Dressing cheap chic this spring

Following a brain-storming session with the Boar one Monday afternoon, my challenge was set. I would venture forth onto the fashion front line in search of three key pieces for just £50. Simple enough, I told myself. I would scour the shops and use my findings to create three outfits that tick the trends for the summer that’s fast approaching. Easy peasy, I said… right?

So, having consulted the fashion press, off I went hugging my sacred student pennies, not prepared to part with them too easily, armed with my quirkiest and most knowledgeable friend (on all things fashionista that is). Catwalk looks on a shoe-string; I had a feeling this was an important life lesson for a reckless spend-thrift like me. Like most girls I have a long standing love affair with shopping, yet with the gauntlet thrown I was beginning to wonder whether the high street was really up to the test. Could vintage really meet new trends like I had imagined? Admittedly, I had my doubts.

And how right I was for a few hours later things were looking rather, well, hopeless. The article is a failure, I moaned. I had picked the biggest, cheapest vintage shops for the most hardy and determined of vintage shoppers. All this, only to be greeted with clothes that scream ‘just don’t even go there’ and ‘are you joking me?’ Alongside dresses that hung lifelessly off the body, shirts that were bold but dated and skirts that were, er, just too long to be acceptable to anyone but Grandma (bless her cotton socks). Dejected, it was time for a coffee break and a rethink. This was not so easy, after all.

The dressing-up box of vintage clothing hadn’t come up trumps this time, it was true. What I really needed was somewhere with the current fashion forecast in mind, and what better than reworked vintage clothing, taking the old material and making it well, wearable. And volia, this is where I stumbled upon my first fashion gem: a patterned playsuit (tick, tick!) for £20 that would see me right through summer (1). Yes! I finally had reason to celebrate, one down and two to go.

For my next find, it was time to hit the high street. Still, with my dwindling budget in mind I soon realised that £50 just doesn’t go very far; it was time to be ruthless and to get inventive. The next purchase was, admittedly, rather less exciting; a plain pair of three quarter length joggers from H&M for £11.99. Nope, I hadn’t gone crazy in my frantic attempt to prove the claim that one really can do catwalk for a fraction of the cost, I had actually stumbled across one of the hardest trends to master this summer: sports luxe (2). Tick. I returned home with my faith restored.

Yet, I was still one item short. Until, relaying my dismay to Mum at having fallen short of the challenge, she came up with a rather nifty idea. Yes it’s not that cool and I probably wouldn’t admit it to my friends, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. It was time to hit the supermarkets and see what they had to offer. And here I stumbled upon my final item, a nude flapper style dress for £20 (nudes are gonna be big, watch this space!) (3) and a £3 floppy hat, just for the hell of it (4). Overspend: about a fiver. But, hey, this summer I’ll be fashion fabulous and it didn’t break the bank. And I rather think it’s worth it.

Now all I need is a tan…