Prices??

Amidst all the loveliness of NY Fashion week, the ugly truth of inflation and underperforming crops rear its ugly head. It is reported that cotton prices, labour costs and real estate in China is climbing at a fast pace which means that US (and other) retailers now have to pay China about 30% more for clothing. The cotton price is at a 150 year high!

In a climate where customers want/need to pay less for clothes, more so than ever before (off course with the exception of the Great Depression), this is going to cause a raise in the price of clothes by about 10%, starting as early as next month.

10%!!!! Now I ask you with tears in my usually-blue eyes…how can one become a bargainista when all the prices are going up? (especially since I’m used to falling prices) I mean really…the economy is recovering, but not at such a pace. Companies are doing better, but they aren’t hiring new people now, so most people can only purchase clothes if they stay cheap or become cheaper.

Well, I guess that will make my job to stay within my $200 budget per month just a bit tougher…10% tougher. The only thing I can do is to become the bargain shopper that I know I can be and prove that you don’t have to spend thousands to look good. I’m going to have to spend a lot more time than usual in the shops, I’ll hunt down those bargains and if I get good ones, I’ll share them with you all. For those of you in England or South Africa, if you see any sales near you and you think it might be worth sharing with others, let me know – I’ll happily post some of them. Shopmycloset365@gmail.com.

Day 8 – Outfit 8

Hair: Au natural – yes, my hair is curly, something that I didn’t find out until 2002/3 when I was for once in my life too lazy to blow-dry my hair straight (I knew there was an annoying “Splash” mermaid-like wave in my hair, but I didn’t know that it was just plain curly).

 Sweater: Grey and navy from Simply Vera Wang (looks a bit boring, but it’s cuter in person)

T-shirt: who knows?

Jeans: Tommy Hilfiger

Shoes: Sparkly silver Kenneth Cole
Mmmm...this outfit looks really boring on the photo - at least cute little Bewley is making it a bit more interesting. I promise, it really doesn't look that bad in real life.