Yes, I'm a fashion victim

Forget couture and designer labels, its bargains that are in vogue.

Don’t believe me? Check out the front cover of every women’s (and men’s I might add) magazine. It’s slogans like ‘Credit crunch chic’, ‘profit shopping’, ‘recession-busting bargains’ that scream out to us from the shelves and ensure that the days of retail recklessness are well and truly over.

Thriftiness is oh- so Summer 2009, darling.

Pay more than fifty quid for a pair of heels nowadays and once-frivolous females recoil in horror. I hate to say it, but shopping for personal indulgence is history. Last week whilst browsing in Selfridges (yes, browsing) I watched a Chanel-clad woman with armfuls of Diane von Furstenberg dresses bustle up to the till and hand over her AMEX. Almost every female that passed arched their eyebrows and slapped a look of utter terror on their faces.

How could this woman be so utterly reckless in this financial climate?! Is she mental? Their expressions asked. No one shops so irresponsibly these days unless there’s a sale or a hefty supply of vouchers involved.

-So what’s new? We’re in a bloody recession. Just keep your head down and your Mastercard firmly in your purse. We’ll ride these dark times out together, without those Dior extreme gladiator sandals.

Mind you- It’s not just designer brands that have felt the crunch- the high street is also having a bit of a nightmare. TOPSHOP are shocked that Kate’s new collection hasn’t sold out yet. If opening a massive flagship store in NY (along with a hugely efficient PR machine behind it) doesn’t do the trick then I don’t know what will. Don’t get me wrong, I was one of the thousands of TOPSHOP devotees that promptly logged onto the website at 8 am to lust over the new collection. I wanted everything. I needed everything. Did I buy anything? Of course not.

Er…hello? No matter how much she wants to, the average 18-25 year old isn’t spending her hard- earned cash on floor length emerald chiffon dresses (I don’t care if it clings to all the right places and that Misha has just snapped one up- It’s costs over £200 quid and that, Sir Phillip Green, is my Oyster card allowance and council tax for the month). I’m more likely to be snapping up the cheaper equivalents in H&M or Primark thus saving my bus fare.

I’m a self-confessed shopaholic. Well I used to be anyway. I’m serious; all my superfluous income went on buying stuff. Whether I needed the item in question wasn’t a consideration. If I liked something, I’d find a reason to buy it. Couldn’t afford something? Don’t worry, that’s what my graduate credit card was for. I had no savings and boy, did that transpire into risky business.

Whilst at university I didn’t care. I had a maximum student loan and a part time job. Let me clarify, I’ve never been rich, or relied on my parents' credit cards, but I had surplus pennies to supplement my student existence. Buying clothes, shoes and other unnecessary objects became a weekly (if not daily) occurrence. I’d wear a dress once, wait for the novelty to wear off and then I’d find the dress at the bottom of my wardrobe six months later. A fashion-binger so to speak.

Now, I’m slowly learning the art of investing in fewer, key pieces and hunting down bargains. I’m getting pretty good, I’m even recycling my old wardrobe on eBay and making a packet. The days of plenty are well and truly behind me. Honest…