Friday 5 June 2015

Your clothes off my back mini summer challenge.....



Hello again,

Well I don’t know about you but next weekend launches me solidly into wedding season, I have 4 friends weddings between then and October, and between that, hen and stag do’s significant birthdays, and my parents ‘cancer didn’t kill us’ party  it feels like I’m booked solidly throughout that time.

One of the exciting things for me about the clothes off my back challenge is dodging the ‘how to dress for weddings’ bullet. Despite the fact that I must have attended 30+ weddings I’m still not quite sure what to wear. I don’t have a clue what smart casual means, or black tie or white tie and as I’m naturally a bit of a scruffpot (a friend at sixth form once accurately and cruelly described my look as ‘slightly stoned primary school teacher’) I tend to go way, WAY too far the other way. As in when my sister Julya got wed I wore a 1950’s ballgown, and no hat – despite the fact hats were the only thing she requested on the invite!

The result of this anxiety tends to be that I throw money at the problem – I am exactly the demographic Coast built their business model around. It seems rude to wear something old to a wedding (why? I don’t understand this at all & have deep respect for this blogger who wore a well loved and worn frock to her own wedding) so I spend a small fortune on some floral strapless number that then gathers dust in my wardrobe. These dresses are not at all suitable for my daily life, and I won’t dare wear them to another wedding (for reason of the above mentioned rude factor) but they cost a little bit too much for me to feel ok chucking them in the charity shop bag.

I’m guessing most women have at least one of these dresses in their wardrobe that makes them feel horrible and guilty every time they see it. So by way of a #clothesoffmyback lite I have a little challenge for you. Carve out 20 minutes of your life this week, and follow the guide in yesterday’s blog to listing clothes on ebay for charity to just sell one of those frocks.
If 100 people list just one item and it sells for £20 that is £2500 (including gift aid) raised for Contact a Family and if you pass this challenge on to people you know – well, the sky is the limit!

So go on – de guilt your wardrobe – and if you do have a wedding to go to maybe search #clothesoffmyback on ebay and buy a frock from another fundraiser…

Meanwhile I’ll be wearing my everyday clothes with a nice pair of heels to this year’s weddings and I’m sure feeling (& looking) a lot better for it! 

PS if you like the beaded jacket I wore to my sisters wedding (in the photo below) the listing opens tonight at 9 on ebay just search #clothesoffmyback and place a bid .......


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