I always get a little bit scared when a friend of mine suggests we look in New Look. Did you ever see that episode of The Simpsons where they enter that massive bulk-buying emporium and the shop's slogan is '...Where Shopping is a Baffling Ordeal'? That's kind of how I feel about Manchester's absolutely huge New Look branch.
Downstairs is a vast expanse of a ludicrous volume of different kinds of clothing, from party-wear to a section seemingly exclusively and depressingly dedicated to what looks like office togs, a segment for guys (if they happen to get dragged into New Look... and seriously, as a girlfriend, shame on you for doing that to your partner unless he's done something dreadful), various denim and plus size and teen selections - but somehow, all bewilderingly laid out. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I get more confused in New Look than I do in Primark. And with Primark, confusion is an ACCEPTABLE state of mind. In New Look? Non.
Upstairs gets even weirder. Accessories... fine... bags... okay... shoes? Shoes, while large in number again, are perplexingly situated on lime green Perspex display cases. This I don't understand. It creates a kind of optical illusion where the shoes become mirrored, or look the same on both sides, which means if you're really seeking something, you have to travel down every single lime green Perspex aisle. Which is difficult to do, considering that perpendicular is a word New Look don't understand. These opaque coloured shoe-displaying effigies are situated at such bizarre contrasting angles, you can't remember which you've looked through and which you just can't be bothered with any more.
That said, I can't knock New Look entirely. Its clothes are cheap. They're reasonably stylish. It's great for essentials like underwear and bangles (okay, maybe the latter of those two isn't quite so necessary, but to some bangles are a lifestyle choice), and the leggings range is spot on. Er, I know, it'll be interesting to see in a few years time if people read my review and say, 'Oh lord, remember leggings? What were we THINKING.' I've also on many occasion stopped a friend, or accosted some poor random in the street, asking where their shoes were from, and many have in fact said New Look. And they don't whisper it in the same guilty breath as they do Primark. So steel yourself for the puzzling ride, because it's worth navigating this strange warehouse of a New Look in the hopes of finding some quality piejams or a knicker or two, or maybe, just maybe that elusive party dress. read more