Well, what a day I had today! I’m taking part in some research at the uni at the moment, so didn’t have to be at work first thing. It seemed a perfect opportunity to do a bit of early morning bargain hunting, so off I went to visit some of my favouite charity shops – the one’s in the ‘rough’ part of town.

It’s a point worthy of note at this juncture that the rougher parts of towns and cities often offer up charity shop finds of true vintage quality. It might be that the less wealthy have to make clothes last longer and therefore look after them better, hoarding them long after their term has passed, but they really do stock some fabulous pieces. If you’re looking for modern items by quality high street brands, by all means go to the more upmarket areas, but for vintage pieces you can’t do better (or cheaper) than the side streets you would otherwise avoid (cash converter-type stores are always a good indicator!).

My first visit proved fruitful for me personally as well as my ebay store. I found a vintage, like-new red wool princess-line coat at a stealthy £10.99 and a red cable knit sweater that looks great with my wide-legged jeans for £2.99. I also found a fantastic vintage 80s black, backless, bodycon dress (size 12) and a size 10 herringbone tweed Karen Millen pencil skirt with kick pleats. Check Gilded Follies over the next few days for these beauties if you’re interested.

My next stop was the wonderfully cheap PDSA shop over the road, where I happily picked up two vintage 80s jackets – one in grey with BIG fabric covered buttons, and one in black with a round collar, puff sleeves and gorgeous pearl and gilt buttons. These seemed relatively cheap to start with, but when I got to the till I was in for a shock – due to the end of season sale everything was half price! So I nipped back out there and grabbed a vintage 80s Dorothy Perkins navy and cream nautical blouse with gold buttons (size 14), and a vintage St Michael chiffon turquoise blue shell top with double layered butterfly sleeves (size 10). These too will be available before the week is out.

Meanwhile going back over some of my recent aquisitions I had to pick out two of my favourite sales this week. The gorgeous pure wool tweed pencil skirt (size 16) with leather-edged pocket details from Marks and Spencer is an absolute must for city gals wanting to take the countryside look into the office. Meanwhile, for the more playful amongst you, these gorgeous navy and green tartan wool culottes (size 8/10) with gilt buttons are reminiscent of aspects of Gwen Stefani’s LAMB catwalk show, which heavily featured checked pleats and tartan mini shorts. While hotpants may not cut it in the workplace, these slightly longer (though still above the knee) pleated culottes would look chic and fun paired with a crisp white shirt, opaque tights and platforms. In fact they’d look great with my patent navy peeptoe platforms from Bertie – if only I were considerably smaller!