No matter that summer only officially started last weekend, the Spanish summer sales are fast approaching. The upside of this is that once you have snaffled up your bargains you have the entire summer to enjoy your purchases. This year I am limiting my wish-list to 5 items, and have introduced a new element of chance to make things a little more interesting!
Summer Sales 2009 – Wish-List
1. Strapless dress. Thank you Garance Doré for facilitating the light bulb moment for how to start the list – with a covetable but classic item that adds a touch of excitement to the hunt. Also I have a theory that one should use the sales to buy at least one thing that normally you would not, whether it be because of affordability or the view that it is nice to have but not entirely necessary. Plain or floral? This one will be lots of fun searching out.
http://www.garancedore.fr/en/2009/06/23/les-italiennes/
2. Grey soft cotton blazer. Item number two is quite an on-trend piece that combines the return of the jacket with one of my favourite shades, grey marle. One of those things you know is going to go on sale because it’s a little bit left-of-centre for the mainstream customer (being made from t-shirt material), but actually has longevity because of its simplicity. The one I have in mind has already been tried on. The advantage of this is that I simply wait for the price to drop sufficiently low, walk into the store and pick one up, then head straight to the cashier without having to battle the change room queues.
3. Black strappy sandals. So maybe this year I will finally stick to the plan and buy black? There is always hope. I am currently tossing up between a black suede stiletto Mary-Jane style and an open-toed pair with a big fat jewel-encrusted brooch on the main part of the foot. Both Zara, both fabulous, and both quite frivolous, which is why one of them will be the perfect purchase when reduced to 20 euro.
4. Jet set swimmers. H&M have some fabulous Côte d’Azur-style maillots and bikinis this season, all already priced around the 15 to 20 euro mark. My favourite is a black one-piece complete with black rope going over one shoulder and looped through a gold ring – very Athina Onassis. I figure with the amount of stock they have sitting on their shelves at present there are going to be some big markdowns in this area, making number four the potential ‘super bargain’ of the list.
5. The lucky dip. In my experience there is nothing worse than that moment when you clap your eyes on something absolutely wonderful and then realise that you have already spent your sale budget on other, potentially less fabulous things. Best to leave something up the sleeve, as it were.
And the budget? I think I can manage all of the above for a mere 100 euro, which translates to less than $200 (at the time of writing). This will require a fair amount of discipline but wanted something to make the whole exercise just a touch more exciting.
After all, when you shop for a living you need to up the ante a little when doing it for yourself, or all the items would be crossed off the list in an afternoon!
So here’s to a successful sale season!
Rubi
