Milton Keynes Charity Shop Fashion

We visited Willen Hospice Charity shop in Stony Stratford to put together an outfit from the best of the available clothes in the store, with a budget of £30. What do you reckon?

So we arrive, the guys in the shop couldn't have made us more welcome and pointed us in the direction of the mens rack. I got busy scouring through the hangers, i wasn't instantly impressed (probably expecting a more bohemian selection) but after about 5 minutes i realised my arm was weighed down with 'possibles' so i put them in one place on the rail and continued the search. Jumpers, lots of t-shirts, shirts and a few jackets and trousers later i was again feeling the strain on my arm. My assistant from Willen Hospice had also picked out some gems so we decided it was time to start putting the outfit together.

I took about six roughly matching items into the changing room and threw something together. Beige slacks, tidy jumper, classy brown short leather jacket and some smart brown shoes. Done. I emerge from the changing room and there is a look of pleasant surprise on everyone's face, (i think my photographer was surprised to see me looking respectable as much as anything) i checked myself in the mirror and hey i was surprised too! Smart, well fitting, presentable, clean and most amazingly, a few pounds under budget...including the shoes! They pull me away from the mirror and i'm forced to pose for photographs.

Next thing i know, my assistant from Willen Hospice has found a suit and suggests we try the 'dinner look'. I said something like 'excellent' and you can just imagine for the purpose of the article that i spun around in a phone box like superman and came out dressed as sharply as the man in the picture to the left. The jacket was great, fit well, the trousers a little big around the waist but i fixed that with my skate belt and hid it out of site with the very smart light blue shirt that came with the suit. I'm usually dressed...casually...to say the least, holes in jeans etc so my photographer friend's surprise went up a notch. The suit was another success as everyone commented and i was certainly happy with it. What about those other items we picked out...i'm getting into this now :)

Right, summer chilled look. We found a killer hawaiian shirt which was 'made in jamaica', some cool light shorts and a very funky straw hat. I put them on and although i was in a shop on a rainy Stony Stratford high street, i was dressed for a caribbean cruise. Another success! (I bought the hat and shirt as you can see me sporting them in my garden to the right :)

The only criticism i could have is that there wasn't much of a choice of shoes but when you think, we only came to do one outfit and ended up with three great looks, plus more items spare i have to say...Willen Hospice charity clothes shop rocks! So next time you're thinking of traulling around the city centre, ready to spend too much money on clothes that everyone else will buy copies of. Check into a charity shop and see if anything takes your fancy.

We'll be visiting more charity shops, markets and regular stores in future and we may even have a proper model so watch this space.

You can find the Stony Stratford Shop in the high street at this address:
84 High Street, Stony Stratford, MK11 1AH
Tel: 01908 568488

There are another six Willen Hospice charity shops in Milton Keynes, click this link to find out more on their website.

Comments (1)

You need to get your self to Oxfam in Stony !!! They have a great selection in there......I look forward to your report !