Shopping Addiction

Venus Cow says, "Stop shopping and start styling."

For those amongst us, dare we say it, with a shopping addiction, giving up a twenty a day habit would be preferable to never setting foot in a shopping mall again. Take it from Venus Cow, who put the word shopaholic in the OED. But like any bad habit when the fix is temporary and only leaves you wanting more money for more wardrobe space and ultimately more shopping you can do one of two things.

Die, 1. under a mountain of unworn clothes or 2. under a pile of final demand notices.

Venus Cow says, "Learn to work with what you have."

Sort out your clothes into seven groups, tops, bottoms, dresses, jackets, shoes, bags and accessories. The largest group should always be accessories (hats, belts, jewellery, hosiery, scarves and hair clips) as they always fit you on fat days, take up minimum storage space and last a lifetime. The desired ratio of accessories to separates is 3:1.

Venus Cow says, "The single largest mistake we make when it comes to styling is too many clothes and not enough accessories."

Now find a look in a magazine you love and have a go at copying it piece by piece, It doesn't have to be exact, copy colours if you cannot match shapes and visa versa. By experimenting with what you have you will start to recognise duplicate items are pointless when it comes to styling as are the things that don't fit you.

For each outfit you style add at least three things from your accessories. It is these additions that make your look unique to you. As you work, gaps in your wardrobe will start to appear. When you decide you deserve a little retail therapy, resist the temptation to be drawn to the High Street and do what every savvy style guru does. Pick up your individual must haves, aka another shopaholic's mistakes, from the local charity shop.

Venus Cow says, "The buzz is even better when you get what you need, not just what you want."