Why cost per wear is the only sum worth doing

I have been winnowing my wardrobe by selling stuff on Vinted, and I have noticed that the labels that sell fastest and at the best prices are not Prada or Etro but Me+Em and Margaret Howell. Both great brands but not ‘ designer’ in the way that Prada is, or as expensive. Raises an interesting question about what the resale market can tell us about fashion. Both Me and Em and Margaret Howell put great emphasis on wearability, they are pieces designed to make women feel confident, rather than fashionable. That is what women value.

One big lesson I leant from my wardrobe detox is that there are some ( but not many ) expensive items that justify their price on a cost per wear basis. I bought a navy cashmere coat like this about ten years ago and I have worn it on repeat ever since. It cost then about half what it does now, and I reckon the cost per wear is about £3 a time. I suspect I will be wearing it for another ten years, so quite soon it will be paying me.

Another purchase I have mentioned before, but am still besotted with are these R.M. Williams boots. I have hardly taken them off since I bought them a year ago in Adelaide - which works out at about £4 a wear, so far and going down all the time. They were excellent on recent trip across America - coping equally well with the Californian desert and the frozen snowdrifts of New York. I am not getting affiliates, this is genuine enthusiasm, which is just possibly a bit sad.

In Los Angeles my fabulous friend Miranda who is a top shopping companion took me to a shop called LOST AND FOUND which is bursting with gorgeous things like this bag ( Miranda the glamorous has one, as do all her friends, and they swear they get better with age).

which is on sale! . In fact there was a whole room full of discounted things, which unusually were things that you would happily buy at full price. I bought these booties

( not sure I approve of the word booties, but it is better than shboot which just isn’t a word).). I thought the heel would be uncomfortable but somehow it isn’t. They are from a brand called Officine Creative. which is currently having a sale. Cost per wear still quite high, but I have had only had them for a fortnight. If I wasn’t conducting a wardrobe cull , I would definitely be buying a pair of these.

as I have a passion for burgundy, but I am resisting ( for now). Not sure if this brand is in the UK but there is free shipping over $500 to Europe so worth a glance at least.

I bought this jumper from Navy Grey last October from a pop up they had in Marylebone Lane.

I had seen their stuff online but I couldn’t really understand what the fuss was about. But when I tried this jumper on I immediately understood. The crew neck sits at just the right point, the shape is boxy so you can wear it over high waisted jeans, and the weight is warm but not stifling. It is made out of the sort of wool that feels sturdy but not scratchy and it doesn’t pill much. It is now my absolute favourite jumper ( and that includes all the cashmere ones) cost per wear so far about £10. Their stuff is all made in Britain, and their sleeves have cunning darts I have never seen on anything else. I usually wear medium but I got mine in Small and it is just right.

One of the things I am giving up for Lent is buying earrings. I really don’t need ANY MORE.

So I will be wearing these ones from Rachel Entwistle, ad nauseam. Because they are silver and gold, they go with everything, and are visible without being overwhelming, and crucially are really light. I have even slept in them. Cost per wear about 20p. She has lots of other nice things some of which are on sale.

If you love antique jewellery and you want to learn something about it, then you must check out @holyoak_jewellery on Instagram.

Cleo, the owner, has a shop in Bridport ( which is quite the vintage shopping destination) which is like the best non fattening sweet shop. Not only does she always have lovely things, there is nothing she doesn’t know about Georgian and Victorian jewellery. But if you go to the shop do NOT look into the cupboard on the back wall, which is full of the stuff she loves too much to sell. I bought this fabulous lapis lazuli ring there last weekend ( before Lent) and it is making me very happy. My mother had a lapis ring which I always lusted after, but that was lost and this is very much found. Cost per wear hard to determine as I haven’t taken it off.

Another thing I have given up for Lent is buying things from Instagram in the small hours. But here is one such purchase that actually is rather brilliant. It is a cordless light that fits into any bottle. It is the perfect gift for any young person leaving home for a badly lit student room or flat share. Finding a bottle won’t be a problem and it will instantly make a soulless room look cosy. I recommend getting the gold one for glamour. My daughters usually mock my gadget finds, but they have both walked off with one of these.

I won’t talk about the Vintage Fair I went to in Manhattan with another glamorous friend Joanna Coles who among other things hosts the essential listening podcast Inside Trump’s Head with Michael Wolff. This along with Page 94. the Private Eye Podcast are the only news shows I can bear to listen to at the moment because they a) have some humour and b) don’t take themselves too seriously and c) have women hosts. All I can say about the fair is that I am giving up vintage fur for Lent.

A books which I am loving at the moment is Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney who is a rare book dealer. I saw her speak at the Rancho Mirage Writer’s Festival which is held every January in Palm Springs ( about the nicest writer’s gig going) and she was so compelling that I started reading the book that night. Romney talks about collecting the books that influenced Jane Austen and discovering that while the men have survived ( Fielding, Richardson) the women have largely been forgotten. So she starts reading The Mysteries of Udolpho ( the novel that Catherine Morland is obsessed with in Northanger Abbey) and finds female authors like Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth and Elizabeth Inchbald ( who wrote the notorious Lover’s Vows the play that was put on in Mansfield Park) who are definitely worth reading in their own right.

My new play starts rehearsals in ten days, so my next few posts will be all about Queen Victoria and the truth about her relationship with Prince Albert. You have been warned.