Saturday 30 March 2013

Is It Just Me: Who Can Easily Outdo The 'Fails £300 Spring Wardrobe?

I am of course referring to the paper we all love to bitch about (but all secretly read) The Daily Mail, who this week proudly proclaimed they could put together a capsule wardrobe for spring into summer for a "measley" £300. 

They only picked 10 items. Ten items, for £300! Who else raises their eyebrows at how cheap this is and then spits out our coffee everywhere when we recall how tight our budgets all are this year due to Smugron's continued pinch on us all?


I commented- I had to- that £300 was a ridiculous amount, and if they'd shopped around, the cost of those ten items could have been a hell of a lot more affordable to those who had to cut their credit cards off due to over use and being under paid.

Like me.

Their biggest item was a blazer from H&M, it was very Pippa Middelton, and, granted, a blazer is a classic item which can go with anything.

The thing is, H&M is a nice shop, but a) I never find anything in the store that corresponds to the size listed (I think they prefer those under a size 12) and b) when I went in to buy Mini party tights, they had silly American sizes on them in centimeters and not age range and cost £5.99 for one pair. 

You can pick up so many nicer, cheaper options than that version too. A lot of things I've seen second hand of H&M need dry cleaning, and if you're anything like me that type of outfit is worn once and left in the washing basket.

Here's a nice one I found on good old George at Asda for £8. It looks identical! Not only that but Asda will deliver it to your flipping door!

The other thing I think they neglected to do with the blazer was accesorise it. If I wear a plain blazer, I may add a fake flower, a chain brooch, anything so as it's not boring with a pair of jeans and plain t-shirt.

They also had a Breton stripped top. Excuse me while I yawn. That was £15- for a boring top. I see these all the time in second hand stores for under a fiver, but I found a much nicer style one on EBay for the princely sum of £6.99.

The most expensive item was a simple white vest with a bow. Now, if you're handy with a sewing needle, you could easily make one yourself, but if not, here's an identical Papaya one for £2.99!

They also have a red dress which they find sexy. It looks like something you'd wear to the office, and wasn't remotely sexy at all, and their version, from Zara, cost a penny shy of £40. 
Again, I found an almost identical one for a tenner on Ebay, which I think lives up to the "sexy" tag a lot more.

Being on a budget doesn't mean going without. If you use a bit of common sense and take a few minutes to search online or scout round the cheaper chain stores or charity shops you can easily pick things up that are almost the same as what's in the fashion bibles as being the must haves for this season (and next). The very nature of fashion is that it goes round in a never ending cycle and ends up meeting back on itself, so buying  second hand is so simple.

This isn't a sponsored post by the way, I wrote a comment and felt obliged to prove I could do the very same looks for a fraction of the price!

Here's the rest of the cheaper alternatives I found:

Chain Strap Bag: (£14 on DM) £5, Everything5pounds.com
Blue Heels: (£39.99 on DM)  £28, asos
Necklace:  (£12 on DM)  £7, George at Asda
Green Flats (£49 on DM) £14, F&F at Tesco
Skinny Jeans (£9.99 on DM) £3.99, Oxfam (and they were designer Karen Millen ones)

Daily Fail Price: £299.96
My Price: £85.97

Maybe The Mail should employ me next time it tells us cash strapped females how to budget buy our must haves!

2 comments:

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  2. Go you! Lol. I completely agree with you on the unrealistic affordability thing. Worst thing is that this is the Daily Mail! Their readers (of which I am one) don't have Telegraph wallets.

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