90s DENIM DUNGAREE DRESS

Working in the city centre can be hard for a fashion lover. Surrounded by shops five days a week means you’re always exposed to the changing window displays of shiny new stock and those distracting Sale signs.

And while Canterbury isn’t exactly a fashion capital, it sure packs a punch for its size. Working at the far end of the stretch of shops and restaurants towards the bottom of town, I pass everything on my walk (sprint) to work. From Fenwick department store stocking designer handbags and higher end brands such as All Saints, to the Whitefriars shopping district encompassing trendy high street names like Zara, River Island and Topshop, and further down the main high street, cheaper New Look which pulls it out the bag on occasion, to preppy Jack Wills and chic French Connection. Not to mention the independent boutiques such as Angels and Peppermint down the cobbled side streets- waaa!

This would all be fantastic if I were there for pleasure rather than business, but feeling the post Christmas money strain, it’s tough. So I put my sunglasses on despite drizzly January weather, keep my head down and let my iPod playlist distract me. 

But you have to keep on top of the game somehow! Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m  a vigilant magazine lover. In my old apartment in Malta, living on my own for the first time, I  finally had the space to display my magazine collection in a giant oak bookcase in my bedroom. Stacks of Vogue, Teen Vogue, NYLON, I:D and Elle piled up high by my bedside, right where I could see them and dream about the dresses and shoes inside them that I couldn’t afford. Nowadays I’m more of a Grazia girl. Every Tuesday I hop two doors down from work to the newsagent and buy my £1.95 weekly fix of fashion, reviews, smart articles and a little bit of info on celebrities that I sort of care about. The cool ones.  

It keeps me informed as to what’s hot, from the trends that start on the streets, appearing on the backs of fashion editors and bloggers, to, of course, the catwalk, and what the designers have in store for us for the coming season and how their ideas have trickled down onto the rails of the High Street shops.

So with this in mind, you can make informed decisions when it comes to giving thrift shopping a go. Somewhat luckily, you might have noticed that the grunge look originating in the 90’s is huge at the moment and will continue to be throughout the summer. We’re talking ‘outgrown’ ombre hair, no matter how much you paid for it, to the beanie weirdly balanced up high on any self respecting hipster’s head, to the plaid flannel shirts over a tie dye t-shirt and under a man’s faded denim jacket... you get the idea. 

This is a great opportunity to have a look around your local charity shops, as although 1993, when Nirvana were at their peak, was 20 years ago, there are seemingly still some people that haven’t had a good wardrobe clear out since then. Hey, better late than never.

Model - Lonnie Beckley FM Models

I found this denim dungaree dress in Oxfam, in August last year. It was £4, and styled with the incredible Stone Roses t-shirt i mentioned in a previous post, completes quite the ensemble you might have worn to one of their gigs, if you weren’t still teething at the time. A super quick scan of ‘What’s New’ on the Topshop website presents this kinda identical copy. See what I mean?