Best Trends to Look for in the Sales (2022)

In January, retailers start to put winter items on sale. It’s a great opportunity to add great pieces to your wardrobe at a reduced price. Learn how to look for the best trends when shopping the sales.

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Retailers Test Trends of the Upcoming Season in the Sales

Sales serve to get the merchandise of the current season out to make space for the new items of the next season. However, often retailers add already items from the upcoming season. They test what sells and what doesn’t. It helps them to gauge the market for a big, less risky order later. Often these items are sold for their regular price. Sometimes they have a slightly reduced price. However, some retailers stock up on cheap items for the sales! So it is important to avoid these five mistakes when shopping the sales.

Identify the Deals That Are Worth Your Money

The cheap items bought for the sales are not the ones you want to shop ever! Cheap can be very expensive, when you calculate the cost-per-wear. A splurge, however, can be very cheap when you do the math. Timeless classics, high quality basic clothes may fall into this category. They are worth buying when on sale. It’s important to know when to bargain and when to splurge.

Never fall for a 50% off on last season’s pieces. If it is not your style, color, it’s a bad buy!

When buying pieces from the fall/winter collection, don’t buy the trendy It item of that cold season. Err on the safe side. Go for classic basic pieces with a twist in neutral colors! For instance, a LBD with statement sleeves like the one in the next photo.

The “new trends” of the upcoming warm season may look expensive as compared to items of same quality on sale from fall/winter 2021/22. However, the new trends of the next season may be still less expensive than they will be when the official season starts.

Spring Trends to Look for in the Sales

The new items for spring will not have a 50% or more off price tag. They may be just 10% off, 15% when you are lucky. However, when you want to get spring/summer trends for less, here are some tips of what to look for. Only buy a trend when it fits your personal color palette and style, your lifestyle, and when you have at least three pieces in your wardrobe that go with it, and you expect to wear it over and over in the upcoming season. This means you really love the piece.

A trendy piece should go below $1 per wear over the upcoming spring/summer season!

Look for the following items to get a head start on your spring/summer 2022 wardrobe update:

• Cropped sweaters, vests, tops, and jackets. Try to find versions that read “cropped”, but aren’t so short that your belly becomes the focus

  

• Hemlines go up. If your legs are you best asset, go for it. Otherwise skip it.
• Pieces in spun sugar, Gassamer pink, innuendo,  skydiver, glacier lake, coca mocha, harbor blue, dahlia, poinciana and daffodil if these colors are in your color palette.
• Stylish masks. Sure, we hate wearing masks because they are annoying. They make us feel like we can’t get enough oxygen, and make us feel tired. But when we have to wear them, they should better look stylish. I really like the ones below.
  
• Leather motorcycle jackets, and leather everything. See this guide to learn what to look for when shopping for leather clothes to recognize best quality.

  

   

• Thigh-high slits
• After-dark glamour
• Asymmetric pieces

Accessory Trends Worth It

• Minimalism remains. A minimalism watch goes with every thing.
• Bags, accessories and other pieces from sustainable or recycled resources like cork vegan leather, bamboo T-shirts,  wooden  jewelry or wood watches.

Trends to Keep

Last warm season’s trends that are still in fashion:

• Balloon sleeves.
• Trench coats. See this post to learn what to look for in a trench coat to get a classic one that stays in style for years.
• High-low hems and everything that reads “drama in the back” like tails.
• Stripes and fringed stripes

• Dress over pants (see also asymmetric dress and pants look earlier in this post)
• Sheer pieces
• Keyholes
• Boxy jackets and coats
• Ruffles and drapes

My Favorites

Trends not to Buy…

… or to ditch when you have them:

• Low rise. This look isn’t suitable for any body. Just imaging a midlife belly or midlife love-handles spilling over the pants band! It looks like a walking cupcake. Muffin alert!
• Short shorts. They never looked good. Even on our younger self at 20 something. So why making the same mistake twice?
• Logos all over the clothing. You are not an advertising column!
• Boxy work wear inspired overalls. There is a reason beyond health why you watch what you eat! There is a reason beyond health why you go to the gym! In both cases it is called staying in great shape! You worked so hard and scarified so much chocolate, desserts, wine – you name it – for looking great! Why would you want to hide it with these frumpy pieces?
• Bold shoulders when you have inverted triangle shape. The wide shoulders are actually what an inverted triangle shaped woman wants to play down!

You can find a comprehensive list of ugly trends you should never buy at this link.

Summing Up What to Look for in the Sales

Don’t let the percentage off fool you. Never buy a piece just because it pretends to be a bargain. Only buy what makes sense for your style and wardrobe. A minimalism piece, for instance, is a great investment for someone who has Minimalism Style, but it’s a bad buy for someone with Bohemian Style or Romantic Style.

P.S. Did you know that there is a page with various coupon and discount codes?

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Photos of me: G. Kramm

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