I took a bit of time out from fashion during the summer. Yes, I still wore clothes (naturally) but I didn’t engage in the same loop of consumption I had been pre-pandemic. I was writing about style and trends for my job, but I didn’t experience that same urge to compulsively add-to-basket every time I hit send on a feature. 

It was largely down to my environment: working from home (translation: not really leaving the house) gave me a natural opportunity to hit reset on my shopping habits. I’m now waking back up to clothes and consumption (albeit, I hope, in a more considered way) and there is one valuable lesson I’ve taken with me. I realised that there’s one essential thing standing between me and the women whose style I admire most, the kind of women who always look expensive and effortlessly chic but you can’t quite tell how: quality, considered basics. 

I used to be a magpie. My money would go exactly where my eye would travel: to all things bright, shiny or intensely patterned. It makes sense on a cost-per-wear basis, I’d tell myself. And, in a sense, it would. I’d blow my budget on one statement piece – a kitsch, patterned shirt, or an on-trend tent dress – and wear it to death, mixing it in with older staples on rotation. Essentially, that’s been my modus operandi for over a decade of working in the fashion industry. I’d get my kicks from a key piece that was very ‘now’, proving my status as a ‘fashion person’. 

How wrong I was. If I’d paid any real attention I’d have known the real fashion people were off to the side – on a different plane or, rather, another level – squirrelling away luxury basics. They were investing in Wolford leggings (the kind you can actually wear as trousers that don’t give you camel toe), never-go-out-of-date wool ankle-length coats in navy or rust-tobacco, organic cotton-silk white T-shirts that don’t get discoloured or stretch out around the neckline, knitwear that doesn’t pile (not least the electric fabric shaver to keep on top of the piling), dry-clean only items they actually take to get dry cleaned, buttery soft cashmere pull-overs in shades of toffee and brown sugar, expensive but hard-wearing black shoes like Prada loafers and Gucci slip-ons, the right shade of red nail varnish that looks jaunty but never cheap (ditto the lipstick), good leather ballet pumps and the perfect shade of denim (not too bright, not too murky) that I mostly see online, rarely in real life. Basically, smart staples to last a lifetime. 

These women were setting the foundations for long term relationships. I, on the other hand, lived fast and loose – sowing my sartorial oats. I knew the other things were good, I just considered them too – whisper it – ‘boring’ to require my attention in that moment.

Why the sudden change of heart? I guess my priorities have changed. Lockdown put a freeze on impulse buys and fast fashion shopping for many reasons: monetary, guilt over climate change and a desire to support local businesses. And, once I kicked that prerequisite loop of high street and mid-range shops I had bookmarked just for a dip in I realised I didn’t miss it all that much.

Now, I get a genuine thrill buying pieces, even if they only cost €20, from local businesses. Supporting someone’s dream and investing money in a shop or site you genuinely like is money well spent in my opinion. I know this isn’t always available to everyone. Nor am I saying everything in your wardrobe needs to be super-expensive.

But, there’s something about saving money (and spending time, because it involves a bit of research) to invest in staple pieces that will see you through. Rather than splashing all your cash on the ‘exciting’ (read: trendy) stuff only to realise your wardrobe has no building blocks. You then panic-buy some basics that lack longevity and, sometimes, a good fit. These – for me – became a painful reminder of my bad choices every time I wore them.

I’m not saying I’ll never buy high street again, far from it (I don’t believe anyone can be prescriptive enough to say they’ll only buy from one price bracket or calibre of shop forever). But I’ll try. I want to have some solid staples that will see me through; a great pair of stirrup leggings, a hard-wearing pair of chunky boots, an Irish knit that has thought and consideration in every stitch. Maybe even an investment handbag that will see me through this decade into the next. We’ll see.

Above all I want pieces that will work hard for me. Hell, I want them to work overtime. ‘Boring’ suddenly gives me a whole new rush.

Main image: Celine autumn winter 21.