It’s that time if the year again – in fact we’ve had an extra month to get in our training for the January Sales this year as we have seen plummeting prices in the shops since December! So now that we ‘re in the thick of it – faced with rails of choices and shopping centres full of potential mistakes – how can we reduce the waste and increase the taste? How do we know when a bargain is really a bargain?

The first and most important rule is that a bargain is only a bargain if you actually wear it. The floral cardi that would go with the perfect pencil skirt you don’t yet have, the sky high stilettos that Kate Moss rocked down the red carpet have yet to be rocked outside your front door, or remember those black leggings – thhe two pairs you bought to go with your new stylish casual winter ensembles only to pile them into an already overcrowded mixed up jumble of mistakes.

When you’re braving the shops, think about it logically. What were you looking for before the sales? What did you try on in November, love and didn’t buy because it was too expensive? This is always a good starting point.  One of the biggest mistakes women make is purchasing an item just because it’s reduced by a huge amount; we somehow feel an overwhelming allegiance to the item purely based on the fact that we’ve discovered it it.

If you do find something you truly love only to find it’s not left in your size, don’t fret. It wasn’t meant to be. In fashion, just like in life – something’s are better left to chance. Unless it’s easy to alter and you know you won’t just leave it hanging in your wardrobe, leave it back.  Most things we buy with the intention of altering rarely see the light of day again. And even if you do bring it to the tailor, more often than not, the rejigged version is never like it was on the mannequin – so think twice.  If it doesn’t fit, move on and find something that does! It’s like trying to change a man – it just can’t be done and usually isn’t worth the effort.

Really start to think about the reasons we buy our clothes. We buy them because we love them! They make us feel good and allow us to tell a little part of ourselves to the world – they allow us to express ourselves. So we should expect each and every item we buy to fulfil its duty no matter how much it cost. Why then does this part tend to go flying out the window at the sight of a big red tag with the magic words ‘marked down’ emblazoned across it? When we start buying clothes because they’re cheap, we need to step away from the counter and start evaluating our wardrobes…closely.

We’ve all made mistakes and impulse purchases; it’s sometimes part of the fun, but when our wardrobes are ruled by a red tags rather than by a real reason, we need to stop. So to make the sales really working for you, start looking at your basics – your jeans, your day dresses, your coats, your good boots etc. Sometimes if we’re not happy with this section of our wardrobe, the sales can be a good opportunity to fine-tune these more expensive items. It’s only when you’ve got the basics right that you can comfortably have fun with the ‘fun’ element of the sales – buying something we wouldn’t normally touch, just because it is marked down!

stylefish is Ireland’s first dedicated fashion school for women. For more details log onto www.stylefish.ie