A few months ago, online designer discount boutique The OutNet had a special birthday sale with designer products selling for 1 British pound, which is about 2 Australian dollars.

The Outnet is a sister site to Net-A-Porter, and they use the OutNet to sell their unsold stock from last season. And I love buying last season’s stuff for a bargain, because if you choose the right pieces – it doesn’t look like last season.

There was a special RSVP list, a secret start time and when the day finally arrived, there was a whole lot of online drama – crashing servers, grinding load times, error pages and grumpy tweets.

I was one of the lucky few, who happened to be sitting at my desk when the email popped in. I quickly went to the website, picked something in my size, and went straight to the check out. It was really a crazy online lottery.

There was a selection of dresses, skirts, tops, accessories, but I had my heart set on an investment piece, something I would love to have, that I could wear again and again, but wouldn’t actually spend thousands of dollars on.

In this case, a Miu Miu metallic blazer. It was in a classic style, a tailored piece, in a heavy fabric.

It looked awesome in the photo!

It arrived, and it was very lovely indeed.

But, as you can see, it was way too big for me! HUGE! I felt like I was trapped in a parachute!  Or like I was a big, grey, lizard shedding its old skin! I was walking around in a radioactive tent!

I swear it said Italian Size 38 (which is US 2, UK 6, AUS 6) when I clicked to buy it. But I can’t remember now. Mistakes are often made in the excitement of a sale. Oh well. These thing occasionally happen with online shopping.

To solve this problem, I went to my precious seamstress lady and told her the whole story.

“YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I BOUGHT!!” I shrieked.

And she was like – “OMG!! A MIU MIU JACKET FOR $2!?”

Anyway, she altered it a bit here and there, and made the jacket the same shape and size as I am, which is of course exactly how your clothes should be. It looks great now! She did a wonderful job!

So, jacket ($2) and shipping ($17) and alterations ($30) = $49! And this jacket was on sale last year for around a thousand dollars. And the thousand dollar version wouldn’t have fitted me this well.

Happy Karen!!

I can’t wait to mix it up with some layers.

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.