Wednesday 3 February 2016

Supermarket sweep

Like a lot of women, Jane and Beryl find themselves in supermarkets rather more than they would like. To make the most of it, however, (which is their modus operandi in life), they find themselves often among the clothing rails. Indeed, Jane has had some notable successes in this department, notably a blue and white striped mac from Asda several seasons ago. 

So it is with ASDA that they start their supermarket sweep (Tescos and Sainsburys will be coming soon). Beryl faced this with a heavy heart as she was not optimistic that good would come of it, but it was she who ended up buying two of the items they tried on. 

Jane is top-to-toe ASDA-woman here: she sports a polyester embroidered blouse (which she would have considered buying but she has many, many of these), at £12, a pair of trousers also polyester, at £14, a grumpy-old-husband cardi for £20 and plimsoles for £3. She also has a bit of ASDA jewellery round her neck which is a full £6. Total spend for the outfit is a fabulous £55. How do they do it?

Obviously, something has to give with such inexpensive clothes, which tends to be the quality of the fabric: polyester and acrylic form the backbone of the collection. However, on the whole Jane and particularly Beryl were pleasantly surprised. The designs are quite safe, as are the colours (blue, black and white predominate), and are not cutting edge: for example, these stretchy jeans are uber skinny, creating the Max Wall effect, where the fashion world is moving towards flares. Jane who is a big fan of the wide leg could not locate any in this branch. Model's own boots were used to tuck these into, as no-one wants to see Beryl's leg looking like a pork chop. Their sizing, (which is a good thing), is very generous.  The jeans were Wonderfit at £20 and the lace top was £14.

Jane and Beryl were attracted to the denim hues of this cardigan: HOWEVER, THEY ARE PIG SICK OF WATERFALL CARDIS! Why, oh, why, does any designer think that women want to wear these beastly things? They add acres of fabric where it's not wanted: they are literally getting on their tits! Rant over. This one is 95% acrylic and is £20, and Jane is wearing it over a white pure cotton shirt which is £12, skinny blue jeans which are a great colour and cotton at £14 with a £6 necklace and white plimsoles. 

Beryl quite liked this, a floral vest top and white sweater combo for £16. Beryl is struggling to know where exactly in Britain that this would look out of place. Both items worked well on their own and the neckline is particularly great. Beryl actually manages to look that most illusive of things SMART CASUAL. 

Jane has slipped into cruise wear a bit out of season, but she is feeling very at home in this outfit. This shirt is the same as the white one above, so is £12, the jeans are £20 and the stripy jumper… oops, can't find a price, but very reasonable, and it's got a little zip at the neck. 

If you were starting a new job and needed a bit of emergency office wear, this dress for £18 was jolly presentable. For the price, the fit was excellent. 

Jane has always liked the all-white thing, although not normally in the depths of winter. However, this lace top (£14) and jean combo was so appealing that Beryl bought the top and plimmys. As the back opening is such a feature, Beryl plans to rummage through her granny's button box for some superlative fastenings which will make the garment look a bit classier. 

Beryl has her own personal micro-climate and therefore found the manmade fibres of this coatigan a trial in the changing room. What she did like was the colour combination and the leather-effect trim detail. Jane and Beryl were impressed by the cardis, which as we know can be treacherous items on a Woman of A Certain Age, which were stylish.   

Neither Jane or Beryl are particularly tall or model-like, so considering their middle-aged challenges, they think ASDA has done rather well on a shoestring.