So go out and buy four or five women's magazines that have fashion spreads. It will be £15 to £20 well spent if it saves you making great gaffes and eliminates hours of trudging around a city sorting out what racks have panache. August/September is always a great time to check the looks in magazines. Likewise the February/March issues will always have articles that sum up the season. Then after you have followed this guide, go window shopping, but remember your first view is simply a recce about town. The fashion recce gives you time to absorb new ideas and think about your image planning strategy for your new wardrobe.
On this first shopping occasion leave your credit and debit cards at home. Take only a limited amount of cash with you. Spending real cash will make you think long and hard. It's much easier to get entwined in a credit card transaction and often that will be for an impulse purchase. If when you get home there was one item you really feel you made a mistake about not buying, then simply ring the store as you arrive home. Next ask them to hold the garment and even pay for it over the phone, or get it posted to you. They can always do a refund for you if you feel it an error.
Impulse buys are often our finest buys. We fall in love with some items that just scream 'me, me'. Yet sometimes when you are trying to develop a new look, or update your appearance, you need just to see what is in the shops and get an overall picture of current fashion styles.
All you intend to do on the first visit is look to assess styles, colours and beauty ranges. You can also look at what's available online. I feature Wallis, TopShop, Next, Monsoon, New Look, Miss Selfridge and many more stores all of which cover a wide age range. You should find some information in my 2007/8 trends section or later trends sections that will help you.
If you do take and use that credit card always ask the assistant 'Can I bring it back if my husband, boyfriend, partner, children, cat, dog etc., - hate it on me....'. Find out if their returns deadline is within 1 or 2 weeks, or 28 days, or a fairly open policy of returns. For example Laura Ashley UK will refund a credit card, or return cash within a 28 day return. After that, they will not refuse to take an item back if its in the same season, but they will only give you a credit voucher to be spent in their shops. Sometimes, some sales goods such as at Debenhams are not returnable unless you repurchase a replacement different item at the time of refund. Now Marks and Spencer have reduced their refund policy to 90 days and issue bar code refunds that only last 12 months.
Be aware though that if you remove the hanging tag labels most shops will likely refuse you a refund after making the assumption you removed the labels to enable you to wear an item, even if it is within the time limit for a refund. Personally this irritates me because frankly I can never really decide if a skirt or trouser waistband really fits me correctly with bands of card labels and envelopes of spare buttons all sticking into my fleshy waistline!
Remember leave the credit card at home if you have the time to shop again soon. Treat this as an opportunity to find out what's in style now and available near you.
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