American Invasion

For ladies of a certain elderly age (and twenty two feels very old when sitting in an Italian class surrounded by people saying Io ho diciannove) Mary Kate and Ashley have been synonymous with overly skinny cool for years.  So when a quick trawl of the Olsen empire site throws up Forever 21 as an affordable favourite of the grungy ones, I’m there in a New York minute.  Its ASOS where the clothes cost less in dollars than you expect to pay in pounds, and without the annoying celebrity loveage.  If you can grit your teeth and pay the duty (and ignore that so easily ignored part of your conscience which tells you to buy British – the same bit that frowns at granny’s mink in the corner of your wardrobe) then this is going to become your new best friend over night.  But beware, the clothes are on site and off site rather fast, and there is a certain amount of cheap Newlook-looking tat, so get trawling or you’ll miss it.