Second September Style – Karen

I’m honoured to have another guest, Karen, on the blog to show off her preloved style this secondhand September. 

What do you love about second style?

I’m not a seasoned charity shop shopper and wish I were. When I buy, usually new, I choose pieces that are as sustainable as I can find or afford. I try to envisage that the item will get a minimum of 30 wears. 

What are you wearing? 

I was in Forest Gate (several years ago now), and as always, passed by the Aston Mansfield charity shop on my way home. Whoever does the window for the charity really isn’t bad at his or her job, and tends to colour coordinate well. This jacket was on a model in the window and caught my eye.  I pondered  and walked on by.

A few days later it was still there. I was tempted in and asked the assistant to remove it from the window. Having established that it was a price I was willing to pay -£8! – I was surprised to discover it was from a high-end high street shop, and equally disappointed that it was a size 14. I’m and 8-10 depending on who’s making it, but low and behold it fitted well enough, so I indulged. I had it cleaned, took up the sleeves and into the wardrobe it went.

What will you be wearing this autumn/winter?

“The jacket probably hasn’t ventured out of my wardrobe anywhere near 30 times yet. So perhaps this is the season for this jacket to become a staple?  I need to add some grey/back trousers/jeans to my wardrobe, but the hastily taken photo for this blog has illustrated to me that it works pretty well with a medium denim colour, and it will certainly compliment some rust jumbo cord wide leg trousers I made. So there are no excuses!

And perhaps I’ll seek the help of those who shop preloved on a regular basis to find those trousers/jeans this autumn.”

Thanks so much for reading

Jen

PS You might also like to this article about Raelene’s sustainable fashion journey