shopping

My fave places to clothes shop

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Yo, it’s your girl Maz – a bit of a stranger to the blog. Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve taken to my laptop and published a decent string of blog posts but hey ho, Girl Got Lost is all about the phases of business and chill.

As most of you probs know, I’m pretty keen on the old sustainable shopping front. I don’t buy any new (as in 1st hand) clothes so when I do shop for clothes & accessories I head to a few random places IRL and online.

Here are some of my faves:

Kilo shops

Ugh, such a great concept. Buying clothes by weight. Ok, in reality, it’s not as simple as you’d hope but it does help to refresh your normal dull shopping experience. I used to enjoy visiting the Paris stores; great for basic items like shirts and blouses, not so great for heavy coats or jumpers.

Vestiaire

Vestiaire is a God send if you’re a self-admitting label snob – ok, I haven’t bought anything from there but I sure do love scrolling through the dreamy designer handbags. Vestiaire allows you to buy and sell ‘luxury’ and ‘premium’ second-hand items for a discounted price. Every item is checked by a member of their team to double check they’re authentic and up to standard. Yes, some things are crazy expensive but you can also find a bargain and know that the quality is top notch.

Oxfam Online Shop

Items that don’t sell in Oxfam stores can end up on their online shop. It’s really simple to use and there are honestly, SO MANY PRODUCTS on there. Not everything is second hand, some retailers will donate stock if they can’t sell them or just wanna do some good. Books, vintage, CD and vinyl, clothes, shoes – basically, you can get almost anything on their website so it’s defo worth taking a look.

Charity shops

An obvious choice for some but still, in 2017, so many people overlook the potential of charity shop shopping! They even have discount charity shops now, like in Hatfield, my fave is one where everything is £1(?!?!?!) Before going to Glastonbury last year I was stressing out about buying new wellies and managed to find a pair in my size in there; so fab for a quid.

Festivals

Speaking of festivals, they’re well worth a nosey around if you’re into stand out, eccentric clothes. Summer 2016 took me to no less than 7 festivals and I did my fair share of clothes shopping between stuffing my face with falafel and belting out a tune alongside Adele. Shambala and Lattitude really impressed me with the amount of stuff on offer – picture sequins,  bum bags, unicorn horns, tutus, fairy wings and more. Keep an eye out for bargains on the final evenings of a festival; a lot of stalls don’t have room to take much back so they lower their prices at the final chance. I’ve nabbed an army jacket for £1, 2nd hand Topshop jumpsuits for a fiver (down from 20) and countless deals on socks and cosy hoodies.

 

Overpriced but still fab –>

beyond retro

Pretty much the ASOS of the vintage clothing world.

Rokit

The River Island of the vintage clothing world?

Lastly, if you have a tad more patience and don’t mind wading through more random crap, I recommend shopping on Facebook Marketplace, Depop and eBay. You could even stretch to Gumtree if you’re feeling reaaaally crazy (I once found the prettiest never been worn River Island kimono on Gumtree for a tenner so wahey, it can be done).

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Don’t forget to follow me (online, not in real life plz)

Ta.

Maz xxxxxxoxxxxxx

Pairs in Paris 

Au Pairing in Paris

Back to Paris; friends, work and overpriced beers.

On Friday I went on a run which turned out to be the furthest I’ve ever ran (that I can remember), 15 miles! I intended to do 13 but realistically aimed for 11.5. I ran to Bois de Boulogne and ended up doing a few extra laps of the park because I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. I’d heard that this particular park was popular with ‘ladies of the night’ (lololol) but it wasn’t until I saw how many there were that I believed it. I promise you I saw about 10 definite prostitutes and suspected another 5 or so. This was at 2 in the afternoon!!! To make things weirder there were loads of men suspiciously walking around, stinking of alcohol and cigarettes. there were little man made shacks between the trees and expensive cars parked sporadically on the walkways. This is the weirdest park I’ve ever been to. I know what you’re thinking, I’ve obviously come to a dodgey area. But seriously it’s a nice area, right next to the new huge Louis Vuitton foundation and surrounded by grand houses. And it’s a family park with kids everywhere. Why are there so many prostitures!?

 
As I tried to erase what I’d just seen, I made my way home and although the last 3 or so miles were difficult I reached home with energy and actually didn’t feel like I was going to die. I ran further than the race I’m training for so it gave a bit of extra confidence. 
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On Saturday night Evie, Carys and I had planned to go to the Brazil themed night at Le Bellvilloise but unlucky Evie had hurt her ankle so thought a night of dancing wasn’t really the best idea. We went to hers anyway to predrinks and catch up on holiday stories. The night was pretty decent but as soon as me and Carys arrived I remembered I had a huge carnival headpiece I should’ve worn, ah mayn. Although the drinks are crazily overpriced I really like the club and the Brazilian music was really fun to dance to. They had some drummers and professional dancers on stage, afterwards the male dancer came and joined us normos. He was crazy and we had a little Beyoncé/Brazilian dance off. We left the club to get the first metros home, I found a cat on my way home which looked like it needed cuddles. It then tried to follow me home. No kitty, the cuddle was enough.
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Yesterday I was so overtired but wanted to exercise so compromised with a power walk to la defense, about 4 miles away, to try and find a dress to wear to my Grandma’s party. I didn’t end up buying anything but did get stopped on 3 different occasions by women asking if I worked in the particular stores. I was wearing running leggings, a baggy top, a bright red sorts jacket and trainers. With no make up and scruffy hair! This happened in Spain too when I was wearing sports clothes, am I missing something?! IMG_1784
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This evening me and Carys saved our cents and watched Maid in Manhattan on DVD. I’ve realized we basically are J Lo, just au pairs not maids, not in love with any senators and we don’t have that booty. But apart from that ya know. 
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‘Although we serve them, we are not their servants. What we do, Miss Ventura, does not define who we are. What defines us is how well we rise after falling.’ – Quote from Lionel in the movie. So deeeeeeep.
Pairs in Paris. 
 
Mary 
X
 

Walking tours, Walls and Wedding dresses – Berlin 12th – 14th June 2014

Europe

Nina couldn’t join me on my first full day in berlin as she had to do some work for uni but she gave me instructions on how to get Alexander Platz on the metro and recommended I do the ‘alternative’ walking tour. We had a group of around 15 of us; people were from India, America, Germany, France, England etc and our tour guide, Ryan, was scottish. Instead of the traditional sites Ryan showed us more of the graffiti of Berlin and explained the stories behind them. We saw the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall and took a walk around YAAM, a carribean and african beach bar. The guys working there were asking ‘hey my sister, when you be back again?’, probably thinking I was a lot more Jamaican than I am…

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I learnt loads from the tour and I didn’t lose interest even though it was 3 hours long, I definitely recommend it if you’re visiting Berlin, especially as it’s free! (You can obviously tip your tour guide if he did a good job). After the tour a few of us walked along the east side gallery, checking out the art work on the wall.
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That afternoon I was desperate to visit some shops so I headed to Postdamer Platz for some retail therapy; I was in need of a jacket as I only have a bright red sports jacket with me, but somehow left with a dress and pizza… I got the metro to Kotbusser Tor and stopped in some vintage store still looking for a jacket. One place looked more like a scene from ‘how clean is your house’ rather than a shop; piles of clothes almost reached the ceiling and you couldn’t walk from one wall to another without stepping on books, toys, shoes etc. I left there with a bright green jumper, still no jacket. This is what happens when I go shopping alone; I lose focus!
The next day Nina and I slowly made our to Frankfurter Tor, on the metro and tram stopping off at a coffee shop where every customer (excluding us) was on macbook, looking very unsociable. Humana is this huge 5 storey vintgage shop; we were there to meet Nina’s friend Phillip to buy a drag outfit for a parade. Before Phillip arrived Nina and I had a spare half an hour to kill so decided to try on some garish looking vintage wedding dresses. By time we were in them we had a bit of an audience waiting for us, an old man took photos of us while some woman were telling us that the dresses looked great and we should buy them. After the excitement of the horrible, itchy wedding dresses Phillip arrived so we started hunting for bright and shiny outfits for him. I finally found a jacket and Nina bought some amazing salmon coloured long shorts whilst Phillip bought 2 amazingly bright jackets. We stopped at a photobooth and stopped on the street after seeing 4 guys just staring at a puddle. The puddle was luminous green and we joined them to stare at it, trying to work out what it was and how it got there; aliens, spray paint, the liquid from a glow stick. We didn’t have a clue but it was cool to watch and we saw 3 more green puddles as walked on down the road, weird.IMG_1341
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We went to another cafe to eat paninis before heading home to sort out where we’d watch the Netherlands/Spain football match; Nina’s family home is in the Netherlands so it was essential that we saw the game. Watching it outside was ruled out as it was getting quite cold so we headed to her friend Thomas’ flat. Thomas is from Stevenage(-ish), about 10 mins from where I live and his friend Gordon visiting him is from St Albans, 10 mins in the other direction! Such a small world. We wanted Holland to win but we definitely didn’t expect it to be 5-1! German beer and a hilarious football match was enough to make Nina and I very happy.
Mary x