It can be unmitigated hell braving the Oxford Circus highstreet stores, and certainly not something to be engaged in too lightly or regularly, but the rewards can be great, says Julia Rebaudo

On my way back up the Victoria Line, for reasons still unknown to myself, I decided to give into the slightly manic urge to do a mad rush around Topshop and H&M at Oxford Circus. It was Friday afternoon, how busy could it be?

As ever, my optimism concerning the London masses was promptly crushed as I battled my way out the tube exit and across the road to TopShop. Why, oh why, can I still not manage to come out the exit leading straight to the shop doors? I put it down to sheer incompetence.

A sigh of relief as the green man pinged on and the tide of shoppers heaved across the street. Suddenly there I was, hovering at the top of the Topshop escalators deciding whether to turn right into the overwhelming accessories section or head down into the main hall of hell.

Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping, shops and Topshop, but the Oxford Circus Topshop really has come into its own, having recently apparently tripled in size and created a whole new type of multi-tiered panic – how am I ever going to get round all the clothes, how am going to be sure I haven’t missed something, how am I going to stand the queue to the changing rooms, how am I going to find where to pay, and how on earth am I going to get out. Alongside the nailbars, they should have quick therapy sessions on dealing with panic attacks. But enough wittering. Here are the fruits of my labour.

Gorgeous leather bags
If you usually give the Topshop accessories floor a miss due to the sheer amount of dunnage and the thought that frankly you’re not really sure about a TopShop bag, I urge you to think again. Just to your right, on one of the closest displays are a new range of leather bags to die for.

The colours are soft muted autumn chocolate browns, light tan, deep berry red and holly green. The styles are classic – structured capacious hold-alls, smaller shoulder bowling bags and satisfying in-betweeners. What really sold me was the leather, which is soft, smells lovely and makes the bags look a lot more expensive than they really are.

Prices range from £45 to £125. I’ve already had yummy mummies coming up to me asking where I got mine from! (For the record I bought a light tan oh-so-sweet bowling bag – it fits my mobile, purse, book and knitting easily but is light as a feather, and a larger chocolate brown bag that just about slips over my shoulder for my laptop – and it has the perfect little front pocket for plug lead and mouse. Bag heaven!

Wooly winter tights
Step past the bags in Topshop on the accessories floor and you’re heading into tights land. You know, the rows and rows of multi-coloured striped tights which you just cannot wear unless you’re of the slightly goth, hanging out at Camden Market, teenage persuasion. But look beyond that and you will find the first influx of proper autumn tights. For £11 you can buy yourself warm, woolly chocolate brown tights with a subtle pattern up each side. Tights aside, there’s a whole load of comfy looking leggings, scarves, gloves and hats.

Woollen dresses and jumpers
Downstairs Topshop: on your left is the woollens area. So much autumnal colour choice – mustard yellows, various hues of brown and burgundy, it all makes you feel so cosy. You just want to curl up feeling nonchalantly elegant and gorgeous – luckily swathes of soft wool, copious roll-necks always seem to have this effect.

I suggest taking your time in this area. As it’s mainly jumpers and long tops you can do your trying on in near-by mirrors instead of the changing rooms. Try a few different colours and styles to find a couple of autumn wardrobe staples. How do you know it’s a staple? Be brutally honest with yourself. Unless it’s an immediate “Yup, this is the one”, based on you looking utterly fab the minute you’ve pulled the garment on, put it away. Trial and error, trial and error.