241 Pizza

With the rise of discount chains comes the new trend of cheapskating — the art of blending luxury with low-cost items, or sometimes just low-end with yet more low-end. So it’s about wearing a plain T-shirt (£3) and carrying a calf leather handbag from Prada (£500 or more), or just teaming it with a £10 gypsy skirt. As Josephine Collins — the editor of Drapers Record, the newspaper for the clothing industry — says, the appeal of Primark lies in its “reverse cachet”. “There is a shift away from wearing head-to-toe designer,” she says. “After all, why buy a Marc Jacobs jacket if you can get a lookalike for less? It’s seen to be clever.”

And clever is what we all want to be. Richard Hyman, chairman of Verdict, the retail analyst, agrees that we are all increasingly cheapskate. His research shows that we are no longer shopping horizontally but vertically. In the past an affluent woman, for example, might have shopped at Versace, Armani and Prada. Now that same woman will continue to spend there but she will happily move down the scale, raiding Top Shop or New Look from time to time. “I think we are less precious than we were and much more pragmatic,” says Hyman. “Primark has encouraged shopping democracy. It’s become classless. It still has a bias towards lower economic groups but it also attracts ABC1 shoppers.”

Our shrewdness as consumers has reaped huge rewards as the price of many goods has fallen in real terms. The latest figures from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reveal that clothing is 40% cheaper than it was in 1996. Over the past 10 years the number of items of clothing we have bought as a nation has doubled. Have we doubled our wardrobe space? No, we have just thrown unwanted items away. Not only clothing, but also household goods such as televisions, washing machines and dishwashers are cheaper.

“Consumers have taken their perception of good value with them as they shop around,” says Hyman. “People are much more demanding and confident than they used to be.”

This change in mentality means we are increasingly living in bargain-basement, throwaway Britain. With the advent of low-cost airlines, we clamour for easyJet flights at £1.99. When a new plasma TV becomes affordable we bin the wide-screen model we bought only last year. The trouble is, we don’t feel better off as a society.

As a proportion of our total spend, retail is falling. In 1980 it accounted for 50%, but last year it fell to 36.75%. “We are spending more on housing, second homes, more frequent holidays and private education,” says Hyman. As the CPI reveals, we are paying less for many goods but more for services. Our shirts may cost less but it costs more to visit the dentist or the hairdresser. Meanwhile we are paying more for eating out, healthcare and our utilities.

No wonder we need more retail therapy as we ponder our mortgage repayments and the projected paucity of our pensions. Of course, any woman who knows the first thing about the world knows that the only route to happiness lies in a new frock. And there’s an added frisson when it costs £10. If only the carrier bags looked a bit more Prada.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive