The £20 outfit I found in the dregs of the January sales

I consider sale shopping – along with crisp eating, overthinking, and using 1000 words when 100 will suffice, amongst others – to be in my top 10 skills. I know, I know; some can play an instrument, some can speak another language, and lots of people can do all manner of impressive things, but I can naturally hone in on a bargain like a blogger can naturally hone in on Peggy Porschen, and that might not be as cool as the real skills, but it does ease the effect of my shopping habit on the old bank account.

For this reason, I was planning to do some kind of sales shopping tips post for bagging the best stuff without losing your mind and buying all of H&M; mostly because it’s about the only thing I feel I am equipped to give others ‘tips’ on. The only problem there was that 2018 got off to a somewhat mad start, and I didn’t manage to so much as glance at the sales until the end of last week. At this point it seems like such a post wouldn’t be very timely, and is maybe one for another time.

Still, since I did finally manage to have a browse at the weekend, I thought I might as well show you what I bought in a quick and chatty outfit post, particularly as some of the items combined to form this little get up. It’s nice to have a light relief after all of the self-reflection, after all, and at least it proves that the dregs of the sales can still be pretty damn good.

Jumper – New Look | Skirt – New Look | Tights – Primark | Bag – Mango | Boots – Primark

And part of that is because, if you’re like me, you become swept up in the excitement of all the crossed out numbers, garish sale stickers and fear that if you leave it there, you’ve missed your chance. That’s not an especially good thing in the way that saving money or considering purchases are good things, I know, but it does sometimes mean being a bit more daring about what you buy.

I mean, I wasn’t necessarily expecting to come back with this particular skirt, despite seeing many an insta-babe looking fan-bloody-tastic in vinyl…but it appears that I did. It might be so shiny that in a few of these photos I was convinced you could see the reflection of the camera on my crotch, and it might be noisy enough that I don’t fancy wearing it to work and squeaking my way through the office – but it’s definitely fun, and hey, that’s part of what makes fashion so enjoyable. It also helps that this little number was a mere £6, so it hasn’t quite pushed me into ‘eating plain rice for the rest of the month’ territory, even though I’m not convinced it’s going to be the most worn item in my wardrobe (although I’ve been very wrong about that before).

This jumper, on the other hand, is obviously going to be one of those well-worn items I dig out and dust off winter after winter. Neutral colours, mix of textures, oversized fit and a few tassels thrown in for good measure – what’s not to like? At £8, this is one of my cheapest and most useful knitwear purchases this year, and there’s nothing more groundbreaking to say about it than that.

The velvet biker boots are also a current sale buy and come in at the rather wonderful price of £6; I actually bought them in December, but my local Primark still has them in stock, so maybe they’re actually hideous and I didn’t get the memo. I originally wanted these as something to wear in Gdansk that was flat, comfortable, warmish and not going to make me feel guilty if I got rid of them quickly, but then…velvet biker boots, guys! They’re my new everyday heroes, and I love how they dress down the skirt here.

So by my calculation, this whole outfit came in at a mildly ridiculous £20. TWENTY POUNDS. I do that whenever I’m saying something is cheap, don’t I? Type it in numbers AND THEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS just so you can fully appreciate the price. Okay, so that doesn’t include the tights (which were pence, because they were part of a 5 pack from Primark), the sunglasses (£2 Primark, I believe) and the bag (which was actually a sale buy about six months ago from Mango). The clothes and shoes are the main components of the outfit though, so not at all bad for my uncharacteristically late and lacklustre approach to the momentous time of year that is the January sales.

Have you picked anything up in the sales this year? Are there any I should make a beeline for over the next few days?

P.S. Some other things that ended up coming home with me on the same trip include the most garish pink jumper you ever did see, these pleather trousers (don’t let the price on the website fool you, they’re down to £7 in store), and this completely divine mesh dress…coming soon to an outfit post near you, I expect.

Photography: Rob Poor

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