Happy New Year's Eve! As we welcome in 2023, is your New Years' resolution to have more fun with fashion and finally discover your style identity? Maybe it's to explore dopamine dressing and getting adventurous with colour?
Our weekly Steal Their Style feature is set to continue each Saturday morning here on the Manchester Evening News after a highly successful launch in July 2022. Over the last six months, we've been sharing six outfits donned by stylish shoppers stopped in Manchester city centre every weekend, complimenting more than 140 people in the process.
As we raise a glass to the New Year, I've been taking a look through the Steal Their Style archives at some of my favourite outfits of the year. We've already taken a look at the best-dressed blokes and most fashionable over 55s, so this week, were taking a look at the fabulous outfits styled by the ladies under 55.
READ MORE: Manchester shoppers spotted in Christmas jumpers and knits from Tesco and H&M
While I always do my best to be inclusive and feature a wide range of people in this feature, it is predominantly women who firstly, catch my eye, and secondly, are happy to be papped and have a chat. Because of this, we have a LOT of ladies who have featured in our weekly editions, and so whittling this list down to just 10 was extremely difficult.
Our 'best of' round up sees a mix of summer and winter looks from over the past 26 weeks. from colour-blocking co-ords to animal print dresses, there's been a real vibrant mix, with blends of vintage, high street and high end, including brands like H&M, Zara and even Gucci.
Here are my top picks of the best-dressed women spotted in Manchester this year, which will hopefully spark some inspiration for your New Year, New Me wardrobe.
Jo McCarthy
Salford-born Jo was browsing the rings in the window of Arthur Kay when I spotted her breathtaking red dress. The 54-year-old mum now lives in the Cheshire countryside and was meeting her sons in the city, adding: “I just love coming back into town, it’s fantastic.”
The statement striped dress, she revealed, was £75 from Asos , which she’d paired with Gucci trainers and heart-patterned pop socks from & Other Stories.
The housewife added: “My bag is from Penelope Chilvers who does very nice artisan things - she’s a shoemaker but also does totes. I’ve always liked doing my own thing even as I’m getting older - I’ll be winging it for as long as I can. I like a midi dress but I also like colour and drama, as well as mixing high end with high street.”
Esme Ruia
Esme, from Knutsford, was spotted on King Street showing her friends from Jordan around the city. The 32-year-old mum looked stunning in an emerald green plisse co-ord from Manc brand PrettyLittleThing.
Usually Esme works for the United Nations on the world food programme, but is currently on maternity leave. She said: “I’m a new mum with a five month old baby so I’m trying to get back in shape. This outfit is from PrettyLittleThing - it’s a co-ord and I love it because it’s bright.
“When you’ve just had a baby and you’re not feeling very body confident they always have loads of different styles. I feel comfortable but also quite glam. My friends are visiting from Jordan so I still wanted to dress up and look nice at the same time as feeling comfortable and body confident.”
Both items are still available on the PLT website, costing £25 for the trousers and £26 for the shirt. Esme’s shoes are from a boutique called The Edit, in Hale, which she paired with her beloved Christian Dior sunglasses.
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Megan France
Sheffield lass Megan was in St Peter’s Square having graduated from a Filmmaking degree at Manchester Metropolitan University that morning.
The 24-year-old had ditched her cap and gown in the heat to show off a stunning 70s jumpsuit that was a last minute find. She said: “My jumpsuit was a panic buy graduation ‘dress’ from Urban Outfitters. I picked it up a few days ago and I was cutting it quite fine, but it was in the sale for £48.”
The Versace Medusa heels have been going viral recently, and many shoppers - including Corrie’s Lucy Fallon - have discovered some brilliant dupes. Megan found a lilac pair that looked just like the £1,100 pair for less than £50.
She added: “I’m a graduate, I can’t afford Versace, these are the main star - they’re from a website called Katch Me.
“I just go for whatever I’m feeling. Sometimes I like really femme things and other times I like to dress quite masculine. And I'm clearly going very 70s today.”
Lucy Macdonald
Out for bottomless brunch with three of her friends - two of whom are getting married this month - Lucy wore a hot pink co-ord for her time in town.
The 29-year-old, from Preston, said her outfit cost around £500, most of which was for her Chloe branded trainers.
She added: “I’m wearing a Zara suit, ASOS top and Chloe trainers. The outfit cost around £500, but a great deal of that’s the trainers.”
Chloe likes to follow influencers on Instagram to help her find style inspiration, adding: “I follow a lot of the girls that advertise for Zara, because I like to see the outfits on real people.
“I love the suit because it’s really bright and I can wear the pants with something else and the blazer with jeans and make it a bit more versatile too.”
Millie Humphreys
An interior designer and TikTok creator, Millie looked vibrant in an animal print dress and chunky boots. The 32-year-old, from Macclesfield, was in the city for a work meeting, and says her creative role influences some of her style.
She said: “I hate summer clothes, I'm such a winter girl but I do love fashion. I usually build my outfit around whatever shoes I want to wear, and recently started a TikTok account called diamondsanddoghair where I share my styling videos.
“I don't really look for style inspiration - I just wear things I feel good in. I’m a creative so I suppose that plays into it.”
Millie’s was an old Topshop piece that originally cost around £20. She paired it with ASOS boots which were around £50, and a £2 beret from online retailer Shein.
She added: “This dress is really comfortable when its really hot and I've paired it with these massive shoes as platforms always make everything look amazing. I wear a lot of high street and vintage clothes and I love to mix and match the two.”
And when it comes to celebrity influences, Millie commented: “I think Lady Gaga is iconic - everything she wears is amazing and she’s so fearless with it."
Bonnie Hay
Suited and sandaled up was 41-year-old Bonnie Hay, who had travelled from Birmingham to promote a new TV show that she’s featuring on, called All That Glitters. The jewellery maker had been filming on Morning Live to chat about the Bake-Off style show, hosted by Katherine Ryan.
And in fact, it’s the glamorous host from whom Bonnie gets a lot of her style inspiration. Wearing a gorgeous green tailored suit, she said: “Katherine Ryan hosts the show and I totally tried to steal her style. From her I’ve gleaned that more is more. It’s all about elegance, big bows, frills, glitter and she goes big with it. Go big or go home.”
Bonnie’s suit was from Warehouse, costing around £120 in total. The marble-effect tote was also Warehouse, while her slider-style sandals were £5 from Primark. Speaking of the suit, she added: “The colour is pretty memorable and works all year round, and the quality is lovely, too.”.
Adele Atherton
It’s no wonder that Adele Atherton looked so utterly fantastic when she’s literally a fashion designer with her own vintage brand. The 48-year-old from Wigan even has some celebrity customers, having had her own stall at Glastonbury Festival.
She was sporting a 1970s Indian cotton dress with a vintage bed jacket that she bought from Cow in the Northern Quarter. She added: “My bag is actually made from a 70s couch! While I didn’t make this myself, I do make my own clothes under the brand Tallula Vintage.”
Adele says Scottish author Dawn O’Porter is among her clientele, after she bought five dresses from her over the summer, citing her as one of her style inspirations. She added: “I also really like Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks, too. The 70s is a big inspiration for me, but you have to be careful as you can look like you’re in fancy dress if you stick to one era.”
Alma Renee
Italian fashion lover Alma not only has a dream job working at Arndale’s Monki store, but also shares her love of styling with others via her Instagram page . The 26-year-old, originally from Rome, has lived in Manchester for four years, and was spotted working the tills in almost entirely Monki.
She said: “I really love not spending too much on clothes, and working here I get to see what’s new in first and get them first. We also get staff discount which is a bonus. I got the jeans in the sale for £25, this jumper in the sale for £10 and the jacket was £30 and also in the sale.”
Alma wore a row of glitzy clips in her hair, paired with some jewellery, also from Monki. She added: “The thing about Monki is that, as a trans-woman, it caters to a really wide demographic of people that I resonate with. They really encourage sisterhood and that really warms my heart.”
As well as Monki, Alma also loves to shop online, especially on secondhand apps like Vinted. But when it comes to where she finds inspiration, she gave the loveliest response, commenting: “My mum and dad were really stylish, Italians just are, but Manchester is one of the coolest places to take inspiration from, so I take inspiration from there too.”
Elizabeth Morgan
Elizabeth Morgan is the owner of Northern Quarter retail shop The Norah Store, which sells clothing and accessories from a collection of independent female owned brands. That would explain why she caught my attention as she briskly walked back to the store on her lunch break. I joined the 27-year-old, from Chorlton, on her return to work to chat to her about her small business, and of course, her outfit.
She said: “I used to work in vintage and my background is in fashion. I just really wanted to start something with all these amazing independent female designers that I was finding on Instagram and on the web that I loved, and there was nowhere to buy all of these in one place in Manchester. We just opened here and will be set up here until Christmas and we’ll see what happens after that.”
Elizabeth wore a collection of clothes from The Norah Store, including a coat from Jakke, which is a vegan brand making luxury coats sustainably and ethically. She paired it with a Mundaka Studio cashmere knit, also available at The Norah Store, and accessorised with Intentionally Blank shoes, a hair bow from Stockport-based Roop and Sandralexandra earrings - all brands stocked at the High Street store.
Lauren Whittle
In the city centre to see Westlife, Lauren Whittle was checking out the Exchange Square markets while wearing a silky dress layered over a knit.
Lauren, 29, from Burnley, bought the dress from Tesco in the sale. It was meant to be £40 but she snapped it up for the reduced price of £20.
She said: “I'm drinking today but you can wear this dress for work too. I like pieces I can wear over and over for different events and occasions. I usually wear a lot of black because it goes with everything. I do have a lot of clothes but a lot of it are pieces I can mix and match.
“If you have a nice, new outfit it can make you feel really good - and it’s always better when you've got it in the sale, too as you can be a bit smug about it.”
Lauren paired the dress with some £30 New Look boots and a Boohoo coat that was £40.
She added: “I like the high street and the supermarkets are really underrated, Sainsbury’s have some really good clothes.”
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