How are we defining funky – firstly it’s important to get this right – We’re using the offbeat, unconventional or eccentric meaning of the word Funky!

Some of my own personal favourites over the years have been a pair of doc marten’s red patent leather shoes. Bright red. Beautiful. Funky. I was the girl with the red shoes for a couple of years. They were completely different to any shoe I’d ever seen before – no one I knew would have worn them but they were constantly on my feet until they wore out a couple of years later. I thought they were the bees knees of shoes! I was at this time a huge fan of shoes and boots and had about 30-40 pairs that I filled my wardrobe with. I had some grey snakeskin boots that had been my previous funky favourite and they were sadly demoted with the red shoes entering the arena.

If you’re looking for funky clothes then you probably want to stay away from the big high street chains. Some of them have a urban street cred range but often it’s fairly mass market and not quite individual enough to make you stand out. If you’re first to wear something then you can get away with this, but if you look at something and can instantly think of when you saw someone else wearing it then you’re onto a bad thing. Being unique is often something we crave whilst acquiescing to a stereotype. Be bold. Be beautiful. But most of us, be you!

If you want to wear that metaphoric pair of red shoes then go for it. If you want to wear cutting edge fashion then go for it. If you love your ancient hand knitted jumper with lemmings on it, then go for it! Fashion is about what we wear and who we are. We make the clothes look fantastic!

When you’re looking for what’s new watch out for new colours in your favourite items. Sometimes rather than design an entirely new products they’ll revamp a favourite by changing the colour and bringing out a new shade that’ll make the item look completely different. This happens sometimes with trainers like Converse – just when you think you’ve seen it all from them, they release a new colour trainer and you have to have that one too!

Do you look for what’s new and feel you have to have it? You’re suffering from a syndrome we refer to as “UpToDatitis” – it’s perfectly normal for people to want to look unique and keeping an eye on what’s new is the way to achieve this. When you’re on a budget it’s essential to keep an eye on what’s bargains are appearing too – making sure you get a bargain is really important – so how do you do this. You can browse many shops by price – and if you look through your favourite brands with an eye on reductions you might just find what’s on offer!

Offbeat street fashion is incredibly popular at the moment – there’s a constant stream of new clothing and it’s covered by different styles with surfer boy and skater boy styling being very popular and sometimes confusingly close. You don’t have to label yourself to buy clothes though – buy the items you like! Buy clothes that you look good in. Buy clothes that make you feel fantastic!

Article by Diane the editor of the new Fashion News Blog at All the Clothes.