoma / Topshop / Net A Porter / ASOS / River Island / FarFetch / Revolve / Harvey Nichols / Whistles / Harrods / Jaegar / Joseph / Sandro / Vince / Kenzo / Burberry / Hush / Three Floor / Self Portrait / Longchamp / 7 for all Mankind / Hudson Jeans / Equipment
ACCESSORIES
For accessories I generally invest in luxury, mainly because I adore statement, premium pieces for bags, sunglasses and shoes. Of course if I find something I adore on the high street, then that is a bonus, but otherwise I love the feeling of saving and investing in pieces that feels a touch more special. These are the brands that I look to first:
Celine / Dior / Burberry / Gianvito Rossi / Nicholas Kirkwood / Prada / Saint Laurent / Gucci / Chanel / Sophia Webster / Chloe / Reiss / LuisaViaRoma / Christian Louboutin / Maje / Mytheresa / Matches Fashion / Selfridges / Monnier Freres / Net A Porter / Dolce and Gabbana / Ray Ban / Givenchy
Where do you find you prefer to shop the most? And what is it about the store or the clothing that you love? Do we share any similar favourites?
