Frockadvisor: sweaters and the art of shopping

Things every woman must know: How to negotiate an in-store purchase.

You’re going shopping. This is either a sport or a mission. If it’s a sport and you have time and a sum of money to spend, this can be fun. Wait a second; you have time and money? Congratulations, that is a modern day coup.

Maybe you have three or four shops that you love – the stuff and the people – so the exercise is part social, part commercial, part emotional.

Women’s relationships with clothes is emotional, we want them to make us look taller, thinner, richer, happier and younger. I could go on. But back to time, money and no agenda. This has the potential to be a gold standard experience, let’s call it Shopping Sans Frontiers, because women love shopping, right?

Well, actually, wrong. Most women that frockadvisor talks to find the experience overwhelming and deflating. That why women love shoes and handbags, because they are visible trappings and style barometers that invariably fit, regardless of your choices at lunch. Once we get to apparel, the landscape is very different. There is an innate fear of the fitting room, haunted as we are by memories of collective spaces, bad mirrors and harsh down-lighting.

And Shopping Sans Frontiers is not even the toughest grade of shopping, for that, we must investigate the Fashion Black Ops. You want something, you want it really badly, it will either complete an outfit or complete your life. It could be the perfect pencil skirt, or exactly the right shade of shoe. It could be approximation of something you saw in the pages of a magazine. But so help you, Google, you remain powerless in your quest. Still, in this digital era, 80 per cent of purchases are made in store, one human being talking to another; we need to hold onto this fact. Incidentally, the phenomenon of “Hic and Click” is on the rise so beware the Shiraz Splurge.

If you’re shopping with your feet rather than your fingers, you need to hit the fitting room. Firstly, make sure you find yourself shopping with a retailer who understands what it is you are looking for. Identify a kindly faced target and disclose. Tell her that you function much better with help and ask her if she is willing. Don’t shop with friends who want to ease you out of your comfort zone into the exploratory world of gothic/tribal fusion. They can make for expensive companions.

Take a deep breath, put on your best lingerie and, down-lighters notwithstanding, don’t even think about opening that wallet until you hit that fitting room.

You may think you can visualise what that knife-pleat skirt will look like on you, but psychic purchases do not good investments make. Frockadvisor is on a mission to get women trying before buying. The dangling tags in your wardrobe, hanging from unworn clothes, are the proof that we’re right.

Can a sweatshirt ever really be a highly covetable item?

Sweatshirt. Sweat shirt. A shirt in which to sweat. It certainly doesn’t sound covetable. However this iconic piece of clothing, invented by Russell Athletic in 1920 to counteract the chaffing of wool sports jerseys, it has carved out its place in clothing history. This season, to answer your question, fashion has absolutely wrapped its arms around this humble item and elevated it to cult and covetable status. Now let’s be clear, these are not sweatshirts to be worn with pyjama bottoms on a sneaky trip to the shop (as if you would). These are fashion sweatshirts, a completely different thing.

The collections borrowed and mutated the sweatshirt into an unexpected beast, swapping out traditional cotton for futuristic textiles and overbearing adornment. At Christopher Kane, an unusual nude-tone version sported a peep-hole at the shoulder and an encrustation of crystals. Two of our own superstars, Joanne Hynes and Colin Horgan, have opted respectively for oversized perspex plates and the softest leather to elevate the offering. The new sweatshirt has not escaped the steady march of print and queen of the photographic depiction and Mary Katrantzou (at Harvey Nichols), does not disappoint. For those with shallower pockets, 2nd Day, available at Arnotts, is a more accessible option. This is the season of the sweatshirt, but, a word to the wise, no sweating please.

For more, see frockadvisor.com