PART ONE: 27^th December 2006

It was like a sea of creatures coming out of hibernation all at once. Each one gunning for the nicest piece of fabric on offer and not wanting to allow their, now, arch-nemesis a peek at the goods.

I was the creature whose alarm clock failed to wake her up whilst the retail war commenced. So, I arrived to the sales at around midday, which didn’t work to my favour, as what was on offer was hardly tempting.

There were great little bits and bobs in Miss Selfridge, but nothing that accommodated my style. The TopShop racks held a lot of nice items, but nothing that screamed out ‘buy me!’

Why are the sales racks almost always terrible? It’s probably because you only have two choices: duck in and dive or run out screaming a hysterical ‘help!’

But not to worry! Because tomorrow I’m going to where all the big girls play: Oxford Street, and yes, I will be wearing a hard hat and elbow pads…

PART TWO: 28^th December 2006

Walking out of Oxford Circus tube station I expected to witness stampedes of shoppers flocking into the stores, but to my surprise Oxford Street looked as it normally would on any other day: mediocre crowds, people selling fake perfumes and a diverse mix of ethnicities.

With my girls behind me, ready and raring to go, quite naturally we went to TopShop first, and can you blame us? Four floors complete with clothes, bags, shoes, make-up, jewellery, sweets and books! You could basically live there. It was like a huge box of Belgian chocolates - beautiful.

After two hours of trailing the sales in TopShop alone, I had brought Fashion Now 2, £20, (an encyclopaedia of 160 designers put together by i-D magazine). I also got a lovely emerald green shift dress, £22, great to wear with opaque black tights and knee high boots, teamed with a little cardigan for that cute innocent look! Neither were in the sale, but my friend Samara managed to buy a gorgeous outfit from Miss Selfridge, that came to an amazing £25!

So I guess sales aren’t so bad after all!

By Petrina De Gouttes