Clothes shopping is a minefield these days: I don’t trust cheaply made garments and I can’t afford expensive ones. What’s more, I don’t enjoy barging my way through crowded streets or queuing for the changing rooms! Luckily even the pickiest of people have places to go in this city.

Last weekend I visited my local vintage and modern secondhand clothes shop, ChiChiRaRa, to have a chat with owner Heather and try on a few things. We talked about how it’s easy to mix and match vintage and modern pieces to create an individual look. I loved the colourful Margot Leadbetter-style maxi dress she made me try, and the red, white and blue sundress was cute too, though I’ll have to wait til the weather improves to wear it. Heather’s great at recommending styles to suit your body shape and seems to be able to tell what size clothes you’ll fit in to just by looking - it’s really impressive.

I made a video of my conversation with Heather and raided the rails to try on some lovely frocks - let me know what you think!

Click To Play

The atmosphere in the shop is so relaxed; customers can rummage around to their heart’s content with no pressure to make a decision, and if they need help Heather’s on hand to make a recommendation. Apparently there are a few famous regulars, but she was far too professional to name names.

Everything seemed really affordable and the great thing with vintage is that you can be almost certain you won’t run in to someone in the wearing the same as you. The disadvantage of one-offs is that they only come in one size, of course, but there are racks full of alternatives if the dress of your dreams is too big or too small.