... and normally, this involves trawling through acres of ancient clothing, trying on a load of ridiculous outfits and coming out with nothing but today must have been my lucky day.
At Past Caring on Essex Road in Islington, I picked up this gorgeous black velvet dress with sequin and bead detailing. It's body con *shudder* but it just looks so fabulous I couldn't resist.
It has a touch of strictly come dancing about it. For me, that's not a bad thing. I'll be saving it for christmas party season.
I also got an authentic biker jacket - and by that I mean it's made of that sort of thick leather, that bikers wear to protect them from minor scrapes. The best things about it are that it's blue! And it has badges. Also found a very pretty floral blouse.
The stripey poncho was from a charity shop, where I also picked up a very nice, fully lined pencil skirt.
3 months ago