Fashion Statement with Suzannah Roach

As regular readers may know, I have two children, two children under five. Now I know that doesn’t sound particularly unusual or too tricky but for someone who has a penchant for shopping I can whole-heartedly, one hundred percent assure you that shopping with them is tricky.

The end of May to anyone who is a keen follower of fashion means the Big Drop has happened. Yes, the Big Drop. Stores, websites and anywhere people who want to search out their beloved outfits for the forth coming months, have received the majority of their summer ranges.

You may be reading this when it’s pouring with rain and icy cold but when I wrote it we were enjoying temperatures of 29 degrees. I woke up one day and realised that summer was upon us. I understand some people plan their wardrobes for months in advance, checking the magazines, blogs and online stores for the latest updates. I am not that type of person. I wake up and it’s summer, which means I need my summer wardrobe there and then. That used to take one trip to the shops and I was sorted, wardrobe updated and on I sailed into summer without a second thought.

However, as I said I now have two children under the age of five. One of them, being a boy, appears to have it in-built into his genes to howl the minute I turn into a shop (or his father has instilled this reaction in him from birth). Whatever, the reason, I have two small children who simply do not allow me to shop.

Enter the wonderful world of the web. It has been a slow gradual thing with me. I have always bought off the web. I wouldn’t have a website selling fashion accessories if I wasn’t wise to the world of the web. However, since having my second child who is so anti-shopping I have become a complete convert.

I love the web; I love anything that allows me to spend my precious hours in the evening trawling through the different trouser lengths currently on-trend. I love seeing the floral fashion in full force on the websites I visit. I love seeing how bracelets have got smaller but with many more added to the wrist over the last couple of months and I particularly love the fact that I can leisurely browse through my chosen websites with peace and tranquility if I chose without a child asking for an ice-cream whilst I hold up a beautiful silk print dress or have a more pungent nappy smell waft under my nose.

Now, I am not one for giving up. I’m a believer. I believe I have a skill and one of those skills is shopping. It has been finely tuned, perfected even, over many years. But I can honestly say, and believe me this does not come easily, I am a broken woman. I no longer take pleasure in shopping on the high street. I do not say this lightly, I have persevered. I have persevered for nearly five years, during which time I have discovered that children and shopping simply do not mix.

However, this week I have perfected my summer wardrobe. Come rain or shine I shall have a summer wardrobe that I am proud of, and it is all thanks to the Internet. I have bought from many of my usual high street haunts, as well some other well-placed websites that offer something a little different.

I have the items delivered to my door and I usually receive them whilst the children are awake. The package gets put to one side and then as the children go to bed and I regain a little composure I go somewhere quiet and I try the items on. I am able to think. I am able to contemplate what the chosen item could go with in my wardrobe, whether it will be worth the money, due to my much-analysed cost per wear theory. And this, has brought me happiness.

I no longer come home frazzled from the shops with nothing but two miserable children or, even worse, come home with everything in the hope that it all fits and works with the rest of my wardrobe as I haven’t had time to really consider the options. I no longer come home shouting at my husband that he should take the kids to give me a few hours to shop.

All I can say is thank goodness for the Internet. The Internet has brought calm to the summer wardrobe I have so desired over the last few days. So why don’t you get scouring those websites, keep them alive and give us mums that still enjoy shopping something to focus on whatever time of day it is.

Suzannah Roach

Posted Sat, 05/26/2012 - 09:21 by Suzannah Roach