RedT

OK, yes I'm bored at work and wondering where I'll shop in Australia! Can anyone point me to shops comparable with say Dorothy Perkins? So trendy without being stupid, not expensive, mid range clothes I guess. I've been looking up a load of links a nice poster put on here a while back. Either the clothes are all small (I'm an 18 on top) or really expensive ($200 for a t-shirt!).

Any pointers greatfully received, I'm having a slow afternoon....



Tx

spartacus

KMart's great for all that kind of stuff . . .

DadAgain

Get used to it....

Most often I find that unless you are absolutely 'average' in every sahpe/size dimension the only way to get affordable clothing in this country is to buy it from the UK and ship it.

I am 6'3" and 90kg - by no means exceptional, but shirts in this country for example come with only 1 size measurement (unless you're paying a fortune). So I have the choice of a neckline nearly half way down my chest - or sleeves that stop about 2 inches short of my wrists. The choice (for aplain simple shirt) is to buy a AU$100 shirt or a GBP20 shirt from Next/M&S etc and wait for the post....

My wife is 5'0" and I dont know what size - nothing abnormal I can assure you. To buy a pair of jeans she ALWAYS gets 3 inches cut of the bottom to get them taken in, alternatively buy form the UK where 'petite' ranges exist.

Shopping in Australia REALLY REALLY sucks and if you value your retail therapy at all (which many of us dont) - then you might want to think very seriously about getting it out of your system before leaving 'retail civilisation' behind.

LouiseR

Dorothy Perkins deliver so you can still get your DP fix .

Jeans West is ok http://www.jeanswest.com.au/Womens.html

Supre http://www.supre.com.au/Home.aspx?element=1&category=1 I find some of it is a bit trashy but you can a few basic bits there.

Valleygirl, I've bought a few pairs of shorts from there www.valleygirl.com.au

Witchery's good, some stuff is expensive though. http://www.witchery.com.au/

City Beach is a surf style shop, good for hoodies, swimming cossies and thongs.

http://www.citybeach.com.au/

Will try and think of some more!

**edited to add - not sure on the sizes though

LouiseR

I'm 5'5" and the jeans are still too long for me!

jad n rich

You wont have trouble finding large sized womens clothing, a size 10 here is easily a size 12 and the avg aussie woman is quite large, most shops have stacks of big clothes for women anyway.

Dont expect a choice of lenghts etc tho, OK if your tall, 5'3 I have to buy cropped jeans to be the right length. Clothes are BIG here.

As for fashion, yep next question made in china tatt is the main fashion, unless you want to pay up heaps for designer.

Remember most people here really dress down It aint London or even Kent

pomtastic

Cheap clothing in Australia .... is well, ... cheap. Tends to shrink, fade, lose shape after a couple of washes and this includes mid range 'quality' like Target clothing. In UK you can get cheaper clothing that washes pretty good and keeps it's shape, it's very hit and miss here, more miss than hit. Better quality clothing is a piss take regarding price as you can get proper designer equivalents for same price in UK.

I'd buy online and ship over when you get here, especially as the AUD is still strong against GBP.

Stock up in UK on basics like quality plain t shirts, work shirts, leather shoes, light weight work suits, sports gear, trainers if you can as these are exxie unless $$$ is not an issue then don't bother.

Sherlock Holmes

Have to agree with the above. As much as I like living here and there ARE lots of positives...clothing is a joke quite frankly. Aussies are not generally aware that they are being had over...but I'm working on it!

Pollyana

Definitely buy online and get it shipped or get family to post it. I really have tried to find decent clothes here but have now got to the point where I'm not even prepared to look anymore. Online from the UK wins every time.

DeadVim

18 on top ... <drifts away>

Sherlock Holmes

That would be a bus measurement. With standing room only on the lower deck.

NickyC

Oh honestly - anyone would think that all the shops here are like the backstreets of Bangkok. Whilst I would agree that the volume of clothes on sale is not quite as mammoth as in the UK it's not that bad!

I'm pretty fussy about what I wear and have no trouble at all getting perfectly good quality stuff at reasonable prices. I'm currently wearing a Witchery t-shirt that I bought about six years ago and it's still the same shape and size it was when I bought it. It cost about $25 from memory so hardly extortionate.

If you do your shopping in Supre or KMart, pay $10 an item for them then they probably won't last very long, but mainstream brands are fine.

Country Road, Witchery, Saba, David Lawrence, Sportscraft, Jigsaw are all good. One I really like is Basque (Myer) - every Basque item I've ever bought is still going strong years later - and it's not what I would call expensive.

mark wool

Do you think you will be able to afford to shop? You need to get here quick i think most of them will be closing shortly.

Boobops

I totally agree

RedT

LOL! Yes, let's just say nature was generous with me...

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, I'll check out some websites. I know when we've been to Oz on holiday we didn't do much shopping but when we did, I couldn't find anything at all I either liked or which fit. I reckon shipping from DP and M&S is the way to go!! I'm not a mad shopper but I do like to have semi-smart stuff for work...

ta!

Tx