Buying fashionable blouses, dresses and jackets online and in stores - magic words such as flute sleeve

Problem
Often on stage at a contest or conference I am half hidden behind a lectern and in a photo I also want to look elegant and noticeable. I saw a fabulous white blouse worn by a dark skinned Indonesian friend. I wanted something similar whilst I was in Singapore for a contest.

I tried buying from the UK and found items in red, my colour, in large sizes. I changed my listed shipping address to Singapore. the shipping cost was twenty eight pounds sterling, on items as low as five pounds, total cost 33 pounds. The problem is that buying online you don't know about the size, fit, and quality of the material and cut.

I happen to know that Lavish Alice and Mango and certain other brands tend to have large armholes which means they are more likely to fit me.

A few sellers would ship to Singapore at no extra cost. The ones in China were the best bet. However, you need to be careful to get a large size.

A few months later, on my next trip to Singapore, I went into Isetan, the Japanese department store in Nex shopping beside Serangoon MRT.

I found just the right item, in orange. But a whopping price tag. I photographed the myself in the items and the price tags to show the family.

The cotton looks creased and crumpled close up. If it looks like that when new, what will it look like if I wash it. (Probably better!) At that price I would expect it to look new. I showed the pictures to friends and they said the orange colour was stunning and suited me.

Many shops in Singapore shopping malls are open until 10 pm nearly every night - not just once a week like in Watford and elsewhere in north west London, England.

I was able to do a search of Zalora and Robinsons (which sold Lavish Alice) online.

Magic search words for on trend clothes:

bell sleeve

cape blazer

double cuff

flare sleeve

flute sleeve

lace overlay

lace sleeve

notch front

ruffle sleeve

Singapore and Asian Shops

Love Bonita (HQ Singapore, shops in Malaysia in KL, and Indonesia in Jakarta and Bali, see website)

Clothing Department Stores

Singapore:

Isetan (Japanese)

Robinsons

My favourite brands

Lavish Alice

Mango (clothes and stores)

UK / International

Marks & Spencer

UK

Debenhams

Online

ebay

etsy (mostly USA but some UK and even Israeli handbags and swimwear)

Singapore

Mustafa's - huge and open 24 hours but no clothes online

Websites

zalora.sg

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.