Intrigue

Intrigue sells ladies clothes in Leeds City Market. So being in the market you might expect to find some bargains. I wasn’t too taken by anything in here though. It mostly held cheap versions of things you might find in high street stores like Top Shop — flowery tops, jumpers, dresses to go out on the town in and leggings. There were some other pretty dubious items in stock that I’m sure went out of fashion or where never exactly in fashion. This included snake skin print trousers, ‘denim’ leggings with intermittent horizontal slits all the way down each leg and a black dress with wire in the bottom that made it stick out in a curves. The latter is very hard to describe and was so unusual that I quite liked it. There were a few summers maxi-​dresses that I might have tried on if it were a little warmer. I didn’t see anything much above £20 so if you find something nice here then it counts as a bargain but be warned, its hit or miss.

Intrigue is probably a stereotypical market clothes shop stocking clothes that appear to be of low quality and unlikely to be described as ‘tasteful’. There’s a lot of layers, lace, florals and leopard print which, though not bad in and of themselves, when thrown together in a big mixture of loud fabrics tend to creep towards the ‘garish’ end of the spectrum.
I imagine Intrigue is aimed at teenagers, with all the leggings, short skirts and low-​cut tops. Some of the clothes could actually look pretty cool if worn as part of an outfit of quite a different style, but the way they are displayed in the shop means that it takes quite a vivid imagination to see them in another guise.
Prices are actually not as cheap as I expected, definitely above Primark levels, so don’t assume you’ll have change from a tenner, despite all appearances.

Every market needs one, the shop that dominates the best part of a side, with tacky shimmery fabrics and loud R&B pumping out ofn to the paths, obnoxiously giving over the impression that they rule over all.
Unfortunately for me, I can be a sucker for shops I would nonormally even look into, especially when it’s in a market. A jumper on display caught my attention, but at £25 I could not really afford it. Had it been elsewhere I would have gone for it, but £25 in the market is extortionate in my disillusioned eyes. It’s a rather intimidating shop selling garments you can imagine teens having every intention of wearing untill their father steps in booming «You’re not going out like that!»