supermarket chic
Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Aldi, Morrisons and M&S. Do you like to buy your underwear at the same time you buy your butter?
before there was online shopping, before weekly trips to town, there was super market clothes shopping…
I remember being about 10 or 11 and mum bringing us home sparkly princess vests and pants that she had bought in Sainsburys, and I remember thinking - isn't that where we buy dinner? With £3.6BILLION spent on cut-price chic clothing, it can’ t be that bad can it?
When you think of high street fashion you think of New Look, River Island and H&M. A mention of George, Tu, and F&F, however, would usually result in awkward silence because, if we are honest enough to admit it, supermarkets aren't the first place you go when you think of buying something new to wear.
I have made peace with the fact that I am a fashion snob. While, for the moment I can only afford to buy high street, I refuse to buy from places such as Shein and Temu. I don’t often buy clothes from Primark, If I do it tends be things like socks or the odd piece of jewellery. I would rather thrift shop. Don’t get me wrong, if you choose to purchase itmes from the aforementioned, you do you. I am not trying to convince you otherwise, it’s just not for me.
So, if we are to look at the supermarket offerings, what do we have? Well let’s start with George at Asda. I have a few pieces from here (see below) the one comment I would make however is that they are quite generous in sizing, so whatever size you think you are, size down. Nothing below cost over £20.
Lets turn to TU, not a fair review as I have only ever had one purchase from here, a blazer dress I have not yet worn, but my opinion of TU is that it is George’s slightly older, more sophisticated big sister. TU sells alongside Figleaves , Finery and Sosandar to name a few, although this is exclusively found online, and often have sell out dupes from the Molly Mae Zara Blazer and the copycat Celine bag last summer.
Tu, Sainsburys. £15 in the Christmas sale
Next up is F&F at Tesco, when launched it was positioned as "DKNY meets Hugo Boss", according to a supermarket executive but I haven’t purchased anything from in years, due to the fact they sold out to Next, and eventually Next gave up and said no more. Now exclusively in stores I went out of my way and drove for 40 mins just to research what they have to offer, and it seems , they have a very limited offering. Most of what I saw was gym/casual attire there were a few stand out items including a blue tweed Chanel inspired two piece and some lovely pj’s but nothing that inspiring. Perhaps I visited the wrong store? I mean, if it’s good enough for Kelly Brook…
Of course we can’t talk about supermarket clothing without discussing the holy grail, M&S, even if it isn’t strictly classed as supermarket clothing, you can still but wine and cheese when you pick up your next pair of winter boots. Until recently, I always thought of M&S as too old, too stiff and just not for me. It wasn’t until I started working in the city centre and I walk through the store daily that I realised it has massive untapped potential! Not only do they stock some stellar clothing, but they recently added designer jewellery brand, Of Lovers and Liars, to their bow string as well as stocking my favourite, Jaegar. The only thing wrong with M&S is that they sell out really quickly, so if you see something you like, buy it, or you will be like me, forever regretting you didn’t buy the Sienna Miller highlighter skirt.
My recent M&S Purchase, £29.50
Notable mentions go to Aldi, who every so often will suprise us with a tasty morsel, even if it is another celeb endorsement, I see you Tommy Fury. Lidl, who gave us Heidi Klum’s range, which not only difficult to track down, but a bit overpriced when we did find it, and Morrison's, who sport Nutmeg as their champion brand, which again, I have never purchased from.
So is supermarket snobbery dead now? As we know, they copy the designers at fraction on the price, think the 2021 Sainsbury's Tu £20 Boyfriend shirt which sold at Altuzarra for £306 or the Tesco Benneton Jeans which sold out instantly thanks to TikTok. I say lets add these to our repertoire and style them in our own way, and with pride!
YOU TOO CAN BE SUPERMARKET CHIC!
Cream Side Stripe Joggers, george at asda £16