Battling my Boden Prejudices

My weekly Ocado shop included a free Boden catalogue this past week (I don’t think it’s possible to have a more middle-class opening sentence than this!).

I was mid toss into the recycling bin when Mr W snatched it off me to have a quick flick through. I sneered about frumpy, mumsy Boden clobber and firmly told him that it would hold no interest for me...whilst Mr W flicked through each page saying ‘you’d wear that’...‘and that’...‘and you own something like that already’.

Much to my chagrin it turns out I’ve either morphed into a frumpy, mumsy Boden type...or my shopping prejudices have been shattered!

I always repeat my mantra here on Edna about shopping everywhere and always being open to shops that you don’t think would necessarily appeal to you because treasures can be found anywhere. And yet, I turned my nose up about Boden and when Mr W had the audacity to suggest I blog about Boden, I almost collapsed in horror on the floor!

But I’ve had a stern word with myself, looked at the catalogue again and had a proper look online and have to concede that there are some beautiful clothes and lots that really appeal to me. I think like everything to do with how we dress, it’s all about how you style it. Even something from Topshop can be turned into a frumpfest courtesy of bad styling.

So it seems I could be a Boden customer at some point in the future...shopping wonders will never cease!

Boiled wool coat - £149

Smart knitted coat - £145

Scoop tunic dress - £79

Smocked tunic dress - £79

Effortless suede boots - £129

Sixties skirt - £39

Skinny jeans in gunpowder cord - £49

Richmond bag in tan leopard - £69

Suede brogues in dark navy - £110

My Boden prejudice never extended to the children’s range. I’ve always been enamoured with their clothes for little ones and tend to have a look at sales time. Laney May owns a gorgeous stripy summer dress from there, courtesy of her Aunty Cathie. These are some of my current favourites...

Pretty jersey dress - £16

Stripy dress - £26

Quilted jacket - £22

p.s. unfortunately the images aren’t great and don’t really do the clothes justice...it seemed to be impossible to get large photos off the site.

Shopping abstinence & lots of lusting

I've taken a vow of abstinence. After a few shopping splurges over the summer and the realisation that I physically cannot fit anything else into my wardrobe, I've vowed not to buy anything else for the rest of the year. Although there's one exception to this vow. If I sell anything on Ebay, I can use that money to buy something new. But otherwise, my purse stays shut!

I'm hoping that if I stick to this resolution, come the January sales I can treat myself to a couple of special pieces.

So there are likely to be a lot of 'lust items' on Edna, as I try and resist the urge to hit the high street. This is my current lust item which I spotted in the last issue of Elle.

 

It's from River Island but I can't seem to find it on its site yet. I love mixtures of texture - in this case leather and tweed. River Island also has a rather nice khaki and fake leather jacket on its site too. Alas, instead of buying either of these, I'm going to have a look at my wardrobe and see how I can create a few outfits mixing fabrics and textures.