London High Street Changing Room Chronicles (Vol. 1)

NOTE: This is going to be a "laundry list of purchases" post. If you, like one of my anonymous commenters, find these types of posts annoying/overwhelming/offensive, this is the polite heads-up to stop reading right now. Consider yourself warned. :)

Whenever I go on vacation, I take loads of pictures near the beginning and experience camera fatigue by the end, which explains why I snapped so many changing room photos in London but didn't take any changing room pictures in Paris or NYC. These pictures are from the day I shopped along Oxford Street. I didn't end up buying very many of these pieces because I found fault with a lot of them once I tried them on.

P.S. Snapping changing room pics is a great way to decide whether or not to buy something if you're undecided. The digital camera provides an objective point of view on what you really look like in that questionable top.

Topshop

I found this dress on the clearance rack and tried it on on a whim; ironically, it was the only piece I bought. I really like the florals; they're not too pastel-y. The dress is made of cotton and would make a cute sundress, or look good paired with thick tights and tall black leather boots.

This top was okay at best. The fabric didn't feel very nice to the touch and I was wary of having to buy a nude-coloured layer to wear underneath the relatively sheer top.

I first drooled over this top online and couldn't wait to try it on when I found it in-store. However, I didn't like how the top hid my waist and was a bit too sheer in the bottom. If you look a bit closer, you can see the waist of my jeans through the pink fabric.

The blue ruffled blouse and brown wool trousers look amazing in this photo; they just didn't feel amazing when they were on me! The trousers could do with a lining underneath as they felt rather itchy, even for the two minutes I had them on in the changing room.

Next

This top looked promising on the hanger. On me, it was a bit shapeless.

I was pretty impressed with how slim I looked when I put this top on; it just created a long, lean line. The primness of the collar appealed to my inner Victorian (the same inner Victorian that makes me lists lines from Tennyson's 'Ulysses' as my favourite quote on my Facebook profile).

I really loved the fabric on this top and was rather disappointed with how sack-like it appeared on my frame.

The colour? Yes. The ruffles? Pretty. The fabric? No thanks--it clung in funny ways and made me look lumpier than I am.

Like the Topshop trousers, this sweater proved too itchy.