Clothes maketh a man,

said William of Wykeham. And true to this sentiment-I love clothes.There,I admit it.I love simplicity itself clothes,elegant,stylish but with oomph.My eye is always drawn to the unusual,to the different,slightly quirky,but never fashionable for the fashion's sake. Every-one who knows me thinks I spend a fortune on clothes.I do not.I have no conscience to be spending thousands, even hundreds on big name designer dresses,I would much rather give money to others, or spend it on other people-presents, holiday,meals out.I am generous to a fault,yet frugal and sensible.I neither drink, nor smoke.I do not waste money,I am not a shopaholic. I would not even dream of taking a taxi, if a bus goes to my destination, or I could walk there.But I love clothes.I love bags, I love shoes.I never forget how fortunate I am to be able to afford the things I like. When on a cruise, I indulge.On La Palma there is a tiny little boutique called Carmel on a A Perez de Brito 54.This is the main street on a small compact, never could get lost on, island.Blink and you miss the shop when you pass by.But once inside,you are in heaven.Packed to the brink with quirky bags,jewellery,scarves,adorable tops and never seen anywhere else dresses. And the prices? Even a scrooge would love shopping here! On Madeira there is Yellowbaron on Rua Do Janeiro 105 I love.This establishment is harder to find ,but well worth the effort.If you come to the main church, the name of which escapes me, but come to it you will,it is in the centre of town.Stand facing the main entrance to the church and walk baring left, until you cross a bridge and past the bridge I think second shop on the left is this, what appears to be a second hand marvel, but only when inside you will realize how glad you were to have found it.Truth be told,the clothes there are not to every woman's taste.They are more hippy,shabby chic, but if you like that sort of thing ,you will be in your element. When the shop-owner showed me a midi milk- coffee coloured dress with cut outs on the sleeves and at the front,and these front cut outs under-lined with black,I knew I had to have it. Wore it the same evening and felt a million dollars, holes and all! The ship also had some nice items on sale and bargains to be had, especially in the leather goods department.When I saw a large GUESS red patterned shopper reduced by half,I could not not buy it.It had a matching small bag/purse at half price or so. My family loves DESIGUAL. Tenerife has a very big branch,a pair of my favourite sneakers three years old now but almost as good as new, yet worn constantly, comes from there,it shows the quality is second to none. This time they did not have my size sneakers in the colour I wanted. But on Lanzarote I found exactly the pair I liked.They also had adorable, but horror expensive t-shirts for my two little 7 and 10 year old god-sons.