I love shopping for summer clothes. Despite the changeable British weather, there is something cheerful about picking up a few light and colourful fashion items at the start of summer.
It’s only right to dress for the part. Shakespeare, after all, compared female beauty to a summer’s day. But how can you satisfy that shopping urge when you’ve got an August holiday to save up for and two spendthrift teenagers who seem to be out of school for an eternity?
And so we move from the poet of Avon to the brightly lit fashion departments of Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons, for as Falstaff famously laments in Henry IV“I can find no remedy for this consumption of the wallet.”
But seriously, supermarket own-label lines – including F&F at Tesco; George, Studio Edit and G21 at Asda; Nutmeg at Morrisons; and Tu at Sainsbury’s, which also stocks Everbelle and For All The Love – are my secret weapon this summer. This year more than ever, they’re a hotspot for affordable, boutique treasures that hop from power-casual to free-spirited folksy to breezy elegance in a way that’s stylish, affordable and refreshingly effortless.
“Our boho dress with black layers and ric-rac trim is the new version of a dress that [fashion-editor-turned-Instagram star] Erica Davies loved it earlier this year. It has beautiful billowy sleeves, is super forgiving and costs just £26,” says Liz Evans, chief commercial officer for non-foods at Asda.
The tiered mini dress she mentioned sold out quickly after Davies featured it on her feed, proving that social media is helping to break down old stigmas associated with wearing clothes in supermarket-bought models.
Believe the hype, as fashionistas who also buy from designer brands and premium boutiques are flocking to their local superstores to stock up on their holiday essentials. Glamorous influencers Sarah Ellis and Philippa Ross are no exception. Both in their thirties, they run London-based clothing brand Wat The Brand and are best known for their fashion and lifestyle platform We Are Twinset.
The pair recently posted a reel in which they coo over F&F Clothing co-ords and Tesco’s “super chic” swimwear collection and cream crochet beach pants, which are clearly a copycat of a Melissa Odabash pair. These style gurus are impeccably groomed, toting Bottega Veneta handbags and nurturing the peachy glow of a Shu Uemura skincare routine.
It shows that trolley dashboard fashion is becoming increasingly popular: from the everyday environment of a busy supermarket to a luxury holiday destination where you can pose by the pool.
According to Rachel Bines, F&F’s merchandise planning manager, the “matchy matchy” soft tailoring that Ellis and Ross love so much has been a huge success; “Since our first drop last month, the brand’s cream and black floral embroidered Cornelli co-ord has almost sold out, as has our matching beige and cream Schiffli shirt-and-shorts set,” she says.
Why then should our supermarket fashion bargains be communicated in hushed tones, as if their existence is some unspeakable breach of fashion etiquette? Even Ellis and Ross whisper that they are “going it alone” when they enter the fashion department of Tesco. I have met many people who struggle with this: either they say it coyly, as if they were asking for Imodium at the chemist’s, or conspiratorially, as if they had found a fiver on the back of the bank, slightly slyly and ashamed of their “profit”.
“We’ve been working hard this year to refresh the overall look and feel of our brand. The response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve seen great year-on-year sales across all our channels,” said Asda’s Liz Evans, whose statistics show that sales of George clothing are up 3.4 per cent to £1.5bn by 2023 and the company is averaging 260 million visits a year to george.com.
While previously supermarket style winners were almost exclusively chosen by influencers as “dupes,” or affordable knockoffs of things that were financially or geographically out of reach, supermarket own-label clothing is increasingly becoming desirable fashion items in its own right, and is being marketed as such. What’s more, it can now sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a supermarket look and an ensemble costing several times as much.
Take Tu’s barrel-shaped jeans for example.
Since launching in February, they’ve proven so popular that the bow-legged silhouette now comes in a range of colours and has spent eight weeks in the brand’s top 10 best-selling items.
Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, Katie Holmes and Julianne Moore have been snapped wearing the voluminous denim style in luxury label versions, but fashion editors are raving about the £22 Tu version, with some saying they look just as good as luxury designs from brands like Frame, Agolde and Citizens of Humanity.
The barrel balloon look is not for me. I prefer the Everbelle collection of long, wide jeans that tap into this season’s boho-chic trend, popularized by Chloe’s new artistic director, Chemena Kamali, and her my daily muse Sienna Miller. I love the high-waisted ecru version, made from a pure, stiff cotton for a retro look that’s clean, crisp and well-structured. They pair perfectly with Tu’s crinkled linen-blend peasant blouse (very Isabel Marant and only £18) and the brand’s chunky espadrille platform sandals (£20), which I actually mistook for APC’s £300-plus pair.
The question is, if I saw this outfit fashioned by my favorite contemporary brand – currently a tug-of-war between Parisian labels Rouje and Soeur – would I click to buy? The answer is a resounding yes, although I’d skip the platforms – with several post-surgery pins in my feet, these inflexible numbers left me wobbling and waddling like a penguin, so more Ministry of Silly Walks than Sienna Miller.
The verdict: draw
I loved the boho looks just as much. Neither the cream blouse nor the cream jeans looked like they had been pulled out of a bright orange bag. With the right gold accessories you can really elevate this Tu style. The fact that the jeans are £28 and pure cotton means they wash well and you can enjoy more than a simple baked potato at your next summer BBQ.
The faux leather embellishments on the bag are a let down; a classic Provencal raffia basket bag with thin straps is always a winner and these are currently available at a great price in most high street shops.
Linen dresses always make me think of lavish travel adventures. You only have to look past the frozen peas to find them – according to Sainsbury’s fashion communications team, “linen” has been a popular search term on tu.co.uk since early May, with the brand’s black ultra-wide-leg linen trousers (£22, available in sizes 8 to 22) proving to be the biggest hit in this fabric category.
The khaki linen utility dress I tried from George was too difficult for my taste. A refined safari style works best, I think, when it’s streamlined, with fewer buttons, ties and pleats – think Meryl Streep in From Africa Dressed in plain cotton shirts and classic tea-dipped linens, Jigsaw comes up trumps with this simple brown linen button-down waistcoat dress that gently flares out at the waist.
Even more successful is Asda’s Studio Edit line, full of sculptural silhouettes, large floral prints and loosely cut pieces that look far more expensive than they actually are. They seem to be inspired by the same Scandinavian design codes as Cos and Arket.
Verdict: High-end wins
You have to accept that linen wrinkles, but these lines should move with the silhouette, not be in isolated places like small areas of wear, which happens when there are many different parts like rolled up sleeves, loops and a belt. It doesn’t take long before you start to feel a bit unkempt, like you’re wearing a crumpled paper bag. I did like the hat, though, with the delicate perforations.
For those who love a fun two-piece, F&F is the place to browse the shelves for coquettish linen shorts and fitted vests. However, with no dedicated website, a persistent complaint in social media comments is that many styles and sizes are impossible to find in-store. The irony is that these so-called “quick grab” garments are quickly becoming as elusive as coveted fashion collectibles.
I tried on the brand’s sand-colored linen vest and pants, which I liked, especially the bottom, which had a nice weight and length with soft pleats under a high waist. The vest was too loose (only size 14 was available), so the stylist had to pin it back. It still didn’t feel right. That’s the thing about vests, if they’re not tight, the material shifts uncomfortably, as if pulled by invisible strings. No wonder magicians love them so much.
The verdict: High-end wins
I wanted to emulate a cool garçonne style à la Cate Blanchett in Cannes in this F&F two-piece, but the top was too loose and I think the colour washed me out. Bleached, you might say, like a limp cabbage leaf. The trousers were well cut with lovely slimming pleats at the front and long, loose legs, better suited to heels.
However, Jigsaw convinced me again with these linen Bermuda shorts with contrasting stitching at the front, which create the illusion of a narrower waist and a flat stomach.
Finally, let’s talk floral dresses: the summer staple for cool comfort and unashamed femininity. Everyone has one. Everyone wants another. La Double J and Queens of Archive have dreamy S/S 24 collections filled with bold florals on billowing silhouettes.
They evoke nostalgia and sultry Mediterranean nights spent in good company. You just want to twirl around in them and pretend you’re in a Federico Fellini film. These are investment pieces. The blue Double J dress I’m wearing is made from Lake Como silk twill and retails for £870. Queens of Archive is a woman-owned London brand specialising in vintage-inspired bespoke prints and fabrics, with prices ranging from £195-360.
Nutmeg at Morrisons doesn’t quite deliver the same fairytale romance, but the brand does have some great mid-to-long, flowy dresses to help you create your most carefree self. The brand is particularly good at sleeve options that include capped, three-quarter length, butterfly and flared at the wrist.
Layered dresses in pure cotton feature bold Matisse cutout prints, while fluid maxis like my green one are doused in tiny blossoms and designed with a delicately pleated neckline and hem. Made from a washable workhorse fabric, the style, yours for just £18, is every bit as pretty as one from Rixo or Reformation and over £100 cheaper.
The savings won’t get you tickets to see Taylor Swift, but it might get you a day return to Paris on the Eurostar, so you’ll have somewhere suitably chic to wear it. If anyone asks where it’s from, say Nutmeg loud and proud, or translate it to “nutmeg“for a bit of phonetic magnification.
The verdict: it’s a draw
This Double J dress feels exquisite and makes that expensive swinging sound, as if it’s whispering the word “expensive”. I don’t wear patterns, but I fell in love with this silky piece. Poor old Morrisons had a tough act to match.
That said, the green floral Nutmeg maxi definitely belies its £18 price tag and could give similar but pricier versions a run for their money. If you’re looking to save money, the supermarket option could make you feel just as special as a design that’ll set you way over your budget.