How Blogging Has Changed The Way I Shop

While I have always enjoyed the process of physically going into town to look around the shops, the busier I have become the more I find myself shopping online. So after months of locking myself inside to revise, when my exams had finally finished I decided to take a well earned trip into town to look around the shops but as I walked around the shops I just felt so.... uninspired. Despite not having looked around my usual high street shops in months nothing had really changed. While there was new stock the styles were safe, nothing jumped out to me as new and exciting, while the displays all blurred into one. It then occurred to me that while the shops had not changed perhaps I had.

The truth is that Blogs, Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest bring clothes to life for me. They give me ideas of how I could style a piece or how it may fit into my wardrobe. They act as a personalised filter, shifting through the clutter and showing me the best items a brand has to offer while also introducing me to new brands that I would have never even considered buying from before. Take for example this top from Missy Empire. I saw Holly from the blog Statement Undertones style a striped bardot ruffle top from Quiz but unfortunately it sold out before I had the chance to buy it. But then I saw a similar top on Missy Empire, a brand that I discovered through Instagram, which I instantly bought along with a couple of other social media inspired purchases.

Seeing how clothes fit, how they are styled and what they look like on different body shapes is just something you don't get in stores. Yes there are a couple of mannequins but 99% of the time they are unrealistically thin and clothed in questionable outfits that do not fit my personal style. 

What I'm Wearing |Missy Empire Bardot Top, Topshop Jeans, Converse, Ray Ban Sunglasses, Topshop Backpack, H&M Earrings, Pull & Bear Belt

Online shopping opens up a wealth of new options that are not only competitively priced in comparison to the high street but often cheaper. But all this being said the high street still holds a special place in my heart. I still love going shopping, I just think the high street need to up their game and by that I don't just mean improving their website. We need a reason to put down own phones and computers and head out to the shops, otherwise they face being left behind.

Eleanor xx