CHARITY STYLE PRINCESS

I’ve been volunteering now, for a charity shop in Camberley, for three years and before then I started off as their best customer.

My love for charity shops dates to the time when I was just 13-years-old. I used all my pocket money that I earned, every week, to purchase jewellery, vintage bags, and vintage evening gloves (that I still have!).

One thing about a charity shop, when you enter one, is that you don’t know what you want, until you see it. Where I work we’ve sold exquisite Armani suits and dresses for women, beautiful Armani shirts for men, Calvin Klein trousers for women, Betty Jackson dresses, Biba bags… The stuff that’s been donated has been incredible!

Just recently, I purchased a John Rocha faux fur jacket, vintage full-length faux fur coat, Donna Karen purse, vintage jewellery, a Biba bag, a Ted Baker bag, and a beautiful brand-new sheepskin jacket. The best buy I ever purchased in a charity shop was a new Italian leather jacket in the man’s section for just £1:00. It’s black, tailored, and looks great worn with skinny jeans and an ethnic scarf. No one believes me when I tell them how much it cost.

When it comes to fashion and assembling a look I’m an expert. I’m also an expert when it comes to looking elegant and chic. All those years studying fashion and paying attention to the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar have definitely paid off, and I use it well.

Fashion is a powerful form of visual communication. It says a lot about a person and whether I dress up or not I like to express myself. About 50% of my wardrobe is from charity shops. I have a sharp eye for quality, and even shaper eye for style. Using these pieces, I fashion my body; I accentuate, create, and reveal. I combine new clothing with charity shop finds and no one can even tell the difference. Items of clothing and accessories are meticulously pieced together and when makeup is applied I have a work of art that I alone summoned together.

I like to buy pieces that last. I’ve amassed an enviable collection of beautiful black tailored dresses. These I use as a black canvas which I accessorize with astonishing statement necklaces and scarves that have all come from charity shops.

The pieces I most cherish is my Biba bag, Lulu Guinness shopper, my black dresses, my john Rocha faux fur coat, my vintage full-length faux fur coat, and two statement necklaces that once belonged to the former Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.

Of course, the great thing about buying from charity shops is that you are putting money back into a cause either to improve the community or save lives. That’s why I choose to volunteer, I have a strong desire to give back.

If there is something the UK High Street has to offer, I’ll specifically seek it out, I’m not anti-High Street. I’m so fortunate that any High Street buys that I do incorporate into my look, will not only look completely different on me, but chic, too. I have the ability and power to design a look and make anything I wear appear ten times greater than what it really is.

At the end of the day it’s all about personal choice.

What I would say, though, is to only buy items that you really love, and that you know for sure that you would wear.

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!!!