Charity Shopping!

There is a trend cropping up that everybody probably already knows about but I want to talk about it anyway. Do you remember when you were in Primary School, you know runny noses, ghost stories, POkemon, that kind of thing. Well, in my day we used to use charity shops as an insult- 'Did you get your uniform from Oxfam' and so on. You may have noticed, it's not so much an insult anymore. It's cool to buy second hand, to hop in and out of Oxfam with a fist full of pearls for a fiver. And you know what, I like it.

I've never been dead set against charity shops, but until about a year ago I didn't really consider them. The be all and end all of affordable fashion was always Primark and at a stretch Peacocks. I didn't really have enough imagination back then.

It's strange though because sifting through my summer stuff I always noticed that I had a soft spot for hand-me-downs. In fact, I would go farther and say that loads of my star wardrobe pieces previously belonged to a member of my family.

My denim lederhosen (see previous blog post 'a new look') were a hand-me-down from my sister

My punk man shirt, a Japanese hand-me-down from my friend Erika who stayed out there for a week.

The kimono I used for a costume used to belong to my friend Emi's Dad.

So it would only stand to reason that I should start hunting for other peoples hand me downs too.

Admittedly, I am fairly inexperienced at charity shopping but I am definitely interested in becoming an expert. The only item I picked up from a charity shop was a cute plaid winter skirt I fell in love with. That would have easily sold for about thirty-five in NEXT or Zara but only cost me £3.95.

A lot of my friends shop in charity shops or buy second hand and I got testimonials and everything!

Stephanie, Indie Chic extraordinaire (and Songstress)

“there is a more random (therefore interesting) selection of items and also its good knowing that the money is going to charity

also things are very cheap sometimes in charity shops”

  

And Gyaru Goddess Emi is an big Ebay enthusiast who gets some of her lovely things second hand!

'Ebay is opened to world wide fashion, I can get my hands on something cuter that suits my needs.'


(check the blog for yourself emi-doll.blogspot.com)

Give it a go- second hand shopping is fun a lot cheaper than shopping brand new!

Read! Read!
http://www.live-magazine.co.uk/2012/05/why-shopping-second-hand-is-cool/

Until next time...

In need of a shot of Shabby Chic!

I believe everything should be pretty...

That was a line from one of my favourite films, Park Chan Wook’s ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’. I think that film is beautiful, touching, profound but this isn’t about that film. This is about something that’s been bothering me for ages!

I’m so sick of my room being so very full of potential but still being bland as hell. There is no color scheme, no decor theme. I think a girl’s room should be her sanctuary; her own personal paradise. Mine is my own personal preferred space. That’s okay I suppose but I’m not proud of it. By having a clean room, it improves my mood. If I had pretty room as well, that would improve my mood tenfold.

I have images of Cath Kidson prints, shabby chic motifs and Laura Ashley flying all over my dreams, taunting me, enticing me. I really want a pretty girly room. This craving began way, way back when I was watching ‘It Started With a Kiss’ a Taiwanese Drama. Xiang Qin walked into this dream room that Mrs Jiang prepares for her and it’s a dream world of Chiffon and floral print. It hit me like a wall. Since when do I like this kind of stuff? My last room was blood red with kanji on the walls and a massive Shakugan no Shana wall scroll I’d bought from the London Expo.

I decorated it when I was 16 and at the height of my borderline weeaboo phase. I can’t be blamed. I was young. I was reckless. And I maintain it looked more distinctive than my new room. The last room bares the last remnants of this effort to capture the anime side of me. Like the dregs of tea in an abandoned cup, the gunk remains. I need to breathe some life into this room.

It has a lovely fireplace, high ceilings and crème wall paper which makes it a blank canvas. It shouldn’t be too expensive either.

What I know I want now is bedspreads like this...

I think this is adorable. It reminds me of a Doris Day film. I don’t know why.

I want one of these

I want some of these

I want to do the wall art myself so I guess I’ll decide that when I get there...

I hope this works.