Same but Different (part four)

Shopping cont’d

Shoes and Clothes

In Freetown the place to shop for anything you might need is known as PZ.  At first I thought this was a big market place or hall but rather it is the collective term for a warren of streets at the bottom of the main street – Saika Stevens Street.   The first time I started wandering through them , hand firmly on handbag as this is a pickpocket hot spot, I was totally disorientated and not sure where I’d come out.

 If you go straight to the very bottom of Siaka Stevens Street and turn right you enter Malama Thomas Street – otherwise known as print alley.  This small street is lined with fabric shops and in front of those fabric stalls.  The colours are vibrant and the choice overwhelming.  If you want fun fabrics the stalls are the place to go but if you are after better quality longer lasting cloth the shops are the key.  

I have discovered a new shop this week and had to seriously curb my buying as there were so many beautiful fabrics.  The fabric is sold by the yard with prices ranging from Le 5,000 to Le 15,000.  So no picking up a new frock here rather you go about it two ways – have a style in mind and find a fabric or find a fabric and then work out what to make with it.  Not sure which is the best way yet as I’m trying them both

You can buy dresses here but for that you have to go to the junks.  Junks?  – no I’m not describing what there is to buy but rather the local name for the second hand market.  The clothes arrive in big bails from charities all over the world but there seems to be a preponderance of US and UK labels. 

Here’s a link so you can read more about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/07/europes-secondhand-clothes-africa

The traders all have large plastic bags full of clothes often with a theme: flowery dresses, children, white shirts, t-shirts, skirts.  These bags are laid out in the road so that you have to wander through this “bend over boutique” rummaging through bags to see if you can find that perfect item.  With no fitting rooms available and uncertainty on the sizing convention – is that a UK 12 or a US 12? - you pull things on over  clothes or hope for the best by holding up against you.  I had great success with the white blouse boy and found a lovely white shirt for Le9,000 (£1.50).

When I packed my bags to come here the one item I was sure I would not need was a pair of heels – wrong , oh so wrong.  But no problem junks also covers shoes.  Again these are laid out on tarpaulin ready for a hasty retreat if someone wants to park on the piece of road they are occupying.  I set off there one Saturday morning and, after so nifty bargaining with the help of Audrey, am now the proud owner of a pair of Per Una wedges from a few seasons back and a wee bit worn.  None of that mattered when I put them on and felt more feminine than I had in a while – if you check last week’s photos you’ll see them.

So shopping is very different and lots of fun but I am yearning for a good trawl through the summer sales when I come back in less than 3 weeks!