I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that shopping happens to be one of my favourite things. It hasn’t escaped my notice that admitting that I love shopping
makes me sound like an utter bimbo. But we’re not talking the kind of
shopaholic storming of Primark in which you come home with a village-worth of
peasant dresses, 50 pairs of trainer socks and 10 polyester vests that make you
sweat like a pig. My kind of shopping, as I was reliably informed by a very nice
trendcaster I interviewed the other day, is ‘vastige’ shopping, and apparently we’ll
soon all be at it. At this point I have to announce that this is quite an
historic moment for me. Because for the very first time in my entire life, I am
ahead of the trend, riding the crest of the trending wave like an uber-cool
someone or other. You see, I was hardwired to this vastige malarkey before my
milk teeth had even come through. The first words I ever heard out of my
grandmother’s mouth were: “Get there at nine? The good stuff’s gone by 8.15am!”
VASTIGE? IS IT CATCHING…?
It may sound
like a cream for an unfortunate skin condition, but in fact it’s one of those annoying
fusion words - in this instance, the knitting together of ‘value’ and
‘prestige’. Oohh, clever, clever (poke my eyes out now, please). So basically,
we’re all fed up with getting what we pay for - we want MORE and we want it for
LESS! “So what’s new about that,” I hear you scoff. Well apparently, because
the shopper has the upper hand over these big, grabby super-duper shops these
days, we’re more likely to get more for less than ever before! Yippee!
Now this is where
I have to give an aside, because although I do shop with big massive shops
often, I also love charity shops/ car boot sales/ tiny weeny antique shops and lovely
little independent boutiques who certainly don’t need us to try to drive down
their already bargainous prices any more. So if you do plan on becoming a vastigista
(ooh what a horrible word), let’s stick to haggling with the big guys and start
supporting the little guys a teeny bit more (I know from experience that you
can pick up a much more skillfully made, stylish and more often than not, cheaper
chest of drawers/ vase/ lamp/ table, in a well-chosen second hand store or antique
shop than in Ikea).
WHY MY BARGAIN HUNTING IS NOT A VIRTUE
I have to make
this clear – there is no halo on my head to polish. I am fully aware that this
is a trend born of frugality, savvy shopping and thriftiness. Unfortunately I
can’t claim such noble motivations. What I can only assume started out many
generations before me as an ‘every penny’s a prisoner’ type attitude, has
turned into a love of a bargain that is so strong, that if I see something
fabulous and outrageously bargainous, I simply cannot leave it in the shop –
even if I only have £6.32 in my bank account and it costs £9.99.
Cases in point:
1.
Thrifty
people do not need Osprey clutch bags reduced from £125 to £29.99 when they
already have a bag for every bag-requiring scenario.
2.
Penny
watchers certainly wouldn’t buy an occasional table that’s barely big enough
for a teacup just because it was a steal at twenty quid.
3.
Or spend
£17 on a travel card in order to cart four Ikea chairs across London during
rush hour, just because they were a fiver for the set and painted in Farrow &
Ball.
Whichever way you
look at it, this is not saving me money.
OH WELL, NOBODY’S PERFECT!
And as I have
established I am really, really not. Bargains. They are my biggest vice, my
legal high, but let’s face it, it could be worse. And may I reiterate, I’m finally
on trend! Woohoo! So next time someone asks me where I got my boxy Chanel-esque
Clements Ribeiro jacket from, I’ll no longer clear my throat and shiftily
mumble something about a little shop down the road, I’ll be lassoing it around
my head as I run up the high street naked (well probably not naked) shouting “TKMaxx
- £29.99!”*
*This blog is
not sponsored by TKMaxx and all opinions are entirely my own.
SOME OF MY FAVOURITE ‘VASTIGE’ WEBSITES TO BE GETTING
ON WITH:
If you enjoyed this post and think someone else
might too, feel free to share. You’d be doing me a MASSIVE favour! Thank you.
Image: Stuart Miles, Free Digital Photos
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