It was already apparent to me that a real bargainous charity shop where you're fighting with penny pinching biddies is becoming something obselete in London but when Westbourne Grove, where yummy mummies are aplenty and boho trustafarians 'slum' it in their 'poky inherited' little flat in Notting Hill, opened up Oxfam's first new 'boutique' on 10th May (World Fair Trade Day) well, I'm sort of flummoxed and all for it, all at the same time.
Jane Shepherdson who exited Topshop with a lot of trumpets and fanfare has now decided to lend Oxfam a hand and give them a makeover and we now have a shiny black exteriored store that is as far as away from my local Oxfam as can be and inside, there's more and more shininess. To up the surreality factor, this is an Oxfam store whose opening was celebrated by an after party at Bungalow 8. Curious stuff.
Just to recap, Oxfam is a type of thrift store in the UK and whilst they have dabbled in the high-fashion stakes before by having the Traid off-shoot stores, this chain of boutiques (they hope to have 250 in the UK...) is an entirely different kettle of fish altogether. Whilst it still sells donated goods, we're talking designer threads that are have been £££ racked up (Miu Miu skirt at £50, Stella McCartney Jacket at £90...). In addition, you have Fair Trade labels like People Tree and Kazuri, and labels that specialise in fabric recycling like Junky Styling and Kitty Cooper Shoes. Continuing, the recyling theme, London School of Fashion students and other up and coming designers have been asked to use unsold Oxfam stock to make some unique one-off pieces for sale in the boutique and even the volunteers at Oxfam are getting stuck in and making clothes too for sale. So all in all, not your average charity shop and naturally those prices reflect that.
Here's where I get flummoxed I guess. I get it. It's a chi-chi area where the money is rolling around, and better for an organisation like Oxfam to make a buck or two than someone else. If these people can easily afford a £260 dress from a charity shop then so be it. I'm also all for up and coming designers and fashion students getting their hands on unused Oxfam stock and making amazing clothes. It's like being able to buy the products of a Project Runway/Catwalk challenge.... nothing wrong with that and as modelled by Alexa Chung (Overexposed, much? Bored by her? I am...), this Gabrielle Miller patchwork dress is lovely and probably worth the pretty penny they have tacked onto it...
BUT... and I guess it's the old biddy in me emerging as I have just returned from a weekend of South East coast charity shop browsing where the prices are still low low low (no finds for me though...) and therefore, I'm still in the frame of mind whereby I want to walk into an Oxfam and find a pair of Miu Miu shoes for £10 and feel very chuffed with myself coming out of there with my charity shop steal. Designer names aside, I like my £2 skirts and £3 cashmere cardis. Perhaps the value of fashion and what it SHOULD be worth is all out in the open now and those sort of bargains just aren't possible anymore in the savvy chi-chi parts of London but I know they still exist elsewhere. So in a non-conclusive ending, the concept of the store itself is fine by me but the Oxfam name attached to it is somewhat confusing for simple folk like me...
It does make it worse that I do like what some of the designers, who were roped into help launch the boutique by making garms made out of stuff they found at Oxfam (you might have seen it in the Grazia spread last week), have done... it's all up on eBay now save for a crystal-encrusted black flapper dress that Christopher Kane has done. I'm thinking that's their star piece that will go sky-high in bids...
Giles Deacon took some floral curtains and reworked it into a dress shape taken from his SS08 collection...this is getting a lot of bids at the mo even though I think similar dresses can be found for a lot less..
Henry Holland used an old bridesmaid dress as the base sillhouette for some Spongebob action and some 70's curtains to make this reversible puffball dress... I'll sit out on the Spongebob but I do like the triangular geo print...
Richard Sorger's dotty dress got a 'hand' with a dusting of Swarovski pearls and a hand print from his AW08 collection... love the way it messed up the primness of polka dots....
I'm going to have a go at bidding for this but purely because of the amazing print on the skirto f this dress....not so keen on the dots and ruffle blouse at the top though...
This is so recognisable as Jonathan Saunders that this is actually a pretty good steal for anyone who gets it for under £100...
I want to know how Stephen Jones found a A-Z map pillowcase but in any case, he has made it into a madhatter hat...
