Christmas at Cheap Clothes Rule

Last night the Christmas Tree and decorations went up here at CCR Towers. Here in cyberspace we have enabled the very exciting ‘falling snow’ extra that comes with this WordPress theme -we hope that it doesn’t irritate you too much!

Over the festive period we will have a few very special posts, including the inaurgual 2009 Cheap Clothes Rule Awards:

• Our choices for best and worst dressed of 2009
• Best fashion retailer of 2009
• 2009 best item of clothing
• Biggest bargains of 2009
• What we’d like to see in 2010

Hopefully you will find our lists a bit more interesting than some of the others out there!

This year the number of people shopping online during the festive period is set to rise again this year. We are also just over a week away from what has come to be known amongst online retailers as ‘Cyber Monday’. This is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, Amazon are hiring extra staff and opening new warehouses to deal with the increase in demand.

We were having a think about this at Cheap Clothes Rule – what are the reasons behind this continual increase in online activity whilst the High Street continues to dip? Is it down to improvments in the online shopping experience? or are Christmas shoppers getting fed up with the barrage of Christmas related activity from October onwards? We would welcome your thoughts…..

In the meantime, fill out our exciting Christmas shopping behaviour poll!

Those of us who like to follow the continual comings and goings within the fashion industry can now keep in touch with a pretty cool range of apps that enable you to follow the latest trends on the catwalk and beyond.

Here are our pick of some of the best available fashion apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones:

iPhone Fashion Apps

• Net-A-Porter’s free fashion application – a slick app which keeps you up to date with cutting edge fashion……

• Style.com – An app to keep you up to date with the latest gossip and fashion events from the Style File

• Stylebook – A nice app that helps you build a look from your wardrobe…….

Other iPhone Fashion Applications worth trying are:

• D&G Fashion Channel Winter 2010
• The Ralph Lauren Collection
• Donna Karan
• Lucky magazine
• Lookz Lite
• Stylish Girl

See the full range at iPhone Apps

Blackberry Fashion Apps

• Fashion News Service by 360Fashion
• Fashion Mogul – This fun App lets you design and develop your own Fashion Boutique
• Elle Magazine – Various Blackberry Apps are available from Elle
• Shoewawa – One of the top fashion blogs for years has its own application where you can customise the blog to your hearts content
• London Fashion Week

See more Blackberry Fashion Applications.

Google Android Fashion Apps

Those with an Google Android phone may want to keep an eye on the fast-growing Android App Marketplace where there are likely to be a good range of fashion applications appearing in time. For now, have a look at

• ShopSavvy – scan barcodes of any product

• OI Shopping list

These are some of our top apps, if you know of any other useful fashion applications – please let us know!

The much-hyped Jimmy Choo line for H&M arrived in stores over the weekend, and it certainly drew the crowds to the new H&M store in our home city of Glasgow. The range has also proved massivley popular worldwide (it will only be sold in 200 stores). Some people even resorted to camping outside the stores – now that is dedication to fashion.

Many of the lines have sold out already and are going on eBay for ridiculously inflated prices.

Did you manage to get your hands on anything? How long did you queue up for? and most importantly: Are the clothes any cop?

Christmas is only five weeks away, and if you’re anything like us you can certainly feel a great deal of panic beginning to bubble under the surface – what the heck am i going to buy everyone!?

Well, a good gift option for a freind or to complement a bigger pressie would be to pick up a Clutch Bag. They are a stylish, chic and versatile little piece that most people will love.

We’ve been scouting around the web for some of the best Clutch Bags on offer – and here we present our findings!

Five  Cool Clutch Bags

Purple Metallic Clutch Bag at Peacocks – We love the understated style of this little bag, we also love the price, 8 Quid!

Clutch Bag from Peacocks

Leopard Ruche Long Clutch Bag from TopShop – You can never go wrong with a hint of Animal Skin finish on a bag and this TopShop offering would be a great option – yours for £28

Leopard Skin

Rocha Purple Plated Clutch – Elegant and Chic, nice bag – £40

Rocha Clutch from Debenhams

AllSaints have some lovely Clutch Bags – the Yazmeen is one of our favourites.

AllSaints Yazmeen Clutch Bag

Rich persons option – Burberry – If you really want to treat someone then have a look at some of the Burberry range. A note of caution though, the cheapest bag here is £165!

There we go then, that’s our faves. Have you seen any cool Clutch Bags? Let us know where!

Just a quick heads up folks…………..

Ex-Indie queen Pearl Lowe has designed a very cool range of dresses for clothes retailer Peacocks (modelled by her daughter Daisy). They have been on the website for a couple of days and are selling fast.

Therefore, we would advise a speedy purchase, as this range won’t last long!

Halloween

What are the most popular Halloween costumes this year going to be? There will certainly be some new entries into the fold this year (i know at least five people going as Michael Jackson) – anyway, lets find out from you whats going to be the biggest Halloween costumes of 2009!

Also, please let us know what you are going as this year – and whats the most original or best costume you’ve seen so far?!

Have fun tomorrow guys…….

HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAAAAAAAAAAA

More winter fashion fun now (the clue is in the title). Needless to say, a new pair of womens shoes is utterly vital this winter – especially if you live in the frozen north like us.

Here are five of our favourite pairs that we’ve come across.

Practical

You know what – we’re going with Kickers here. Yes, we’re probably over a year behind the Kickers revival but so what – they are still a superb winter option – tough, comfortable and they still retain a cool edge. Solid choice we say.

Kickers - still cool

Glamour

Well, heels never die and for good reason – they remain the option for any Glam outfit. This year though, people seem to be wearing them higher than ever. There are thousands of pairs to choose from – we would go for something like these simple, elegant (and reasonably priced) Morgan heels over at Schuh – the more adventurous among you may prefer something from Iron Fist – we love their designs.

Morgan High Heels

Working Out

Something that we are determined to do this winter is up the exercising ante – and that will require a stylish and functional pair of trainers for the gym – something along the lines of these Nike Metros at Office should do the job.

Daily use

For the everyday slog we would choose a pair of boots that will go with almost anything. Look no further than these Peacocks Biker Boots – only £25.

Great quality womens boots at a decent prive

Going out

Obviously, one of the better things about winter is that it usually invloves a fair few party occassions – what we would buy for going out this winter are a pair of bright and bold heels – what aboput these from Dune? These should get you noticed!

Bright and bold glam from Dune

There’s tonnes more choices over at allwomenstalk – Ladies, what cool shoes have you seen?

Wet winter ahead

You know that winter is truly on its way here in the UK when you start having to dig around in your wardrobe for jumpers and jackets. This happened to us over the last week and got us thinking that our winter clothing could do with a bit of an upgrade. But what will we be buying? Some nice new Wooly Jumpers? New Jeans? Women’s Coats? Accessories like a Beanie Hat or Gloves? Could be an expensive Winter ahead…….

What will be your top fashion priority for the upcoming Winter 2009 Season?

Winter's on its way again.....oh dear

Hi everyone – hope you liked the snappy post title, here’s a few interesting fashion stories of the last few weeks:

• London fashion week launches today 18th September. Now in its 25th year, Elle UK has produced 25 covers of its magazine this month to celebrate. You can see the full Catwalk schedule of the events ahead here, and also follow the latest happenings on their Twitter site: http://twitter.com/LDNfashion.

• The Sartorialist (Scott Schuman) has released a book – One of the most influential fashion blogs out there for years – now you can buy the book and wonder how he makes these people look so effortlessly cool.

• Emma Watson continues her inevitable ascent to the top of the UK female style tree by collaborating in the design of an ethical clothing range for People Tree. In her own words she was keen to use “fashion as a tool to alleviate poverty” Good on you Emma.

• Adidas and Puma kiss and make up! – Yes, for Peace One Day (Monday 21st September), the two sportwear companies have decided to bury the hatchet and end the 60-year old feud that was insitgated between their founding brothers.

Thanks for reading.