Today was a surprisingly beautiful day in London, which was very needed after constant hurricane-like winds and rain. As I sit here writing this it is once again pouring buckets and causing a fuss with all its lightning and thunder. Luckily, I’m already safely tucked away with some take-away Tikka Masala and a cuppa and have finished my shopping for the day… err month.
Oxford Street is the most infamous of London’s shopping streets, it’s hectic like Times Square, and has enough shops to fill a North American Mall, but has lovely sunshine and refreshing drizzles. To escape the stress that my school books are putting on my brain I made the quick trip from campus to Oxford Circus tubestop. This lets you out right at the Topshop. This Topshop is three floors and while it’s not shockingly large in space it is grand in hoard. I sometimes expect to move a rack of bucket bags and find a litter of bunnies (Hoarders on A&E anyone?). This time I was concentrating on nail polish. I’ve been coveting the Chanel camel tone for awhile but can’t bare the price and Topshop’s polishes are about five quid. I almost bought one, but it was a bit orangey and I ended up buying my friends back home something instead.
Topshop, which seems to cultivate cool from all over the world, had many pieces I would have liked to add to my wardrobe. Especially some seed-bead bangles and lace crop tops. The bangles were like 45 quid which is insane and the tops, which were more understandable at 45, would just fall apart too easily. So I tried on every single white lace item in the middle of the store and caused a traffic jam and left the fashion floor having bought nothing and hiding my face from the clerk who was shaking his head in exasperation. (I put it all back proper I promise!)
Next was next. I popped in to buy jeans, saw the bulky cuts and dull washes and left. Very disappointing as I bought a pair of high wasted shorts there last month and LOVE them. And I hate shorts – but I’m trying to break that after Zooey Deschanel’s mournful plea about her loss of high-waisted short privileges on New Girl I figured maybe they were something special.
Dorothy Perkins is where my flatmate buys all of her trousers and she’s native to the UK so I trust her. Got two pairs of jeans there. One VERY blue pair and one hot pink, both skinny – I’m not over this trend yet as they fit perfectly into my beloved boots. DP also has jeans that hit you between the belly button and the… rest. Finally! The designers remembered where pants need to hit you. No one wants to see my business and I don’t want my spleen to be pushed into my ribcage every time I sit. OK, I have some high-waisted but at least now I can take days off. The jeans were 25 pounds each, which was a bit expensive but I live in jeans and just had my last pair literally fall apart on my body. (Once you’ve been to mass at the Vatican to see the Pope and realized you have a massive hole in the crotch of your trousers you stop waiting so long to buy new). Dorothy Perkins (and UK Topshop) has a pretty generous student discount so my 50 turned into 41.50.
Then was Monsoon and River Island. Lots of studs and tropical prints. No sales, pretty expensive.
Then Primark, my weakness. It’s just so cheap! I got a yellow floral pair of shorts for around the house and sleeping, and a knit union jack sweater from the men’s department (I’ve been mocked mercilessly for my love of the Union Jack, but everyone over here wears American flags so humph). I had tilled out and successfully avoided the floral dresses (which all had an unfortunate elastic waistband, there has to be a way to make that look less cheap) and neon prints. I was safely within my budget having spent 5 on the shorts and 10 on the sweater, then, while my flatmate was online, I saw the cutest pair of shorts and against my better judgement threw them into her pile as if I were on Supermarket Sweep. They’re grey and a bit billowy so they almost look like a skirt, the grey is a bit soft and they have neon pink piping around the pockets! They feel like butter – amazing for 10 pounds. They’re a bit short so I’d wear them with stockings (and I’m a bit short so be wary).
So, that was my haul today, went out for trousers and found a pile of receipts and a piece of mind.
Happy Shopping.
M&R 