I have a growing collection of peg-leg trousers. The latest addition are these khaki ones from Zara. Apart from one old Isabel Marant military jacket, I don’t really own anything in that colour. As a brunette, I didn’t really like the look of the colour on me but now I do. Call me fickle, you’d be right.
These trousers also come with a funny story. A little inconvenient, but still pretty funny. I bought them last week to fill a gap in my wardrobe. I wore them for the first and only time on Sunday and was really pleased with them till I went to sit in the car and heard a terrible ripping sound… only to realise my bum seam had come undone. Following the initial lollercoaster, I had a “gosh my bum is lethal” moment before remembering where I had bought the trousers from: Zara. You see, I never shop in Zara normally, and there is a reason. Their clothes are extremely badly made and tend to fall apart even quicker than normal high street stuff (when they are not faulty).
After I mentioned having to return the trousers on Twitter, a lot of people came up with their own Zara mishaps. Buttons falling off in the changing rooms, seams coming undone, tee-shirts shrinking and silk ripping… All things you don’t really expect to happen in the first 2 months, let alone in the first week of wear.
This is my problem with the high street: the prices keep going up but the quality isn’t. This is not me being a snob, this is just an observation. I wear vintage a lot because I like well made clothes that last. Same goes with designer pieces. I can’t see my style changing much so when I buy something I expect it to grow old with me and I like to develop a relationship with my clothes. I don’t want to discard them after 5 wears because they are falling apart and are beyond repair.
To cut a (now) very long story short, I exchanged the trousers because I really like them and decided to give Zara a second chance.
Blouse – ASOS
Trousers – Zara
Shoes – Swedish Hasbeens
To give you an idea about the high street, this outfit is almost entirely composed of high street pieces: the jacket had to be returned after one week of wearing it because the studs were falling off (that was last year), the trousers had to be returned because the seam came undone. In my closet, I also have a bag with a broken handle after 3 weeks of usage (not even a cheap one), shoes with an unglued sole after 3 wears etc. Pretty glamourous, non?
I wrote about Fast Fashion before on this blog, so if you would like to read some more on this, just click the link.
Tell me about your high street troubles!