Vix's Clothes Roadshow

 Gok's Clothes Roadshow is a weekly British TV show where a professional stylist creates catwalk-worthy outfits using items each costing less than £50. Whilst I adore Gok Wan and both his enthusiasm and premise of showing than women can look stylish without spending a fortune I'm less enamoured with the promotion of fast fashion, worrying about how ethically the clothes shown were produced and what'll happen to them once they've passed their fashion sell-by date.

So forget the supermarkets and chain stores, here's my tips for affordable, greener and groovy outfits on a shoestring.

Swinging Sixties - Total cost £6.09

Vintage 1960s dress (£4.99, eBay), 1960s Saxone suede shoes (40p, jumble sale), Plastic bangle (20p, Salvation Army), Glass choker (50p, Walsall Hospice), Vintage Chelsea Girl tights (Courtesy of Alex)  

My first stop for a bargain is always eBay. I select Vintage Clothing and in the side bar input a maximum price of £3 and select UK only to keep postage costs down. I watch anything I like the look of and use a sniping tool to place a proxy bid at the last minute. 

You'll find more eBay tips here.

1970s Style - Total cost £6.75

1970s Richard Shops maxi (£1.25, Salvation Army), suedette platforms (£5, retail), Pendant (courtesy of Kitty), vintage felt hat (50p, car boot sale)

Charity shops can be a great source of fabulous clothing. If your local ones are a tad pricey visit the Association Of Charity Shops website to find out which other towns have an abundance of chazzas and make a day of it.

Luckily for me our local shops are cheap and cheerful but if I'm venturing further afield I'll choose equally less affluent areas where the locals don't know their Giorgio Armani from their George at Asda and as there's less money around all donations are gratefully accepted and make it to the shop floor no matter how tatty or old.

The staff in the shops are my friends, I make sure I know everyone's names, I'll chat, regularly donate and if I buy something fabulous make a point of wearing it next time I visit and saying how much I love it. I never haggle and if I feel the price is fair I'll pop my spare change in the collection box on the counter.

As the managers in the shops know me they'll keep suitable stuff aside for me.

More charity shop tips here.

Navajo - Total Cost £4 

Lee Bender kimono blouse (£2, Cancer Research clearance), 1960s suede skirt (£1, car boot sale) and 1960s suede go-go boots (£1, car boot sale)

Car boots, don't you just love them? I'm selective when I'm out trawling fields for bargains. Forget the fashionable young things selling last month's New Look and trying to convince you that a 1990's dress is "vintage" and therefore worth £10. I head for the house clearance lorries, where the merchandise is piled in cardboard boxes and tea chests and you have to sort through greasy saucepans and old dentures to find hidden gems. Haggle hard, these guys make a good living from antiques and the stuff they're selling is what they consider the dross. If you don't buy it it'll end up in landfill so be cheeky and if they won't come down walk away, most of the time they'll back down and chase you for your money. Find your local UK one here.

More car booting tips here and here.

Psychedelic - Total Cost £5.35

Psychedelic maxi (40p, jumble sale), 1960s Saxone knee-high boots (£3.95, PDSA), Scarab pendant (£1, car boot sale)

Jumble sales are the cheapest source of clothing. As a rule they are held on Thursday & Friday evenings and daytime on Saturdays and you'll find them advertised in the classified section of your local newspaper, in local shop windows or outside the venue itself.

You'll need to get there at least 30 minutes before the doors open, taking plenty of small change, carrier bags and loads of stamina. Once inside grab anything that looks interesting and carry it around until you've finished rummaging. If you can, find a quiet spot to inspect what you've found, disregarding anything unappealing. Pay the helper and have another look around.

Ask the person in charge when the next jumble is, never haggle over prices and if the final total is cheap enough tell them to keep the change. Being polite makes you stand out and if you're lucky you may get invited to a sneak preview before the next sale.

More rules of the jumble? Try here and here.

Phew, hope that wasn't too long a read for you!

Happy shopping.