Theoretically I know that all the high street shops, and probably some designer labels too, get made in the same places and buy their fabric from the same sources. I mean, it's only logical, the companies that sell the fabric couldn't get by with only one customer.

I first noticed it on the shop floor 2 summers ago, when pretty much all the jewellery I looked at had at least some of the same components from the jewellery in what ever shop I'd just left. It didn't particularly bother me (high street androgyny pah! ;-)), pretty much because I loved all the jewellery trends that summer - but this year, the incestuous relationship the high street has with it's suppliers is bringing me down a little.

I love it when a high street shop brings out a designer knockoff. If I blew that much on one item I'd have to KNOW I'd love it forever, until it fell apart, clutched to my bosom as I weep inconsolably. The thing is though, my tastes kind of change. A lot. I don't always like the same things, or rather style, for very long. Sometimes I get swept away by trends that really, really, don't suit me. I'd be terrified to drop a grand on something that, on reflection, is kinda fugly. With the high street, I get to try out trends and styles, fads. If I decide that I love my new outfit more than food, then, hey, the designer version could be an option. I think it helps that I'm not really a big bag girl, and that I'm self aware enough to realise that the shoes I adore enough to forsake any form of sustenance or shelter for an improbable amount of time, are probably not ones I'm really going to be able to wear. Anywhere. Plus, a great way to put oneself off buying designer threads, is to realise that a lot of them won't necessarily have anything in your size if you're not a waif - which I most definitely am not.

However, I don't really like theft on the high street. It's more like unoriginality. There's usually enough of a price gap to make it a kind of sales bargain, but really, did they have to exactly the same thing Shop X?

Okay, so maybe I'm slightly biased. I happened to buy the most, the MOST people! beautiful skirt. The colours were gorgeous, it had netting to make it pouffy, it had the cool brushstroke thing going on that I'd seen in all the catwalk shows but hadn't materialised anywhere useful...

Gaze on it's beauty in wonder and awe.

And then, after splurging, 'cos people, it was only a skirt, and I'm money poor, what to I see in everybodies favourite cheapty shop, Primark?

A prom dress, with pouffyness, if a more itchy version, for half the price of my skirt. Even more galling since at the time there was a prom dress version on the house of Fraser website for £45. Seriously though girls and boys, it was a sad, sad day for the pollyanna.

Although, the silver lining is that I'm thinking of maybe purchasing and doing something with layering, for extra length and pouffyness. See, every cloud has one!

Primark also have a version of this dress. It'd taffeta instead of satin and neither of them is quite as nice as Topshop's emerald version, but i know some people prefer blue. even though they say geniuses choose green. I'm just saying is all. Topshop also has this shirt, which is pretty much the same as this one from Dorothy Perkins, which is £5 more, but has a satiny bow. You know it's worth it.

I know ruffles are in, and there are only so many ways to use them without them becoming too OTT, but please, a little differentiation between your stock people!

Sorry. Rant over.

A lot of people have issues shopping high street, because they feel they become a bit homogeneous when everyone is buying the same things, but I think part of what makes fashion fun is wearing things differently to other people. I think if you can buy something 10 other people are wearing and make it look unique and perfect on you, then that's really what fashion is about. Plus, if it really bothers you that when you walk down the street half a dozen people are wearing the same dress, and you really really want it, just put it into the back of your wardrobe until everyone else has got bored with theirs. If you don't mind wearing something from a past season put away until the next summer. I mean, when you buy summer goodies on sale, that's really what ends up happening anyway, so it's not that kooky.

You just have to remember to rotate your clothes. say it with me. R-o-t-a-t-e. That's it, well done! Now I just need to do it myself. That's why i want to do a What I Wore Today post every day. I think it'll motivate me to dress presentably, always a worthwhile aim, but I'll see what I'm wearing, or more importantly, not wearing.

Ciao for now!