I feel I owe it to readers to give notes of defense to this post. As I forayed into Forever 21 [1] with a pair of shoes and not much else, I thought that would be a short lived venture into Stateside-high street shopping. However, being a somewhat methodical person, (and yes, I'm taking the 'methodical' excuse and sticking with it....), I thought a peek into Twelve by Twelve [2], Forever 21's supposedly higher-end, less trend-led line Twelve By Twelve (Geddit with the number play? No, I didn't either....) seemed in order, especially when the prices when churned through the $-£ machine, are still less-than-ASOS prices. How that is possible production-wise, frankly is frightening to think about. For the sake of prevention of migraines, let's just sweep that question under the carpet, shall we?
I ended up with a bit of a haul (I say 'haul' but the total after shipping was still the equivalent of me popping into Topshop and buying ONE singular dress....) that after clicking about today, MOST of the items aren't even available on the site anymore. Things at Twelve by Twelve seem to move at the speed of lightning...
With this pleated collar and cuff set [3], you can definitely cross 'less trend-led' off Twelve by Twelve's objective list and also the knock-off shaming factor does play in your head a bit since this couldn't BE anymore of a blatant Miu Miu SS08 copy. Still, with my tail between my legs, I proceeded with the purchase because quite frankly, why SHOULD some cuffs and collar be more than...um....$18? Plus, putting them over random things like tie dye dresses is giving me much chuckles indeed. Nonetheless, I'm still going to cut off cuffs and collars off more interesting shirts to see what happens...
[4]
Some other buys included knitted shorts [5] that I'll be wearing under sheer French knickers (more on that on another day...), those knitted leggings [6] that I can't stop snapping and unsnapping because they have WOODEN snappers going up the calves, a necklace that I'm wearing below and a dress that yet again, I should be hanging my head in shame for, because yes.... there's more rip-off action going on. Christopher Kane's AW 08-9 jingly jangly pailletes [7] that I so admired only mere weeks ago? Brought to you in a jiffy via this grey jersey dress dangling with clear pailletes (well sewn-on and making a lovely tinkering noise, I might add....) courtesy of 12 x 12...
A temporary phase of cheapie cheapie online shopping? Let's hope so... I gather that Twelve by Twelve isn't as ubiquitous as it's sister Forever 21 but I'd love to hear those juicy State-side views. For the peeps who aren't familiar with the whole Twelve by Twelve thang, I'd say it's a trial and error thing and I can't vouch for the longevity of the garments but hey if you are going to delve into FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Garments....), and rising UK high street prices are starting to irk you, crossing the pond for a bit makes a welcome change.
