Megan Norris

Features

Applying for my credit card was probably the worst idea I’ve ever had. Even with the 6 months

interest free period, is it still the worst idea I’ve ever had?

“I am never going to shop again!” I shouted when I bought my last item of clothing; a £4.99 pair of

tights from New Look that snagged within the first day of wearing them. I was not happy, at all. This

has led me to start thinking differently about spending so much money, especially on my credit card!

What’s the point in spending fake money on things that are just going to break? Even more so as I

now have to pay back 16.9% more because of the rate on my credit card and the interest has kicked

in. Using my pay and student loan to slowly pay off all the money I’ve built up.

Last year I decided to apply for my first credit card, for a good reason of course; I could claim staff

discount online from the shop I work for. It had a 6 month interest free period, so I thought why not.

With a £750 limit I went to town, literally, using it to buy everything from clothes to food. I was out

of control with my spending habits, coming home most days with at least one bag of new things. At

this time I was in full time work, however at the end of the month instead of having money, I was

paying off the bill I had racked up that month. It’s like a vicious circle, which is very difficult to get

out of.

I just couldn’t help myself, every time I walked into a shop I couldn’t resist the brand spanking new

clothes, my eyes glazed over with soft cottons and beautiful silks. Usually they were from expensive

shops that I couldn’t really afford on a student budget. But it was ok because, “I’m spending on a

credit card that I don’t have to pay back for a whole month.” Or so I thought, now the honeymoon

period is over, it just feels like I’m paying for things over and over.

I am a strong believer in retail therapy, the amount of times I have been moping around the house,

with nothing to do, when my boyfriend decides we are going shopping, and I instantly perk up! Then

later on in the trip he will ask: “Do you really need that?” or “Haven’t you already got something

similar to that at home?” This makes me feel guilty for shopping for things I like, but he’s right I

shouldn’t be spending my money ‘willy nilly’ on things I don’t particularly need, especially when I’m

at University and don’t have money growing on trees. I wish I did!

Saying that, I recently bought a Christmas jumper from Topshop, costing £40, it was a sunny day

when I bought it and I can’t bring myself to wear it. So a month on it’s still hanging in my wardrobe

with the ticket on it, waiting for the day I feel it is finally Christmas time, so I can wear it and not feel

or look stupid. In the same week I also bought a dress from Republic for £29, I have yet to wear it as

it is more of a summer dress. I don’t know why I bought it so early, I could have waited till the winter

sale and spent less money, and then I could wear it a lot sooner after purchasing it. So technically

I’ve wasted that £30, which I could have spent on essentials like food and rent, however I didn’t and

now I’m paying the price. Not being able to give my parents rent money and hardly being able to get

to university without having to borrow money or selling my stuff on Ebay.

I only have 23p left in my overdraft; so this is where Ebay comes into the equation. I started selling

my old clothes on the site, seeing as they are just hanging there, when someone else could get joy

out of wearing them. Alas, if I hadn’t bought them on my credit card, money wouldn’t be an issue. I

wouldn’t be in debt so I could just buy clothes if I wanted them not because I could. Don’t even get

me started on my shoe collection; from the highest heels that I can barely walk in let alone be

comfortable in, to the little pumps I like to wear on those summer days walking around town trying

to find new shoes, clothes and clutter to go in to my house.

I just love the rush of shopping, finding that outfit that is perfect. The perfect pair of jeans, which fit

like a glove or even the softest jumper that doesn’t make your hair go static; which is a rarity with

my hair! But for that moment of fulfilment doesn’t last for long, the monthly bill falls through the

letter box and you are once again paying money back to the credit card company.

Maybe I should ditch the credit card; whilst I’m ahead so at least I don’t end up paying more money,

for the things I bought months ago. This will then spare me the hassle of taking things back to shops

or selling things on Ebay.

Spending money should always be about spending your own money and not the fake money these

companies are giving you, to purposefully get you in to debt. Especially for people like me, who don’t

have any concept of money or how to budget?

When it comes to never shopping again, I don’t know if I can uphold that statement, however I will

stop spending money on my credit card and then I can finally cut it up and be done with it! Seeing as

when I finally wear my Topshop jumper it will actually be costing me £46.76 instead of £40 because

of all the bloody interest!

Profile

The smell of vintage clothing lingered in the air, with hundreds of garments hanging all around me,

where I sat listening to an eccentric red headed woman talking flamboyantly about her life. She was

wearing a large pair of black rimmed glasses and a beautiful array of clothes, a deep purple skirt by

Windsmoor, which she bought from a charity shop, with a lovely placement print on the bottom of

the fabric. She wore this with a black crepe lace house coat, from 1920, chosen from a collection in

her shop.

This was Hepwrights vintage fashion and lifestyle which is owned by Catherine Wright otherwise

known as the self titled ‘bonkers vintage lady’; she opened it a year ago, in the heart of

Southampton. Not wanting to give her name to the shop, as she wanted it to sound like it had been

around forever like Selfridges, and so she decided on the name ‘Hepwrights’ incorporating her

name and also Hep, which she says stands for both of the famous Hepburn’s and also the Hep-cats

of the 50’s.

This is not her first year in the business of vintage, as she started her business seven years ago, along

with a friend. Whilst holding her coffee in a beautiful porcelain cup and saucer she explains how so

much had changed from a few years ago when she started. The first thing they bought however was

not a vintage piece; it was from the shop French Connection. A particular skirt that a celebrity had

worn and ‘everybody was going mental over it’ they knew where there were three of them on sale,

so they bought them and sold for a profit on eBay. This was where she did all of her business, she

told me whilst keeping eye contact. ‘No way, not know how could I have a shop, but I could

understand selling online’. After a while of selling things on Ebay, both Catherine and her business

partner’s homes were full up with stuff, so they had to move, thankfully they found a basement to a

coffee shop, which they moved into. Shortly after people started to come into the basement and try

and buy things. ‘People kept coming in and saying oh that’s nice how much is it?’ then they

eventually gave in and started to sell inside the shop as well as Ebay. Her business partner finally left

a while later, because she wanted to pursue her music career. She found herself a ‘dodgy office

space down the end of town’ as she had to move out of the basement, which was light, airy and had

a nice feel about it.

However a series of unfortunate events unfolded for Catherine, including her house burning down,

she had lost everything, ‘except the four walls and a roof’ and both of her children becoming ill in

hospital, one having a heart operation. The only way she could make any money whilst everything

was happening was to open the doors to this office space and have a sale once a month. Whilst

looking up in to the air and waving her hair out of her face Catherine said: ‘I got into a rhythm of

once a month come to my warehouse and buy some stuff.’ This gave her more confidence, making

her think that a shop was the way to go.

Catherine had suffered from severe depression before her whole world came crashing down around

her. She explained as she grasped her coffee cup, seeming apprehensive about what she was telling

me, as she had never been so upfront about it before. Catherine explained: “I had massive

depression, to the point where I was nearly hospitalised, but in that situation they put you in the

best place for you, and the best place for me was at home looking after my children and trying to get

on” This is a sensitive subject for anybody to talk about however Catherine expressed how common

depression is ‘common as muck’ in her words and nobody should be ashamed of it. She started to

open up a lot more and be more herself; she sat back on her quaint wooden white chair, and took a

sip from her coffee cup. This depression made her realise she had to reinvent herself, because

before she knew she would never have been so brave to open up a shop.

Catherine sat in the comfort of her own shop, pushing her misbehaving hair out of her face whilst

telling me about the very place we were sat. ‘I signed the lease for the shop on the 27th September’

she continued: “I’m not quite sure what it looks like from the outside, but I’ve been told it’s very

pretty and I have an unusual collection of stuff.” Then Catherine looked around her store and smiled

at all the coloured cloth she told me that each one had a story behind it. She knew the names of

everyone who had sold a garment to the shop. Telling me with excitement how sometimes the new

owner of a dress meets up with the original owner and this completes the story.

With the first year anniversary of Hepwright’s vintage store, it is obviously doing very well and

hopefully going to continue to trade for a long time. Catherine has finally come out of a whirlwind of

terrible events, from depression to her house burning down. Any other women may have carried on

down this never ending spiral to destruction but Catherine pulled herself out of the dark and into the

light. So hats off to this woman for the amount of crap she has had to deal with for the last few

years, but now it seems to be on the up and everything is going right for Ms Catherine Wright.

Clothes show review

The four hour journey to Birmingham was tantalising. I couldn’t wait to step off the coach and

stretch my legs, so when we finally got there I jumped off the coach in excitement for the day ahead.

The smell hit me as soon as we started walking through the NEC, it was Subway, a very cheap

sandwich company, and does this say something about the event? Most probably, all I knew that

was I was hungry. We then carried on through the wide corridors to get into the main arena, there

were so many people trying to sell discount vouchers and bags that weren’t all that good, it was so

frustrating. Telling us we could save hundreds of pounds on our shopping that day. But of course I

was going to save hundreds of pounds, as I wasn’t planning on spending anywhere near one

hundred anyway. If you are going to be there all day and indulge yourself in serious shopping, then

you may spend enough money for the discount pack to be worth the money. But if you were going

to do serious shopping you wouldn’t attend this event?

Once in the arena, the subway smell was still lingering in the air and looking down there were old

and shabby carpets for each section of the floor. Firstly the vintage section, which was on a horrible

dirty blue carpet. I wanted to rush through all the rails to find something. However I knew it was

either going to be stupidly expensive, as vintage usually is, or I would be there for hours to find that

one thing; I didn’t have the time or patience. It was a bit of a confusing section as it was full of

vintage at one end, and on the opposite side there was a Claire’s accessories stand and a Suzuki prize

stand among others. Then to my surprise I found that the vintage section was basically across the

whole of the arena, finding it near enough everywhere I turned.

The most disgusting carpet was the ‘bright pink’ section, getting less bright, and more dirty every

single year with the amount of people who drag their feet across it. Obviously this was one of the

busiest areas, seeing girls running past with ‘lipsy’ and ‘juicy couture’ bags to the next stand they had

their eyes on. This may have been because there were some amazing deals on brands, such as

Models Own, Rimmel and Benefit, sometimes getting £20 worth of items for free for spending just

£10.

When I moved over to the craft section; the section I was most excited about as it was a new

section; however a wave of disappointment swept over my enthusiastic face. When you think of

‘craft’ surely you would think of ‘make do and mend’, a few ‘how to’ sections, or even ‘how to make

your own Christmas gifts’ this was not the case. It wasn’t anything like that; it was the smallest

section of the whole arena, with small stands with people selling the things they have made

themselves. It was very uninspiring, which was a shame, with the current ecological climate you

would think such a large event would want to promote a ‘make do and mend’ attitude?

Even though it was the first day of the event this year there were still a lot of people, from students

browsing the many stalls to mums and daughters hunting through clothes rails, to inevitably find

something overpriced and not that great. However because of the event they would just have to

purchase it.

When it came to the show, which was ‘A Night at the Department Store’ the bright lights stung my

eyes and the loud music gave me a headache, not the best combination. However when the dancers

and models came on stage I was able to enjoy the music and lights, as they were dimmed so no

longer burning my retina’s. I was impressed with the variety of fashion they had included in the

show from lingerie to wedding dresses. This of course was a good thing, because it gave the show a

lot more dynamism and was very visually pleasing.

Of course I am talking about the Clothes Show live 2011, if you hadn’t already guessed it. Overall I

enjoyed the show more, than I enjoyed the hours of trying to find where you were in the vast

setting. Trawling around the whole event is difficult with so many stalls, the amount of people there

and the endless pain as people bash you with their bags as they push past you, in the anticipation of

what they might find next. There were swarms of teen girls who were all surrounding the stands,

most of which were selling ‘kitsch’ jewellery, which I will admit I liked when I was 14 but not now. It

looks cheap and it’s definitely for a younger crowd, who have their parents behind them, ready to

buy them whatever they want.

The catwalk show was a lot better, as it showcased some beautiful clothes and some amazing dance

routines. The way it was set as a department store was interesting as well, as it had a proper focus to

the show. Each ‘level’ of the department store had a completely different scene, which made

watching it fresh and exciting. It would have been more exciting if the show was higher end, so it

sent you into a whirlwind of excitement of ideas spiralling in your head, of what you could be

wearing next season. This would then give the Clothes Show a more exciting edge, so people would

carry on going each year.

The fact that the craft section was very small and the amount of teenage girls that were there,

looking you up and down, to check out what you were wearing and if it was bang on trend, has put

me off a bit. I can safely say I don’t think the Clothes Show is all it’s cracked up to be.