Fashion

Confessions of a girl who lost her mind (and her money) in the summer sales

Sophie

Zara dress in saleWhat to wear with navy striped dress

In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of retailers having their summer sales right now. This is great (unless you happen to have bought something at full price very recently which is now a lot cheaper) but I’ve had to ban myself from them because I realised that I turn into some kind of crazed monster, and crazed monster me has spent all the money. Ooops. Here is an accurate description of what happens to me in a sale, and hopefully you don’t think I’m an absolute lunatic by the end.

It begins innocently enough; with the idea to just nip in for five minutes and have a quick browse to see if anything good has one of those glorious 50% off stickers on it. So I start looking, moving through the rails in a logical order without missing any because naturally I need to comb the entire store (it’s not going to take 5 minutes). I see some things I like, they’re in the sale, I pick them up – it all seems to be going well.

That’s until I reach a section that looks like it might hold some gems because there’s someone in my way and COME ON LADY, WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG. I’ve started to become irrationally annoyed with people for no reason, beginning with this poor woman who is literally just here doing the exact same thing as me. Well, how dare she?! Maybe she’s got the same taste in clothes as me. Is she going to pick up something that I want? She looks about the same size, and what if there’s only one? Is she going to steal all the good stuff?! The sale FOMO has begun and I turn a bit feral because suddenly I don’t think that elbowing people out of the way is such a bad thing to do after all.

Striped Zara sale dressZara Navy striped dress

My sense of pricing seems to have become seriously warped. I am suddenly convinced that anything over £25 is far, far too expensive for a dress. So has my sense of sizing. 2 sizes smaller than I would usually buy? That’s fine, I’ll probably just ‘squeeze into it’ (that’s never going to go well Soph). 2 sizes larger? Not a problem, it’ll probably be better oversized anyway right? My taste in clothes and any semblance of personal style has also gone out of the window here, because I’m desperately clutching things that I wouldn’t have picked up in a million years, but if they have one of those little red labels on, I’m determined to ‘make them work’.

It takes me several attempts to get to the changing room; a few times I would nearly make it there but ended up turning back because someone would walk past carrying something that I’d pondered over, and that would make me realise that I was wrong to put it back and I simply must have it too. I end up taking an armful of about 18 things in with me, and the trying on/narrowing down process begins.

Navy Zara striped dressZara striped dressDress – Zara (sale) | Trainers – Carvela | Bag – charity shop | Necklace – H&M | Earrings – M&S

An hour later – despite having only ‘popped in’ – I emerge feeling a mix of triumphant and guilty. I have a bag that’s bulging with god knows what and my bank account is probably in tears. Oh, and it’s probably my lunch break from work, so I have to do one of those walk/run things back to the office.

…and that, my friends, is pretty much how I ended up with the dress you see before you (as well as a whole host of other things I never knew I needed or even liked). A one shouldered navy striped number with random ties hanging off it all over the place? SIGN ME UP. I don’t think I would have ever bought this if I hadn’t lost the plot and started trying on the whole of Zara, but hopefully on this occasion my slightly animalistic approach to a sale has paid off. I paired it with my gold toed trainers and a bag from a charity shop for these photos, and I actually felt great about this outfit. Oh and FYI, the summer sales are fantastic this year, so seriously make sure you have a look. Just maybe don’t shop them like I did.

Navy striped dressZara tie waist dressZara sale thought processNavy Zara dressThings I think while sale shopping

Photos: Rob Poor

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Published by Sophie

29 thoughts on “Confessions of a girl who lost her mind (and her money) in the summer sales”

  1. So relate to all of this! Though I seem to go one step further as well. I’ll see something in the sale – that I probably saw a million times before and never wanted to buy – that has sold out in my size, and this suddenly makes me think I need it more than life itself, and I end up trawling every branch, the Internet and eBay to make it mine! Bonkers!

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    1. Ahahaha I have definitely done that before too – it’s so strange how not being able to have it brings out such a strong desire to make it yours immediately isnt it!

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  2. These photos are soooo nice, you look so relaxed and happy in them! And your mad sales approach definitely worked to your advantage with this find, it’s gorgeous. Your description made me chuckle, that’s exactly how I used to sales shop a couple of years ago, but thankfully I’ve got a bit more restrained and I only buy things that I would have paid full price for, although I sometimes get sale regret with that approach so maybe there’s no right way to sales shop!
    Amy xx
    http://www.callmeamy.co.uk

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    1. Ahh thanks Amy…I was feeling pretty okay about photos that day! I think you’re probably right, you just have to see what happens – I always get so annoyed if I try to avoid buying something and miss an item I really want, but equally I’ve had my fair share of ‘what was I thinking?’ sale buys too 😂 xxx

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  3. I think you did really well with this find – it looks great on you! I think it’s way too easy when there’s a sale on to pick up things you never would normally get and think because it’s a bargain you need to get it – I’ve done this way too many times in the past. I bet everyone probably has x

    Jenny | LuxeStyle

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    1. Thank you Jenny! 🙂 Yesss that’s exactly it, something comes over you and you decide you NEED to get it so you dont miss out on the bargain…sometimes it goes pretty well, othertimes not so much haha xxx

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  5. This honestly sounds like I could’ve written it!! I’m exactly the same and have put myself on a spending ban also – I just buy things that I wouldn’t even look at when full price, it’s quite ridiculous. Loving these photos, the dress was a great find x

    heart-autumn.co.uk

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    1. IT IS LITERALLY RIDICULOUS. I find myself picking up all manner of strange things – but I’m glad it’s not just me! x

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    1. THEY REALLY DO. It’s one of my favourites, it just makes me lose the plot a bit haha. Hoe you found yourself some gems! x

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  9. I’m so over the summer sales! I haven’t bought anything in this sales season because I took a step back and thought before every purchase I made. And every time I found myself not really liking the items, instead I was lured by the promotion. So I ended up not buying anything, and investing in pieces that I really like and would wear all the time instead.

    XoXo,

    Tamara – LoveofMode.com

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  10. Great little story – haha!
    I’m not an impulsive shopper, and trying more and more to be – but this story, it rings true for us all!

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    1. Haha, I’m glad it’s not just me! Not being an impulse shopper is definitely a good way to be generally though, I would waste a lot less money if I wasnt xx

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    1. Ahh thanks lady – and I’m glad that’s not just me! It’s not the best of habits but it has worked out for me on a few occasions haha xxx

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    1. That’s exactly it – you can never just go in for one thing can you?! 😂 It really is – thanks for reading girl xxx

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