And after hand me down?  

When I began to break out of that me-as-mini-version-of-my-mother?

Hooped petticoats, fed with faux-whalebone strips to stand out like a lampshade, space between hem and thigh filled with flounced and ruffled netting.…

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Keep it simple, the clerk said, so I took off the scarf  and the bangle bracelets,

exchanged the three inch spikes  for a low heeled suede that matched the dress.

 

She smiled, and waited;   I removed  three rings,  the nose ring, the ear studs (all six of them),

and the tennis bracelet. 

She nodded encouragingly;  Ah, I thought. 

Getting into the spirit of it all, I discarded the sparkly pin and  another ring;  and then she reached…

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Report in today’s paper claims that

• around 85% of women aged 50+ spend more than £1000 on their summer wardrobe
• 54% take up to 10 outfits for a weeks holiday
• 56% take five pairs of shoes
• 91% take an average of five handbags.

So as not to disappoint please note that I might bring one spare pair of shoes and I have to bring one of my only two handbags for my books and notebook for the plane.   And I’ve bought nothing new at all.