2019, new year, new me. Who am I kidding? I’d love to say I avoided the January sales completely but I did find myself having a browse in a few stores, and to be honest I’m glad that I did because I picked up some absolute bargains.
Now I know what you might be thinking. I’ve been banging on about reducing the amount that I shop so why am I coming back to you with a post about 3 coats I bought from Topman. I guess thinking about it I probably, in fact definitely did not need 3 new coats from Topman. However, I did give each of these some serious consideration, a decent amount of time in the changing room and several boomerangs on the gram before purchasing, which is an improvement on this time last year when I filled 2 baskets in H&M without a second thought.
Let me take you through each of the jackets and justify why I bought it! If only to make myself feel better 🙂
The first coat I picked up was this oversized trench coat. This is super light weight and is a perfect layering piece that will work nicely as we go into Spring and I can bring back out again in the Autumn. I’m a big fan of this look. One of my fashion inspirations Alberto Ortiz Rey wears this look really well so I thought I’d give it a go. Fluffy cat optional 🙂
The next coat was this chocolate brown wool overcoat. It’s thick and warm without being heavy. I’m always keen to avoid being weighed down by a coat, as I find with heavier jackets I just don’t want to wear them as much and it’s annoying to carry them if I get hot. I don’t have a brown coat in my wardrobe and I love this colour. I think it works really well with blue denim as well as more formal looks, and I’m already picturing it on an Autumn day, so I know I’ll be getting wear out of it in the coming seasons as well as hopefully for years to come
Something my friend Catherine at Dainty Diaries is trying is the 30 wears challenge. (side note: If you don’t follow her already, go and invest some time. She’s a DIY queen and brilliant with a sewing machine). The 30 wears challenge is essentially buying clothes you feel confident you will get 30 wears out of. 30 doesn’t seem like a huge number does it? But then let’s take a minute to think about how many items of clothing we’ve only worn once or twice. I’m feeling inspired by this and will be really thinking about how much wear I’m getting out of my clothes.
If I’m honest in the past I have felt like I need to constantly wear new things in videos and on Instagram to keep things fresh and keep up with everyone else. I’m not going to worry about that so much this year. I know a lot of bloggers on Instagram feel this pressure so that brands feature them. The way I see it, I put together outfits that combine thrifted items, high street bargains and the odd bit of high end fashion when I’ve had a splurge. If that doesn’t get me featured by a brand so what? I feel a lot happier doing things this way, the way I’ve always dressed, and hopefully it’s more relatable and inspiring to anyone who stumbles across my feed. Most of us don’t have the money to buy new items every season and with the Marie Kondo approach being bigger than ever this year do we really want to have a wardrobe stuffed to the brim with items we might wear once or twice?
Lydia Millen is also a fan of getting a lot of wear out of her garments. She has a wardrobe most of us can only dream of, but I admire her for wearing outfits unashamedly countless times and being open and honest about selling them on when there is no longer space in her wardrobe for them.
Back to the coats, the final one I picked up was this Leather Biker jackets from Topman. I had my last leather biker jacket for over 10 years, I’m still not parting with it. It holds a dear place in my heart as it was the first leather jacket I bought (Zara sale, £35!) and the sleeves got shredded by our family dog Oscar when I hung it on the back of a door and he thought it was there for him to drag his teeth through. Luckily I had a friend who was amazing at repairs and it’s still as good as new to this day.
I did want an upgrade though, something with a bit more structure and shape and I’ve been looking for a jacket like this for ages, so I was really pleased to find this one for £59. A brilliant price for a leather jacket, and I find leather gets better with age so I’m sure I’ll have this one for years to come.
If you want to see how these coats look in a bit more detail you can watch the look-book over on my YouTube channel.
I hope this post has given you some inspiration to try the 30 wears challenge! If you try it let me know how you get on by dropping me a tweet or message on Instagram.
Thank you so much for reading 🙂