MY friends and I have, of late, made shopping a weekly activity. After our Sunday breakfast ritual, we walk around the area looking for boutiques and spend quite a few hours just trying on clothes, giving feedback on one another’s choices and most weeks, we buy at least one item each.

Each friend has always had a unique style, but during our university days we wore mostly pants and occassionally jeans, rarely throwing on accessories, a nice dress or even cardigans.

We walked a lot and putting in the effort to look stylish just wasn’t practical most days, or worth the stress, as it just seemed too much of a waste to wear our prettier things to class.

Perhaps this is the reason why these days, after being starved of style for so many years, we feel the need to take back those years by visiting stores week after week, discovering new ways to make our regular style funkier/edgier/prettier.

So I checked check out a few boutiques, and see what’s new in the stores that might help spice up our wardrobes, and yours too.

Shift dress

It may be a 1960s look, but the shift dress is filling up the racks of many boutiques. (psst… US First Lady Michelle Obama wears them too!)

“Loads of shift dresses, they’re really in right now,” said Ashley Kwong from Ashes Boutique in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, when I asked about what was the latest fashion item must-have.

“The very short ones are popular – we’ve got them in flower print, sequins and block print. You can even wear them with leggings, depending on your style. Studded and lace leggings, if worn with a shift dress, will give you a chic look.”

Shift dresses were on the racks of Cats Whiskers, Purpledotz and Sevendays, among others.

Cardigans

One thing I’ve always loved, but never got around to wearing, was the cardigan. It was always too hot and there weren’t very many varieties in stores back when we were in university.

Ashes boutique owner Ashley Kwong shows us one of the cardigans she has on sale in the store

If you’ve been watching musical comedy Glee on TV, you would’ve noticed the girls on the show rocking the cardigan as a part of their daily look!

You can get them in many different styles; from mid-length to knee-length, retro or girly, short sleeve or long sleeve, the choices are endless! Pair them with jeans, dresses, leggings, even short skirts!

Cats Whiskers has a great selection of these, in many colours to choose from, and so do shops like Blook and Paperdoll in Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Pins and brooches

One thing many ladies hesitate to experiment with are pinned accessories, like brooches.

Pins are pretty elaborate, some combining feathers, beads, sequins and pearls all in one design.

Pins can be great accessories

“You can wear them on a plain black dress, or a t-shirt or even a collared man-shirt. Feathered pins help to funk up your outfit a bit,” said Ashley.

Although not that many boutiques have elaborate pins on their shelves yet, you can find them at Ashes and Elo Accessories by Blook.

Belts

Belts were an unheard of outfit enhancer way back then, especially if you weren’t a boy, but now fashion has made it a must-have that can be worn in so many different ways.

Thin, studded belts for tight work dresses, waist cinchers for long tunics and shirt-dresses, hip-slung belts for jeans, denim skirts and bohemian-type skirts are a few ways you can toy with this underrated accessory.

This long under-appreciated accessory has become a key item in giving your body shape, and spicing up an otherwise dull outfit.

There are belts in just about every boutique in the city, and remember, you can never have too many belts because every colour, shape and size serves a different purpose!