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Editors go budget shopping at stores they would never shop at

Editors go budget shopping at stores they would never shop at

When it comes to the retail scene in Singapore, the same complaints are always brought up.

"It's so expensive!"

"It's so boring. Where is there to even shop at besides H&M and ZARA?"

But to prove to you that cheap doesn't always have to mean ugly AF and that style is what you make of it, for the very first episode of our brand new shopping series Add To Cart, we decided to put three of our editors to the test and comb through some of Singapore's undiscovered gems.

Armed with $75 each, we picked three fashun stores at random to see if we could find a decent outfit that we could each wear to an event.

Watch the video below to see us s̶t̶r̶u̶g̶g̶l̶e̶ shop:

And here's what each of us found and our thoughts behind the entire experience.

CHERYL CHAN, FASHION EDITOR

Where: My CK Departmental Store

“As a long-time lover of fashion, I pride myself on being able to find a great bargain anywhere. Whether I am at the market or some obscure office building, if there is a shop—I will find something. With My CK Departmental Store, I’ve always dismissed it as an “auntie” looking store, so even I have to admit the shopping experience wasn’t as seamless as I would have liked it to be.

It takes time to comb through the racks which had tons and tons of things—so do be prepared for that. But if you go during sale period like I did, you’ll be able to score some great gems that wouldn’t cost you more than $25 per piece.”

SOPHIE HONG, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Where: Song & Song

“Trying to find a full outfit from Song & Song was so stressful! The cutting and sizing of the clothes looked a little weird, and to make things worse, I can’t try the items on. There weren’t a lot of mirrors around the shop either, which made the whole experience a whole lot more difficult than shopping at say, H&M.

That said, I’ve incorporated that $1 top I bought for this challenge into my current wardrobe. I’m sure you can find some really good steals if you look hard enough, but I’m not sure if the money saved justifies the amount of effort put in.”

SMITA DESOUZA, BEAUTY EDITOR

Where: Decathlon

“When I got Decathlon as my shopping spot, I was initially quite excited because I thought “It’s a big place, they’ve got to have something I could wear out.” I mean, I have been known to wear athleisure to the office. However, when I got there, I realised that the reason I can pull off athleisure in the office is by throwing on a blazer. Exactly the thing Decathlon doesn’t have.

I found the foundations of my outfits—a t-shirt and bike shorts—pretty easily. But it took me about 30 more minutes to find the piece that would tie it all together—a judogi. And since you can’t buy just the tunic, I had to buy the whole set.

Shopping at Decathlon for clothes I would wear to the office or an industry event was definitely a challenge.”

This article was first published in CLEO Singapore.

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