I have a theory about shopping, and it is this: sometimes, you ought to buy things before you're 100% sure you actually like them. Seriously, bear with me.
It’s a cruel truth about fashion (and also supermarket celery, but that’s another article), that often it takes you almost as long to come round to the idea of a trend as it does for that trend to rise, flourish and die on a high-street sale rail. Think about it. How often have you initially hated a trend, dismissing it as only for art students and delusional magazine editors, then suddenly woken up one morning going, 'YES I GET IT NOW! TO THE SHOPS!' before finding you have approx. two and a half weeks left to actually wear the thing before it's deader than a pineapple-print dodo?
All the time! Right? All the zipper-fiddlin’ time.
Sociologist Everett Rogers claimed in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations that trends cycle through five stages: “awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption”. In practice, it goes like this…
1. Awareness
You spot a trend. ‘Purple breeches’, let’s pretend. You do not like the trend. It’s ugly and awkward. Even models look faintly embarrassed to be wearing it. You cannot picture a time when purple breeches are ever going to work their way into your wardrobe without a large cash prize being involved.
2. Interest
But the trend persists, and as you see more purple breeches in magazines you warm to them, slightly. 'Yeah, ok,' you think. 'Purple breeches. I guess I get it in a conceptual, Tilda Swintony way. Maybe on street style bloggers. But not me. Never me.'
3. Evaluation
This continues for a few weeks, until you finally realise that suddenly, deep down, you actually want a pair of purple breeches. You dither, you ponder, you send texts to friends asking ‘Can I pull off purple breeches, or do I look like a psychedelic Mr Darcy?’
4. Trial
Eventually, you take the inevitable plunge and buy a pair of purple breeches.
5. Adoption
You love them! You’re styling them out of the park! You’re more YOU than you have ever been, in these purple breeches!
Or at least, you are for about three weeks, before purple breeches tip over into being officially a bit ‘done’ and the fash pack all start wearing tapestry cagoules or some such.
And this is the problem with trends.
Items I’ve performed this merry dance with in recent years include, but are not limited to: pool slides. Polo necks. Culottes. Neon faux fur. Longline sleeveless jackets. Dungarees. Slip-on skater shoes. Button-through denim mum skirts. Mule sandals. Orthopedic 90s sandals. Lace-up sandals. Pretty much all sandals. And cropped tops.
So when SHOULD you buy into these trends? Obviously I’m not advocating we run around spaffing cash on everything in the shops we find heinous; that would be wasteful and time-consuming, and the designers at Joe High Street would never learn their bloody lesson.
No, the time to act is at the point where the trend is still officially ugly, but somehow also intriguing to you. The bit where you notice it everywhere, and can’t stop mentioning it to people – like the kind of crush you pretend to hate at primary school. 'These purple breeches everyone’s wearing! Tchuh!' you tell old ladies you don’t know at the bus stop. 'You won’t catch ME in these purple breeches, BLEUCH,' you say to nobody in particular, stroking a pair for a little too long in Topshop.
Logically, it makes sense to take the plunge now and save yourself a whole lot of When Harry Met Sally-ing around the high street. Buy the trend before you’re completely convinced you like it, therefore giving yourself time to wear it to the max… before it ends up in TK Maxx. Then all it takes is a couple of enthusiastic friends (or failing that, kindly strangers in pub toilets) to reassure you the leap was worthwhile and you have successfully climbed Fashion Mountain. Have I convinced you? I have, haven’t I?
Of course, the other option is don’t buy trends at all and give all the money to orphans. But if you were going to do that, you’d never have read this far.
So here's five trends to buy now, and learn to love later…
Ankle-swinging flares
I know, I know. I’m sorry. But at least they don’t soak up the rain like a corduroy sanny pad.
Cropped flare trousers, £59.99, Zara; High-waisted cropped flare, £78, Free People; Velvet kick flares, £40, Topshop Archive
Velvet
But not the skater dress you wore in 2013. We’ve stepped it up a notch, from a kind of barefoot Marianne Faithfull vibe to the full Little Lord Fauntleroy. For bonus points, there’s crushed velvet – you can achieve this by taking normal velvet and really hurting its feelings.
Velvet minidress, £69.99, Zara; Velvet monk shoes, £72, Topshop; Crushed velvet turtle neck top, £19.99, H&M
Slightly Awkward Ankle Boots
Should come up a bit higher than ankle, with a mid-height block heel and a toe that doesn’t quite know if it’s round or square. If they’re also velvet, you’ve scored two trends in one and can officially skip a round. Congrats.
Chelsea ankle boots, £45, ASOS; Bless snake ankle boots, £42, Topshop ; Elmworth leather closed boots, £125, Finery
Hairy accessories
Having a pet in a rented urban flat is costly and impractical; having a clutch bag is a sensible alternative. Remember to comb it every night and give it the appropriate vaccinations.
Faux fur striped clutch, £32, Topshop; Story of Lola faux fur backpack, £37, ASOS; Pom Pom leather bracelet, £19, Finery
Beige pop socks
Ahahahaha. No it’s fine, nobody can make you.
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Follow Lauren on Twitter: @laurenbravo
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.