Sale shopping has never gotten my juices flowing. I find racks upon racks of clothes – unmerchandised and unorganised – entirely overwhelming. I’ve found myself in Harvey Nichols on the launch of sale day (always coincidentally – never deliberately) facing rails of clothes marked with signs of ‘Up to 75% Off’ with barely another shopper in sight. And yet still, I have turned and walked out. Don’t get me wrong – I like a bargain. But I have neither the patience, nor the wherewithal to suffer sale rails. And don’t get me started on sample sales.
£125 (were £250), Paco Rabanne at matchesfashion.com
Many years ago I was invited to the Chanel Sample Sale. For the uninitiated (of whom I was also one at the time), this is the only sale where you will see the editor of Vogue – in fact the entire editorial team of Vogue – queuing for access to the famed sale along with the rest of us. Held in the Ballroom at Claridges – yes, really – it’s the ultimate fashion invitation. But once you’re inside, you could just as easily be at Battersea Car Boot Sale. Quilted, 2.55 bags are piled haphazardly on trestle tables; classic boucle jackets are flung over collapsible clothing rails and shoes and their boxes are lined up on tables and floors (if you can find a matching pair of shoes and their box at all, that is). Dignified, coiffured, impeccably dressed women jog-walk into the ballroom attempting to feign indifference with all the acting abilities of a Hollyoaks actress. Without sharp elbows and a competitive edge, you’ll come away with nothing. I was fortunate enough to have a savvy, experienced sample sale shopper as my colleague, and came away with a classic boucle jacket, a pair of shoes and two blouses. On my assistant’s salary I was entirely broke, but all of them were investment pieces, surely?
Wrong.
£66 (was £110), Andersson Bell at net-a-porter.com
The boucle jacket was entirely the wrong shape for me. It had massive shoulder pads that shortened my already short neck, and was boxy and shapeless – never good on a curvy, hourglass figure. The shoes were classic Chanel two-tone pumps. Failsafe, right? Wrong. The black style with gold toes chopped my short legs up, making them even shorter. The two blouses, though, which were more of an impulse buy, are the only pieces I still own, over ten years later. Although now, with missing buttons, they haven’t been worn for many years.
Whilst the dopamine hit that comes from scoring a bargain is undeniable, it counts for very little when the pieces hang unworn and unloved in your wardrobe months and years later, as a reminder of an ill-advised, ill-thought-through purchase. So, when it comes to sale shopping – and there are many bargains to be had right now – try to approach it strategically. What does your wardrobe really need? Is it really another summer occasion dress, or a new work blazer? Would you pay full price for it? Does it really suit you? Does it work with your lifestyle? Do you really need it, or do you own something very similar already?
And then, once purchases have been acquired, I often recommend to clients that they should leave any new purchases in the bag or box for two weeks. If then, you still get that thrill when you open it up, and you’ve spent the previous two weeks imagining all the ways you want to wear it, then go for it. If not – send it back.
£112 (was £160, Reformation at net-a-porter.com
With that, I’ve done some scouring of the sales for some of the pieces that I’m lusting after right now but am confident I’ll still love come winter, and have put them on my Lust List for you to peruse. Shopping online is a vastly more prescient way of shopping sales: not only do you have the luxury of trying it on with your existing wardrobe, the delay in delivery allows room for the rush to subside and potential doubts to set in. Even then though, give it a couple of weeks before you unpack it in your wardrobe. It can be extraordinarily revelatory. After all, there’s little worse than buyer’s remorse.
If you’re enjoying Notes on a Wardrobe, I’d be so grateful if you could share it with anyone you know who you think might also enjoy it! And if you have any buyer’s remorse of your own, drop me a line in the comments below.