![\"Carrie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6105e93c-74b8-4d95-859b-b2331168a912.jpg\")
Sarah Jessica Parker as Bradshaw <\/p>\nThere is a moment in Sex and the City, when the well-heeled Carrie Bradshaw realises that her collection of a hundred pairs of shoes \u201cat 400 bucks a pop\u201d could have been a house deposit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the average house in England costing seven times the average salary, this scenario is even less likely than it was in 2002. Perhaps because of this some young women have a new role model: the \u201cfrugal chic\u201d influencer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mia McGrath, 25, studied fashion management at Nottingham Trent and worked in the fashion industry before quitting her day job last September to guide half a million followers to be \u201cfrugal chic\u201d.<\/p>\n
The term, which McGrath has trademarked, means \u201ctrying to live a luxurious life while spending intentionally\u201d, and boils down to shopping less, and being savvy with your money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the reason this trend has taken off is because people are tired of the narrative that excess is the aspiration, and more is always more,\u201d she said. \u201cThat Sex and the City phase of life is what we grew up aspiring to have, but I don\u2019t think our current economy allows for that with average salaries, rent prices and the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Jessica Parker as Bradshaw <\/p>\n
Frugal chic is the latest in a series of online trends opposing consumerist impulse spending. There were challenges, like \u201cproject pan\u201d where influencers tried to use up all of the products in their house, and \u201cno buy\u201d challenges not to purchase any new belongings for a month, or a year.<\/p>\n
In 2023, the \u201cde-influencing\u201d hashtag went viral, dissuading shoppers from the latest product, and the next year \u201cunderconsumption core\u201d romanticised making do with what you already own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frugal chic focuses on buying less without sacrificing glamour. \u201cFrugal chic is a juxtaposition, it\u2019s kind of an oxymoron,\u201d McGrath said. \u201cYou\u2019re having restraint, but you\u2019re also trying to have taste at the same time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overconsumption is, undeniably, a first-world problem for the relatively well off. McGrath said: \u201cI\u2019m self-aware enough to admit that these trends are just normal, most people use stuff to its limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
But all these trends, ironically, encourage users to wean themselves off shopping based on influence online.<\/p>\n
Georgie Shannon, 35, from Cornwall, is a marketing manager for an environmental charity and runs a blog. She is doing her second \u201cno buy\u201d challenge this year, avoiding buying new clothing, make-up or shoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Georgie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/220c4251-46a8-49a0-879b-b09a010c93b4.jpg\")
Georgie Shannon<\/p>\n
Shannon said: \u201cIt took away the adrenaline that you get when you buy things, I\u2019m noticing that again now. I just had a little look around Zara, and it\u2019s like going to the supermarket, it doesn\u2019t have the same excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
She often shops second hand, and had reservations about the newest trend. \u201cFrugal chic almost feels like it comes from a place of privilege immediately because in order to buy from sustainable, quality brands, they are more expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it is positive if it directs people that have the money to shop with sustainable brands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leena Norms, a YouTuber and author who encourages living more sustainably, said: \u201cJust because [underconsumption trends] do not apply to everybody, does not mean that it\u2019s not useful or worth doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Norms challenged herself not to buy any new clothes last year, and instead sew her own or mend existing items when she needed new things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI grew up buying second hand just out of necessity, but I always fantasised about being able to buy fast fashion \u2014 and buy it in large quantities. I think as you become an adult that becomes possible, and it is hard to pull yourself back from that, so [the challenge] definitely helped me moderate.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGrath\u2019s encouragement to buy less, however, is paired with \u201cfinancial literacy\u201d coaching encouraging young women to become investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to university it was a major turning point, because I had male friends who talked about stocks the same way they talk about beer or sports,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like a little private members\u2019 club that I couldn\u2019t be a part of, so I really wanted to learn about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her content links to a trading platform and budgeting app, and an investing mini course. She sells a subscription newsletter on financial literacy, budgeting spreadsheets, a course on becoming an influencer, and a financial plan to retire early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Young men invest at double the rate of young women, according to a 2025 study by Boring Money, with 41 per cent of men between 18 and 34 investing compared with 20 per cent of women. Influencers like McGrath argue this adds up to a financial gap between men and women.<\/p>\n
But, she says, she does not have any formal qualifications in accounting or finance, and \u201clearnt the hard way\u201d that there are stringent rules around offering financial advice online.<\/p>\n
Nina Michaelidou, a professor of marketing at Loughborough University, researched online \u201cde-influencers\u201d dissuading people against shopping for beauty products.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe idea people have about de-influencers is that they themselves are authentic. This is basically related to people\u2019s knowledge that influencers get paid, so if someone is saying don\u2019t buy, we immediately think this person is not paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frugal chic involves persuading young women to shop less, but McGrath\u2019s partnerships with trading platforms pay her to encourage young women to invest the money they save instead: swapping shoes for financial instruments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a moment in Sex and the City, when the well-heeled Carrie Bradshaw realises that her collection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-596032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}