Akiva is a lovely upmarket clothes shop with refreshingly is staffed by friendly non intimidating ladies (the owners?). There's nothing worse than going into a shop where you are appraised, and dismissed by the staff before you have even looked at a price tag. The great news is that that just won't happen in Aviva.
You'll find a small but perfectly formed collection of dresses, trousers and tops and some jewellery to go with them. If you know Holywood, you'll already know that prices are on the high side - around £250 for a pretty coat and £80 for a pair of trousers. A bit out of my usual price range but for a special occasion, it's well worth a splurge on pieces from Nougat and Part Two.
A word of advice which I learned the hard way. The sale is when you will find great bargains which you'll have in your wardrobe for years, like the dress I bought last year reduced from £125 to £35. My advice is when you see a bargain buy it. I saw a beautiful coat in the summer sale at 50% off. It was glorious, with huge big pale flowers all over it and looked like £500 pounds worth of prettiness. Of course I took a gamble and held off, hoping it may be reduced further. Big mistake, a few days later it was gone. Sale shopping really is all about timing! read more