Rant. Apologies in advance, TopShop...

As hardcore devotees of beautiful, quality, innovative jewellery design - no matter if it comes from designers big or small - we have been feeling more and more riled at the proliferation of high street tat recently.

Image: some high street tat

In fact, it's the high streets' wares in general that are leaving us with an uncomfortable feeling in our stomachs - and not just due to the knowledge that the impossibly low prices must, at some stage along the route to market, come from an exploited workforce (a £10 sequinned top cannot - cannot - be sold for that much whilst paying the person who made it a fair wage. It just can't.)


But it's not just that. We are so bombarded with magazines telling us what to wear; monthly glossies, weekly gossip mags and even daily newspapers all feature fashion sections telling us what to wear now. And we listen to them! In our droves! We head to TopShop or Selfridges or American Apparel or Reiss - and we all buy the same things.

The high street is killing our ability to define and develop our own styles and tastes - identikit looks are hammered home to us so relentlessly that it's all too easy to forget what style and clothes and looks you actually like - and off you go to Oxford St and buy what looks good on the mannequins.

Enough! Our senses are dulled and our sense of personal style is dying by the minute. Don't buy into this - buy original, independent designers' work. Buy from markets and boutiques and vintage stores and Ebay. Remember what colours you like and styles you like and even what mood you're in - and type it into the interweb and see what you find. It's a lot harder to decide what you actually like when it's hanging amongst a pile of old clothes or is buried in a sea of broken old jewels - but trust your instincts and you'll find things that really express who you are and what you like...cheesy but true.

Image: Merci, high-end charity store, Paris. Much better.

You can discover and develop your tastes by choosing not to buy into a selected vision of 'what looks good' as decreed by some big retailer's marketing and research department. It's all too easy to have it all laid out for you - rummage, wander, google and hunt things down - and don't let a store define your style. A brand name doesn't equate to quality and certainly not to originality.

Ok rant over. Phew.

Check these stores, markets and websites for something a bit more interesting:

www.alfiesantiques.com
www.colette.fr
www.ebay.com (don't knock it)
www.merci-merci.com
www.80spurple.com
www.cockpitarts.com
www.aloharag.com
www.eriebasin.com
www.doverstreetmarket.com
www.thecutlondon.com (yeah)