After releasing a strong worded warning outlining my concerns about the resale of fur in charity shops, I now want to counter balance this by sharing with you what I consider to be the best aspect of charity shop fashion; the unpredictability of what you will buy next.
My latest purchase is a dress that I cant say I am wholly in love with. It is certainly not the type of outfit that I had been desperately searching around for and to be honest I haven't worn it once since I bought it. But I do know there will be a time and a place when it is just perfect!
However the thing I like most about it is I have not seen anything like it, well ever. Nor am I likely to see anything of the sort cropping up on the high street anytime soon. And for that reason alone, I am still very happy I bought it.
Following on from my last blogpost hailing charity shops as havens for top quality fabrics, I stumbled upon the video below which really made me think about the examples charity shops set to the fashion industry. The video shows one of the most shocking depictions of animal cruelty I have ever seen, in which a rabbit's fur is ripped from its body whilst it screams in pain. This, it turns out, is how they make Angora.
Whilst there has been an ongoing campaign to ban this product from the UK fashion industry, with many big brands such as GAP adhering to the boycott, it can still be found in many vintage and charity shops all over the country.
Why is this? Well there can be no denying that the resale of fur is a lucrative business for struggling charities. Not only does it provide a great source of income, but it gives the shop an air of prestige by stocking such high quality items. More importantly however there is an ease of conscience that comes with recycled fur. "It's already dead" or "It's making the animal's death more worthwhile" are easy excuses to justify wearing the skin of a dead animal.
However, what isn't recognised is the example recycled fur is setting to the public; reversing years of campaigning and instead making fur an acceptable sight on the high street once again. Without Oxfam tags dangling from the collar of coats, there is little way of identifying vintage fur from new fur. Thus, a culture of fur wearing has slowly been introduced back in to the UK and consequently new trends have been established.
So what can be done about this? I propose charity shops enforce their own ban on unethical clothing, falling in line with industry standards that are in place for a good reason. However lucrative it may be, the resale of fur means charities are profiting from injustice and therefore undermining everything they stand for. If charities aren't prepared to unite, stand up and set an example against cruelty, how can we expect others to?
If you would like to find out more about the campaign against Angora, click here
Here are my top picks from my autumn charity shop finds. This season's collection brought with it a focus on quality and comfort which is rare outside of the charity shop world.
Cashmere, Lambs Wool and Angora are all fabrics that you would struggle to find on the high street meaning I've had little experience with them. However, now I've had a taste for what clothes should really feel like, there's no going back! Luckily, charity shops are full of good quality knitwear, you just need to start looking for it!
Red Jumper £5.99 British Heart Foundation
92% Wool
Tartan Jacket £10.99 Cancer Research UK Fort William
70% Wool, 3% Cashmere
White Cardigan £3.99 British Heart Foundation Harborne
50% Cotton, 25% Linen
Mustard Sweater £4.99 Marie Curie Finsbury Park
70% Lambswool, 20% Angora
Blue Gap Dress £4.99 St Luke's Hospice Sheffield
70% Cotton
I would just like to thank my beautiful friend Shobs for her wonderful photography for this shoot.
So what does one wear to the Opera? It's not a thought that crosses your mind daily but if you were faced with an upcoming visit, what would you reply?
I guess there is no right or wrong answer but one thing is guaranteed, you're going to be judged! Broken into 3 parts with 2 lengthy intervals in between, the Opera is less about the show itself and more about showing off. Leaving the fur coats to the aristocracy, I wanted something neat and tidy without looking like I was desperately trying to compete with the Manolos of this world.
Luckily, I managed to find a rather smart looking vintage silk shirt from my local charity shop that I decided to pair with some charity shop shoes and a plain skirt from Topshop. With my total outfit costing an absolute pittance, I was free to stroll around, smug in the knowledge that most would be horrified if they knew just where my outfit had come from.
So remember, be proud of where you shop! Just because it didn't cost the earth, doesn't mean you can't look like it did!
Vintage 'Planet' silk shirt - £3.00 from Isabel Hospice's Cuffley Shop
Leather patent shoes - £10.00 from Oxfam's Cardiff Shop
Despite not writing on this for a jolly long time, I don't want you all to think the world of charity retail has dried up, that all the good stuff has gone, that anything of any worth is now being sold on eBay and what's left cant even be shifted in the bargain bins. That simply isn't the case!
If anything, the growing imbalance between supply and demand is making charity shops even more interesting as volunteers are no longer able to rely on the safe donations of a M&S jumper or a pair of corduroys, and are instead being forced to put out all sorts of donations onto the shop floor, on the off chance that they will catch the eye of some unsuspecting passer by.
Which is great news for us! - more variety of clothes, makes charity shops more unpredictable which is exactly my reason for going to them! Whilst its nice to head over to Topshop, having already familiarised yourself with their whole winter collection on their website, there's nothing better than walking into a charity shop with no idea what you are going to come back out with.
And luckily for me my last charity shop venture didn't disappoint. A 100% wool black hat, a jaeger silk blouse and a (rather itchy I must admit) mint green jumper. Did I need any of these things? No. Have I worn any of these things. Yes. With pride.
Now this isn't to say that you should all stop donating, quite the contrary. Charity shops are a two way thing. If you want the suprise of not knowing what you are going to end up with, bring something back and let others have just the same chance as you.
100% black wool hat - £5 Marie Curie charity shop, Potters Bar
Mint Green patterned jumper - £4 Cancer Research UK charity shop, Potters Bar
Jaeger silk blouse - £3.99 Oxfam charity shop, Potters Bar
Who said the 70's are dead eh? Well with a winter like we've had I can't think of anything I would rather wear than a nice woolly roll neck. Paired with a high waisted skirt, it's smart, comfy and practical.
I found a whole range of jumpers like the one below at my local charity shop for only £2.50 each. So of course I splashed out and bought 3! What are charity shops for after all?
maroon roll neck jumper- £2.50 Isabel Hospice Cuffley Charity Shop
I found these Carvela shoes in Isabel Hospice Charity shop in Cuffley for £10.00. What a bargain eh? Unfortunately they are a size 6 so are too big for me but my mum swooped in and snapped them up for her instead. I must admit, I'm a little jealous but least they have gone to a good home!
Having heard such wonderful things from a variety of sources, this week I finally made it down to Camden to check out just how good the Camden charity shop scene really is. Boasting names such as Oxfam, YMCA, Mind and the much anticipated Traid, I was excited to get stuck in, despite being a little hungover .
Here are my conclusions.
1) Camden has some of the most stylish looking charity shops around.
Look
at this beautiful display in Oxfam's charity shop
Traid looks more 'back stage of a film set' than charity shop!
2) The prices were very reasonable considering that most of the shops have tapped into the 'retro' spirit.
Shoes for £8, and tops for £6! It's so refreshing to see such reasonable prices compared to many other London charity shops. With Traid looking as 'hip' as it does, I was expecting everything to be marked up to the max but oh no, they sure know how to keep it real!!
3) It still remains that some of the best charity shops are the least talked about!
Despite being very impressed by Oxfam, Traid and YMCA's beautifully 'decked' out shops, I will always be a rummager at heart. Luckily, as I was about to leave, I stumbled across a very old fashioned Mind shop opposite Sainsbury's on Kentish Town Road. It certainly had less of the glam of the other 3 shops and going inside was like stepping back a few decades. I immediately I felt more at home and began my delve into the unknown! Despite the less than friendly service, it wasn't long before I picked up a white and gold jumper that will happily see me through these winter months for the measly sum of £4.00.
As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I'm a big fan of charity shop coats.
Well now I've added another one to my collection. Found in a Cancer Research UK charity shop in Potters Bar for only £8.50, this Giorgio Correggiari vintage coat is made from only the finest Cashmere, and you can tell!!
Over the Christmas period I've been lucky enough to find these gems which have already become staples in my winter wardrobe.
This wool jumper was only £4.00 from Geraniums for the Blind Charity Shop in Marylebone
(it's very 'log cabin in Colorado' don't you think!)
My new weekend bag was a measly £3.00 from the Isabel Hospice Charity Shop in Cuffley.
(I'm not sure where my friend's scarf has come from but it's definitely from a charity shop, i can promise you that!)
This might sound obvious to some but there are certain times of year when the quality of stuff found on charity shop floors is, well, a lot better than others!!
The first is the change of season
Most charity shops have a storage system in which over the summer months they store all the winter donations ready to be put out on the shop floor as soon as the weather starts getting chilly. The same happens during winter. Hence the reason why you rarely see a summer dress during December. Now, if you manage to get to the shops just when they are changing over, you're sure to get the creme de la creme of the stock stored up as they are bound to roll the good stuff out first!
This was back in September - Look at all these fur coats ready to hit the shop floor!
The second is pretty obvious really.. it's after Christmas of course!!
It's incredible the amount of unwanted Christmas presents that gets hauled straight to the nearest charity shop after the festive period. Normally as quickly as Boxing Day bags of goods start flooding in and the great thing is that most items donated are brand new!! My advice over the next few days is, stay well clear of those High Street sales and get yourself down to the nearest charity shop as you'll probably find something pretty similar for half the price and without the headache!
With a £20 purse already on my christmas list to my parents, I am especially pleased to find this never been used leather purse from Geranium Shop for the Blind for only £3!!!! I dont know who is happier about the saving, me or my mum!
So following my very exciting appearance on Do the Green Thing's website this week (click here if you missed it!) I thought I would redirect all you charity shop lovers to their insight into the weird and wonderful world of the gigantic Oxfam warehouse in Milton Keynes..
If you think charity shops just run on local donations.. you're in for a real shock. Honestly IT'S ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING!! Click here to reveal all!
Just to get you in the mood here's a few stats
showing just what goes on behind closed doors
3 skips
a week are filled with paper to be recycled
35
bales of clothes get sent to become car seat stuffing each week
On average, every single day:
5,800
books arrive at the warehouse
400
bags of clothes containing 1000's of items arrive
In order to get into the festive spirit, over the next few days I will be sharing with you my top three charity shop outfits for all those Christmassy occasions.
Here is
Outfit Three - The Christmas Day
I always like to judge a Christmas Day outfit on how well you can do a number of 'forced family fun' activities. These include bending over a board game (lose the low cut top), lunging in preparation for scoring a strike in Wii Bowling (lose the too tight skirt) and generally having the mobility of a three year old as you are roped into chasing them around the room playing with their new toy tractor. I personally think this vintage Jaeger skirt from Peace Hospice in Chorleywood for an incredible £8.00 covers just about all of that don't you?
In order to get into the festive spirit, over the next few days I will be sharing with you my top three charity shop outfits for all those Christmassy occasions.
Here is
Outfit Two - The Christmas Eve
What makes a perfect Christmas Eve dress is something that is cute, colourful, and most importantly classy (after all you are going to have to look your grandparents in the eye the next morning over Christmas breakfast). Luckily I found all those things in a Topshop dress in Isabel Hopsice's Cuffley charity shop for only £7.00. By steering well clear of the crazy streets of Oxford Street I've managed to avoid sorting through the hoards of studs, sequins and miscellaneous sharp objects that seem to be making their mark this year and I've got some money left over to spend on buying some drinks whilst I'm out! Why would you shop anywhere else?
