Fashion fans flock to ‘underrated’ store with prices ‘better than Primark’

Fabulous’ Fashion Director, Tracey Lea Sayer shares her thoughts.

I was 10 when I first discovered, together with my mother and grandmother, how much fun it is to buy clothes in the shopping streets.

Going into town on Saturdays became a family tradition; a girls’ day that we looked forward to all week.

My mother’s favorite store was M&S, where she looked for jackets with big shoulder pads and floral sundresses, while my grandmother followed John Lewis and their classic coats and elegant pumps closely.

I absolutely loved Tammy Girl – Etam’s little sister – and Chelsea Girl, later renamed high street favorite River Island.

I spent hours in the locker rooms, closely watched by my two cheerleaders, who gave them thumbs up – or thumbs down – to what I was trying on.

Ra-Ra ruffled skirts, duster coats, polka dot leggings, puff balls, boob tubes… I’ve tried them all, which often made my grandma cry with laughter.

Fashion wasn’t that fast in the 1980s and every item was cherished and worn until it fell apart – literally – at the seams.

At the age of 18 I went to art school and my taste became increasingly refined.

The extra money from a part-time job in a bar allowed me to move on to slightly more expensive stores like Warehouse, Miss Selfridge and the mecca that was Topshop.

I knew at that moment that I wanted to work in fashion, because the high streets had completely seduced me.

One day I wrote an article for a competition in a glossy magazine about my love of retail therapy and my favorite LBD – and I won!

That has brought me to where I am now: Fashion Director of Fabulous.

But I’m still a high street queen at heart and that’s why I’m so excited to relaunch the Fabulous High Street Fashion Awards.

You can all vote for your favorite stores and online retailers – and we will crown the winners.

You have until 12pm on July 28 to cast your vote and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win an £8,000 holiday to the Maldives.

Not only do I love the shopping streets; Major designers are also fans. When ‘Cool Britannia’ came out in the 1990s, they were all in one big store.

‘Designers at Debenhams’ was a genius move by Debenhams CEO Belinda Earl, designer Ben de Lisi and fashion director Spencer Hawken, who introduced diffusion ranges from John Rocha, Matthew Williamson and Betty Jackson, to name a few.

This meant we could all afford a little luxury and wear the signature style of a well-known designer.

Years later I organized an evening with Debenhams and Fabulous for 250 readers, who were impressed by meeting all the designers. It was a real highlight of my career for me.

In 2004, H&M started rolling out their international designer collabs.

Karl Lagerfeld came first, followed by Roberto Cavalli, Marni, Stella McCartney, Maison Martin Margiela, Sonia Rykiel, Comme des Garçons, Balmain, Versace and many, many more. I could barely contain myself!

In 2007, Kate Moss launched her first collection with Topshop, with thousands of people queuing on London’s Oxford Street.

I remember sitting behind Ms Moss and Topshop boss Philip Green at a London Fashion Week Topshop Unique catwalk show.

I had my three-year-old daughter, Frankie, in tow and we both made the news the next day after standing behind Kate, my supermodel girl crush.

At that moment the shopping street was on fire. Who needed designer purchases when Mango stocked aluminum foil trousers just like designer Isabel Marant’s and you could buy a piece of Barbara Hulanicki’s legendary brand Biba at Topshop?

Chain stores even started storming London Fashion Week.

Although Topshop Unique has been showing collections since 2001, River Island showed its first collection in 2013 in collaboration with global superstar Rihanna, who was flown in by a friend of mine on a private jet. KER-CHING!

A whole new generation of high-profile high street collaborations followed.

Beyoncé created Ivy Park with Topshop’s Philip Green and I even flew to LA for Fabulous to photograph the Kardashian sisters in their bodycon “Kollection” for Dorothy Perkins.

I’m happy to say they were the absolute dream cover stars.

Fast forward to 2024 and while the high street doesn’t look exactly as it did pre-Covid, it has made a brave comeback.

Stores like M&S, Reserved and Zara, and designer collabs like Victoria Beckham X Mango and Rochelle Humes for Next give me all the feels.

The supermarkets have also really come into their own, with beautiful collections that look expensive, but at prices that still allow us to pay for the weekly groceries.

The past thirty years in high street fashion have been one big adventure for me. Bring on the next 30!