On Wednesday I was looking at my EBay wish list pontificating as to whether to bid on a pair of wool trousers from Toast BNWT, I am a reluctant purchaser of trousers on EBay as they so often disappoint and rarely fit, in fact winter trousers, because they are so much more structured are hard to find full stop sale or full price. I am very fussy about the style which has to be Katherine Hepburn wide, and fabric which has to be light wool so they hang nicely. My mother walks past Toast everyday and has picked up some bargains since they opened, I have admired the fabrics and cut but baulk at paying £120+ for trousers. But as I mentioned earlier I have so few winter trousers I need to top them up or live in skirts all next winter (summer trousers I have in abundance loose linen seems to be easy to find)
So on my wish list was a pair of charcoal stripe wool turn up trousers, beautiful but £25 starting price which added to P&P came to nearly £30. I do not know why but this felt like a lot of money when in reality it is not, a pair of bog standard jeans in M&S goes for £40 so why was I hesitating, If I saw them in a shop I would not hesitate to try them on so finally I made the plunge thinking if they were duds I could sell them on. I bid. I won. I am wearing them today! They are just beautiful. Mrs Fashion was right all Art teachers should wear Toast.
That same day I had been given a missive by kitty to buy her a grey track suit specifically with an elasticated ankle for her dance show, she asked me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, assuming the show was imminent my choice of retail places were Matalan Asda Primark or JD sports. I walked into Matalan with every digit crossed but nothing was the right size, colour or style, the thought of her moaning sent me over to the dark side and in to JD sports. I looked at some adult one which appeared eye wateringly expensive then spied some children’s ones. after 15 mins wondering what bloody size to get I settled for bottoms aged 11-12 and a top aged 5-6! the cost? 42 bloody pounds for a bit of cotton sewn by half blind children in an illegal sweatshop for 50p a day. I was speechless, but back at home she was over the moon, it fitted and was the right shade of grey and most importantly was soooo comfortable she never wants to take it off. Daisy raised an arched eyebrow and called her a Chav, I later enquired when the dance show was? “oh not until sometime in May” “MAY” I calmly explained that she had been so persistent that I assumed the show was next week “oh was I? Sorry” she hasn’t taken the hideous thing off, so by May it will be worn out and she will need another one.
So I reflected what a skewed view I have of the value of clothes that I will wince at £25 for a pair of beautiful wool trousers from Toast but on the same day pay £40 for a piece of glorified tat.
2 comments:
Wonderful find, those trousers -- I bought a similar pair, full price, last fall, had them hemmed, and lost them between tailor's and home!! Weeks later, after my very decent husband said I'd better just buy a new pair, which I then had hemmed and wore, the restaurant we'd lunched at the day I picked up the pants (and phoned to see if I'd left them there) called to apologize -- they'd found the pants, sorry they hadn't checked more carefully earlier! I gave the second pair to a friend who petsits for me and she was very pleased with them, and the next time we went for dinner at the restaurant, they treated us to a very nice bottle of wine, so all's well that ends well.
Ha ha, Alison you should've gone to American Apparel! PS, I've just linked you in my latest post ;)
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