One noticeable element of all the high street shops is how they try to re-produce designer styles. I have walked into Topshop many times and seen some form of footwear or handbag that looks exactly like a designer brand I had come across in my ELLE magazine earlier that month. Walk into another clothing store, and you'll probably find the same items that Topshop tried to copy. It's satisfying to find these items of clothing in the style of designer brands. They are not replicas as such, but more copies in that they are similar in shape, colour and minor details, but with the clothing stores' own spin on the designer make. Being a student, I naturally love this, and will root through clothing stores to find these gems. There is a limit though: if something is a bad copy, or looks cheap, it's not worth buying just for the sake of it.
Whilst shopping the other day, I was looking in H&M and came across a bangle which my sister had been wearing at the weekend. She was so excited to tell me that it was exactly like the belt-bangle that has recently become available at Cartier. I googled this and the bangle did in fact look just like the Cartier version. I love Cartier's range of jewellery, and this bangle is another popular item by the eminent French watchmaker-jeweler. I don't have anything like it in my closet, so I'm looking forward to wearing it because it's different. My sister wore a gold one, but I'm more of a silver person so I went for the silver bangle.
The H&M bangle (£3.99):
The real deal (from Cartier, £2,200):
It's such a steal at £3.99, and brand new to H&M, so definitely worth getting before they go out of stock! I'll be on the look-out for more style steals like this and will report back on here soon.
- A.T.
