Kookai Sale

At lunch my friend, S, rings me all huffy and puffy and shrieked that kookai had an outlet clearance sale at the other end of town. I literally threw my mouse down, grabbed my bag and ran, I could hear my male colleagues laughing on the way out. I'm such a cliche!


It was pretty crazy for Perth standards, racks and racks of clothes that were only full price a week ago and a good crowd with snaking queues to the till. So I started sifting and agreed with my girlie that if I saw her I saw her. I grabbed about 10 dresses and headed to the change rooms, there was no way I was going to just pay for stuff without trying, I've learnt my lesson the hard way and wasted too much money before. Good thing, I only came away with 2 silk dresses that were worth buying. I also picked up 2 tops.

(Voila!)

This little stash retails for a total of $545. I paid $110. it just goes to show how much retailers profit. They still profit when items are slashed down to 75% because their mark ups is usually 400%!

I've become some sort of a shopping snob ever since I read Judith Levine's "Not Buying It". Her take on consumer culture left me enlightened somewhat. I now try to make educated buys. I read the labels like how some weight watchers read their nutrition labels. I try to buy Australian made as far as possible. Where clothes are concerned I don't buy something that is "Dry clean only" and I will not put good money on low grade polyester or polyester blended materials. Recently I've resorted to the budget line - throw away fashion that ranges $10-$35. Most of the time, last year's dress is too last year to wear again this year anyway!

These fashion houses are major rip offs. All these items I bought are made in china. They were just given fancy names (clockwise from the violet dress:Windsor Purple Sophie Gather Dress, yellow/pink Niagra Falls Dress, Azur Parisienne S/S Sweater, Crystal Jade Sunshine Top)wrapped in tissue paper and put in a nice coloured/textured paperbag to complete a buying experience. And usually thats what consumer culture is about. Cut to the chase, I just need a dress to wear to a wedding, and maybe a few new tops to update my wardrobe, without breaking the bank.

(The mark downs)

Ahh..without sounding like a shrewd, I'm happy with my purchases, I wouldn't have bought these full retail price, such a bargain had me walking on clouds for a while...until it took me 45 minutes to queue up and pay! And while walking back to office, I realised that I had completely forgotten about a meeting which I hadn't even printed out the agenda to! I'm such a sucker for sales.