Hello! It’s the first of December, so let’s kick off the Penny Golightly Personal Finance Advent calendar with a quick prize draw.
The prize today is a lovely long abstract print scarf in purples, pinks and greens to cheer up someone’s winter outfits. Keep it for yourself or pop it in a girly girl’s Xmas stocking.
Want to enter this prize draw? Just leave a comment in the box below, saying “scarf please” and it might be yours.
As I often say, you never really need to rush out and replace all your clothes when the season changes, even if you’re a total clothes horse. Here are five quick and cheap ways to tap into some of the hottest trends for the coming season.
1. New tights
Style up a plain outfit and tone, clash or embellish according to your mood. Pick up fashion tights from as little as £2 in larger supermarkets, high street stores like Topshop, ASOS, or specialist online retailers like MyTights or Tights Please.
Go for block colours (burgundy, teal, purple, navy, grey), spots and dots a la Marc Jacobs, or slashed/bondage patterns to ring the changes.
2. A scarf or two
Try the cheaper high street stores, market stalls or eBay. If you’re handy with a needle and thread you can also buy a length of fabric and make a rolled-hem scarf, or cut up an old garment and give it a new lease of life.
Look out for Navajo or prairie prints, Gucci-like silk squares to tie into pussy bows, or large wrap-around numbers like Haider Akermann’s. I got lucky and managed to find a couple of beautiful new (with tags) patterned silk scarves on eBay for under £4 each.
3. New belt
Cinch in dresses or coats at the natural waist with a skinny belt from Primark or Peacocks, or hunt around car boot sales or charity shops. If you need a couple of extra holes adding, most nice shoe mending shops will do this for free if you smile sweetly and say please, especially if you’re a regular customer. Go for classic black to get the most use out of it, or try a tone-on-tone colour to make a chic outfit.
4. Add a collar
Sew up a few scraps of fabric to make a new collar and give an old dress or coat a new look. Try a white cotton rounded collar or crochet/lace for a festish-y governess twist, or go with shaggy fake fur or fringing to tap into the boho/rock trend.
5. Try a parka
Hunt down a second hand parka to throw on over girlie dresses, to make the look edgier. And, let’s face it, keep the rain off. A quick glance shows loads on eBay after the end of festival season, many well under £10 delivered.
Do you have any fash tips-under-a-tenner of your own for the coming season?
Gents, is your winter wardrobe in need of a little refresh? Here’s some good news for you: Officers Club, those fine purveyors of top value men’s clothes, are generously offering one lucky www.pennygolightly.com reader the chance to win a coupon code worth £75 to spend on some new threads.
That £75 could go a very long way too. Even if you aren’t fortunate enough to win, you can still take advantage of the final stage of their clearance sale, with men’s jeans from £9, men’s t-shirts from £3 and knitwear from £6. These offers are available both in-store and on their website, plus there’s free delivery on orders over £50.
Competition: To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is visit the Officers Club website and then leave a comment below of 20 words or less, telling us which is your favourite single item of clothing on their site, and why you like it so much. Competition closes on 28th of January, 2011.
Last week I managed to get along to the Fullcircle festive season preview, and it was quite special.
For me, the stand-out pieces were the silk dresses and tops, and I learned that Fullcircle design all their own prints. Here’s one example, and they also had some beautiful midnight blue and green patterned silk designs too.
They also had some very sexy tailoring, including shift dresses and jackets, which are also worth hunting down.
And now, on to the gossip. Firstly, their sale has just started so go to it for up to 40% off Autumn stock. Secondly, this is the last season they’ll be doing menswear – this is going to make some dapper chaps quite sad, but they could also pick up a bargain or two…
