There were fewer greater pleasures in the life of a young girl in the early noughties than being promised a trip by mum to Birmingham's Bull Ring shopping centre. Or Manchester's Trafford Centre. Or Reading's The Oracle. Whatever your local soulless mall was, heading there during half term with all the excitement of a whole bunch of brand new clothes ahead of you was akin to erm, nothing in your life today. Because life today is rubbish compared to your teenage years.
Here were some of your favourite stores.
Pilot
Good for: Denim jackets, denim in general
Tight, glittery, bleached and distressed. Pilot was the B*Witched cosplayers' dream (that's a thing right? Right.)
Jane Norman
Good for: The corset trend.
Where else would you go to recreate the looks of Christina Aguilera, Pink, Missy Elliot and Mya in the Lady Marmalade video for your Christmas school disco? Jane Norman that's where. Double points if your corset (or bustier as your mum called it) was actually underwear too.
Kookai
Good for: splashing the cash
The high-end of the high street, Kookai was what I thought people were referring to when they called clothing 'designer' for a long old time. Which is why I spent several River Island paychecks on a pink bag that had the company's logo emblazoned across it. Kookai had it's own special section in House of Fraser in Cheltenham where only the really cool girls hung out.
Bay Trading
Good for: When Jane Norman was too expensive
One step away from that Eastenders market stall that sells clothes, Bay Trading was all about the lyrca tops (super forgiving on teenage puppy fat they were), the bleached denim spray on jeans (with just a hint of glitter sprinkled on them for an extra layer of class) and those white fake leather belts with the silver holes in them.
Morgan De Toi
Good for: Being a sophisticated French rock chick
Low slung hipster bell bottoms, cropped 'rock' vest tops. This was the perfect place to get that what-would-happen-if- Alison-from-The-Kills-went-on-TOWIE look. And, because it had the vaguely French sounding name you knew it was dead classy. Worked best if you teamed it with lots of black eyeliner and that 'just had sex' hair. Even though you were 13. And a virgin.
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Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.