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Looking Good in laterlife 46
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A vast industry is out there
to help with all and every beauty concern. In this
column every month laterlife.com will report
on ideas and products, old and new. All with the
focus on maturity of course.
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Pampered! We agreed, Helen and I, that’s how we felt, walking towards the bus with our packages, after a morning’s shopping. The usual experience - exhausted, exasperated and gasping for a cup of tea – didn’t get a look in. We’d just experienced the Personal Shopping Service at Debenhams in London’s Oxford Street, and we’d had a marvellous time. Instead of rushing from shop to shop, dealing with sometimes surly assistants and trying to find clothes that were different, not staid and yet not too young, we decided to challenge Debenhams to suggest clothes that we might easily wear but were not accustomed to buy. A complete style makeover. If their service was good enough for cast members of Coronation Street and Rachel Hunter, as well as Trinny and Suzannah, it was good enough for us! |
This
is my 'before' picture. The chunky sweater (hopefully) draws
attention away from the trousers, as I tend to be a size bigger
there
Greeted by Christine, our Personal Shopper for the day, we were shown into a private lounge with a large adjoining dressing room. Feeling very special, we sank into comfy armchairs and relaxed while Christine discussed our requirements. She asked lots of questions about what we usually wore, the colours and lengths, our sizes, budgets and which parts we didn’t want to expose: the floppy upper arms, the wrinkled decollete or the hairy legs! As if.
When Christine offered a free bra measuring service, I wondered whether she had noticed that gravity had the upper hand or whether young people didn’t see the same reflection we saw in the mirror.
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After offering tea, coffee and biscuits, Christine disappeared, leaving us to try the perfumes and chat. We admired the vase of flowers, leafed through some magazines and generally enjoyed the spacious dressing room with wonderful mirrors. You could stand in one spot and see yourself from all angles without dislocating your neck in the process. Christine soon reappeared with a long rack full of clothes, a rainbow of colours and florals. “Even if you don’t think it’s you, try it on,” she said, “You might surprise yourself.” Heeding her advice we got to work trying different combinations while Christine disappeared again to look for more. The only trouble was that she was sucked into the store and we couldn’t communicate with her to ask her to find this skirt in a larger size or that top in a smaller size. When she reappeared she then had to fly off for a third time to do just that. |
but it really worked |
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Principle Petite jeans (?39)
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She calmly set about encouraging us, primping and prodding till we put together some outfits that we would not normally have chosen. We took each other’s photographs while she disappeared once again into the bowels of Debenhams to look for a hat and shoes for one of my outfits. My problem is larger hips and a smaller top – the typical pear-shape. I can be a size 10 top and 12-14 bottom. That’s why I came to the session dressed in neat trousers and a thick-knit cardigan, taking attention away from the bottom bit. I was to attend a spring wedding and chose a cream trouser suit with an orange camisole. Ordinarily, I would never have picked anything in orange, but it worked. The jacket and trousers were sold as separates so I was able to choose a smaller jacket and larger trousers. The decorative buttons were perfect for the wedding, but if I later changed these to ordinary buttons, I could wear the suit through the summer and autumn with different tops. |
For daytime, I chose a pair of brown Principle Petite jeans which fitted perfectly and didn’t look like teen jeans - quite surprising, as I always had problems finding that perfect fit in jeans. I teamed them with a blue camisole and top which I would have left hanging without a second glance if Christine hadn’t encouraged me to try it.
There was one blip in becoming the new me. Christine thought I should emphasise my small waist, but when I tried on clothes that did, they also emphasised my large hips. Maybe it was the Trinny and Suzannah influence.
I know I’ll be back. Now that they have my measurements and style preferences on file, they’ll have that rack of clothes waiting for me when I arrive so I can get right down to it before asking for bigger this or smaller that. Smaller? I should be so lucky!
Not only is the whole experience a treat, but it solves shopping problems for those who are unwell or no longer have the energy or patience to cope with the hassle of lots of walking, long queues for dressing rooms and longer queues to pay.
And you get Nectar points too.
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Helen Franks writes: I wore a skirt for my ‘before’ pic because I don’t have many in my wardrobe, and particularly wanted a denim one for holidays and casual wear (my daughter said I should). In the end I bought two, the John Rocha denim and the Principles red linen, which I have already worn on various occasions.
Christine was keen on me trying a wraparound dress, but I knew that they don’t work for me – too short from shoulder to waist, I guess, so they gape at the front. But she did have a solution: a camisole underneath. |
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John Rocha denim skirt ?40
The Personal Shopper Service is free at larger Debenhams stores. There is no pressure and no obligation to buy. Debenhams also offers this service for household items, taking you around the store for larger items. |
I quite liked the Principles blue chiffon top, something I’d never have thought of wearing, but I’m not too keen on the particular pattern. And I would never wear the blue camisole on its own. You may not see them, but there are flabby bits at the backs of my upper arms. Yes – I’ll be back too. You can’t ask better than that.
Principles red linen skirt ?45 |
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| Christine told us that sometimes people come in groups of 3 or 4, bringing a bottle of wine and nibbles. It does take time though, about 1? hours if you are on your own and 2 ? - 3 hours if you are shopping with a friend. | ||
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To find out more about your nearest store offering the Personal Shopper Service go to their website at: www.debenhams.com and click on ‘contact us’.
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If in any doubt about any of the information covered in health related articles and it's relevance for you, consult your GP.
View previous editions of Looking Good in laterlife
laterlife interest
The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com called laterlife interest. laterlife interest contains a variety of articles of interest for visitors to laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new journalists.
It includes both one off articles and also associated regular columns of a more specialist nature such as Healthwise, Talkback, Gardener's Diary, and a beauty section called Looking good in later life.
There's also 'It could be you' by Maggi Stamp laterlife's counsellor on human relationships.
Also don't forget to take a look at our regular IT question and answer section called YoucandoIT by IT trainer and author Jackie Sherman.
To view the latest articles click on laterlife interest or to view indexes to previous articles click on laterlife interest index. To search for articles about a certain topic, use the site search feature at the top of the navigation.
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