I met up with coffee with Sarah*, a stylist that I’ve met through work events, outside of my office building last week. She was unloading two gigantic bags from Primark, looking both thrilled and slightly embarrassed. “Hey don’t judge me but I just bought twelve pairs of tights.
For the price of one decent pair elsewhere!” she laughed. Fair enough. Just because you work in fashion doesn’t mean you don’t love a bargain – especially when that bargain actually makes sense.
Of course all of us fashion folk have our shameful Primark secrets. We just don’t talk about them because there seems to be this stigma attached to admitting that sometimes the £3 version of something is JUST AS GOOD as the £30 version.
But hear me out.
Some of my go-to basics that I actually wear all the time for work are from Primark and I will never feel bad about being practical with my purchases. Okay this one is embarrassing to admit, but I own too many pairs of their seamless underwear. Like WAY too many.
But if you wear tailored pants or fitted dresses like I do for client meetings all day, the last thing you want are panty lines. These 2.50 pairs do the trick like my £12 seamless ones do, but I don’t freak out when they vanish in the washing machine like I constantly do with my delicates in my apartment’s shared laundry (story of my life). Thanks Primark.
My friend Hannah works at British Vogue and swears by their cotton basics when it comes to her underwear. She’s always raving about how they make her buy the multipacks, especially before she has to go to work events or trips. “If you’re running around fashion week covering shows, wearing heels for 12+ hours a day you DON’T want high end lingerie rubbing you the wrong way,” she said to me over drinks recently.
YES. When you’re wearing heels for a full work day I’d much rather wear comfortable panties! Now, onto the fun stuff – tights.
I have watched so many fashion peeps literally breeze past the Primark trend section to head straight for the boring black options. And guys, they are SO RIGHT for doing this. I have done side-by-side wear tests with premium designer tights and couldn’t spot the difference in quality.
And if you’re like me and need to keep multiples of every style in your bag for emergency purposes (because they ALWAYS run when you’re wearing them), paying £15 a pair can really add up! My male friend Alex who works in menswear swears by their plain white socks for work. He keeps a drawer stocked at the office with the plain black multipacks for casting on models during mens fashion shoots.
“You never know what socks the boys are going to wear and half the time they don’t match the aesthetic you’re going for,” he said. “But if we have plain black socks that look expensive enough we can stick them on every model and nobody’s the wiser.” Smart man. Guess what else is great from Primark?!
Pyjamas. Not the ones with cartoon cats or dumb quotes on them, but the simple cotton sets. I purchased a few when I travel for work after my expensive pair refused to stop shrinking in hotels (long story involving wine…) and THESE £12 sets are LIFE CHANGING.
They pack small, can be washed in the sink and hung to dry overnight, and aren’t childish like a lot of PJs can be. Because your pj’s say a lot about you when you travel for work, am I right? The crazy thing is we are PICKY about what we’ll buy from Primark.
You Might Also Like
We aren’t flocking to the store to cop all the trendy things that are obviously cheap interpretations of luxury brands – that’s not what we’re going in there for. We’re there for the basics that are so basic, you’d be hard pressed to know it came from Primark. Their plain white tees are a dream.
For £2.50 I don’t mind wearing them as layering under blazers or in case they get ruined. Friends of mine buy them in bulk to be worn as cover-ups for photoshoots. My friend Tina who works at a fashion magazine always keeps them in every single size.
“You need a clean white tee for layering under everything and you never know if the model is going to get spray tan shade on them, or safety pin them for fit. You need something you don’t care about ruining,” she said. GENIUS.
Who wants to risk a £50 J.Crew basic when you can buy three for the same price and not feel bad about washing them nonstop? Because it’s been well documented how hectic the changing rooms are at Primark, most fashion insiders I know have adopted this “buy and return” method. You essentially buy whatever you want in all of your sizes, try them at home and then return what doesn’t fit.
With prices being so cheap, you can afford to buy two of everything! It’s actually more time efficient than fighting over a changing room AND their returns aren’t that difficult. Speaking of fighting over the changing rooms, during summer their canvas shoe styles are somehow low-key favorite among industry insiders.
We’re not wearing them for daily stuff, but instead for certain shoots or events where you may only need that pair of shoes once. Think: beach cover-ups for summer shoots, holiday-y things, etc. Same goes for their cheap flip flops.
I know people who keep pairs in their work bags just to relieve their feet after wearing pain-inducing heels all day at fashion week. Primark’s plain camis and tank tops are another lifesaver. When you need something under a fine blouse to make it work appropriate for the office, or want to wear under a blazer without it being chunky, those £1.80 camis are perfect.
I have easily ten of their plain black strap backs tops at this point. They hold up in washing well, and when they inevitably stretch out of get a stain you won’t feel bad tossing it because it was so cheap. Same thing goes for their hair accessories if you work in hair. fashion editors and stylists always need plentiful bobby pins, generic scrunchies, and plain hair bands on deck.
The quality difference between their plain black bobby pins and higher end ones are negligible, yet the price seriously is NOT.
When you could lose half your bobby pins on one model in one shoot, this is important. *I bought not wear anything with transparent branding, trendy pieces that are obviously a cheap designer rip-off, or any shoes other than the basic flip flops and canvas styles I mentioned above. When buying from Primark, the line is drawn at simple pieces that don’t lose their integrity when stored in your sample closet for long periods of time, or basics you NEED multiple of for work purposes.
One of my favourite friends who works in fashion social media told me that during the pandemic their plain face masks were a godsend. “I went through handfuls of masks during the day for travel to showroom visits and meetings. Having Primark priced masks that I could buy multiples of to always have a clean set handy was a lifesaver.” Most of us fashion insiders have what I like to call a “Primark game plan.” We know exactly what we need when we enter that store, which sections to head to first and what we need to duck out ASAP.
It’s not about browsing their cute outfits (although we do that too…) it’s about tactical shopping. I even usually wear headphones to drown out the madness and stick to my list. Primark has taught me what’s actually worth splurging on and what really doesn’t make a difference when you work in fashion.
Sure I’m willing to drop major bucks on my Theory blazers and staples I know I’ll wear on repeat for years, but for undies that have one functional use? Hell no I’m not wasting my money. When you learn your worth as a fashion buyer, Primark will become your best friend.
