How To Get The Designer Wear Without The Designer Price Tag

A flick through the glossies will tell you that the fashion trend for this year is 'big'. Everything has to be on an unprecedented scale. Huge designer sunglasses, huge handbags, huge, chunky jewellery - anything, as long as it's big.

I have my own personal view on this. Stick thin celebrities are living miserable lives on lettuce leaves and low calorie water. Maybe if they drown themselves in huge items in the name of fashion, they can eat a little more without having a 'fat' day?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not jealous. I like my food and I'm happy to admit it. Starving makes me grumpy and not a nice person to be around. At the same time, I have no desire to don designer sunglasses that make me look like a fly on speed or to carry a bag that would see Mary Poppins green with envy.

Even for those that are slaves to the fashion world, that think their whole persona hangs on whether or not they have the latest designer sunglasses or designer shoes, this is not an easy lifestyle to keep up. It usually belongs to those that are either fabulously wealthy or fabulously in debt for it.

Parents succumb to pressure from their children to keep up with current trends for fashion, accessories and technological gadgets when their children are very young. This is due to so much advertising being aimed at them. If you limit the amount of TV they watch, they will still bow to peer pressure and harass their parents into buying the latest must have.

However, recent studies show that children who fall prey to this culture of material competitiveness are more prone to depression and other mental health problems. They need to be encouraged to understand their value does not hinge on whether or not they have the latest electronic game, designer jeans or designer sunglasses, but on the person within.

For the older ones who have full control of their own finances and some disposable income, keeping up with latest trends can be a cripplingly expensive hobby. High street stores, despite providing good quality clothing and top fashions, are not good enough for these dedicated followers of fashion. It has to be designer - designer shoes, designer handbag, designer sunglasses.

Whether your shoes cost you 845 pounds from Manilo Blahnik or 24.99 pounds from Tesco, they are still going to be out of fashion next season. If you're wearing 150 pounds Prada designer sunglasses this summer or the 14.99 pounds Top Shop version, who can tell? Only those who are equally enslaved to the must have culture. The question is: can you afford to throw this type of money away every few months?

A growing trend among the uber fashion conscious is an arrangement of shared designer gear. Whether it be designer clothes, designer sunglasses or designer shoes, groups of young friends are clubbing together to amass a wardrobe that would make any celebrity jealous at a fraction of the cost.

Of course, for this system to work, there has to be a great deal of trust involved. It is sensible for the friends to either live together or near each other so all are within easy reach of the much needed item. There needs to be some type of system in place to determine who uses what, when. And, of course, they need to be of a similar size unless they are thinking of just pooling resources accessories.

The groups that have implemented this system shout its virtues loud and clear. They claim that although they have different tastes, this encourages all of them to try new styles. They are also more inclined to take better care of the items and it can mean savings of thousands of pounds per month, where they would normally buy the same designer outfits individually.

It means the same group of friends will never commit that dreadful fashion faux par of turning up in the same outfit and, even if they're out of season very quickly, at least they were purchased at a fraction of the cost to each person.

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