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'My charity shop challenge feels joyous this time'

Katy Lewis
BBC News, Hertfordshire
Caroline Jones Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes and is wearing bright red lipstick. Her arms are raised and she is touching her ears. The top of a dark grey jacket is visible, as is a blue scarf and blue and white striped blouse. She is also wearing a yellow beaded bracelet, yellow hoop earrings and a pink watch.Caroline Jones

A woman wearing charity clothes for a year, a decade after she took on the challenge for the first time, is hoping the changes she has experienced give hope to others who are in a "difficult place".

Caroline Jones, 56, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, began Knickers Model's Own in 2015 to raise money for Cancer Research UK while in the early stages of grieving for her mother, Mary Benson.

She wore clothes from the charity's shops for 365 days and posted her outfits on social media.

This year, she is posting her 2025 pictures alongside the corresponding 2015 images, and she said her grief "feels lighter" and she was generally "more confident".

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes and is wearing bright red lipstick. She wears a dark grey jacket and black jeans, a blue scarf and a blue and white striped blouse. She also wears a yellow beaded bracelet, yellow hoop earrings and a pink watch, and has a black shoulder bag worn across her body. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a brick wall, has a side-parting and longer fringe swept over her left eye. She wears a dark grey jacket, blue jeans, a white T-shirt with black writing on it and an orange bracelet.Caroline Jones
Ms Jones is posing in similar outfits to the ones she wore 10 years ago

Mrs Benson, who died from breast cancer in October 2014, had been a volunteer at the charity's Harpenden shop for 13 years, so Ms Jones decided on a year-long campaign to honour her memory.

Naming the challenge to reflect that only her underwear was new, she hoped to raise £1,000, but her daily posts became so popular she raised about £70,000.

About four months into her latest challenge she said she hoped she could show others going through difficult times that things did change.

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and half-smiling. She has brown hair and blue eyes and has a yellow headband which holds her hair off her face. She is wearing a navy blue jacket, a navy blue scarf, blue jeans and a bright yellow Adidas T-shirt. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a brick wall, has a side-parting and longer fringe swept over her left eye. She wears a cream jacket and jumper with a mustard-coloured blouse and a navy skirt. She holds a yellow bag over her arm.Caroline Jones

"[This time] it feels joyous," she said.

"My grief is much lighter and being 10 years older I feel more confident. I do feel more accepting of who I am, what I look like... hopefully that inner confidence shines through in my photographs."

She said that previously she was "hiding a lot behind my eyewear, behind my hair", and added: "I think that was probably me not wanting to be in front of a camera, thinking 'Am I good enough?' I was harder on myself back then.

"Now, because I feel lighter in myself, I feel like I'm doing this for women to just look at themselves in their mid-50s and say, 'We are still interested in fashion, we belong, we are here'."

Caroline Jones Caroline Jones is standing against a grey wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes, and wears orange earrings and a chunky wooden bangle with gold stars on it. The top of a green tweed jacket and a cream blouse is just in the picture.Caroline Jones

What Ms Jones is finding hardest is looking back at the 10-year-old images.

"I can see my raw grief in those early photographs, my tears never far from the surface," she said.

"I was a mother with young children and I was grieving and had a lot on my plate.

"I remember how I felt vividly, whether it was a good, bad or really bad day, and I can really remember every single emotion, so that's sometimes been difficult.

"But when I have difficult moments, I always think about my mum. She's always there in the back of my mind and this is why I'm doing it."

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a white background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair with a fringe and blue eyes. She has sunglasses on her head and is wearing a chunky chain necklace and large hoop earrings. She is wearing a navy blue jacket, a red, pink and green striped jumper and white trousers with a black pattern. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a brick wall and she has a side-parting and a longer fringe swept over her left eye. She is wearing glasses and a grey top with white polka dots over which she has an orange short-sleeved dress and a long, cream, beaded necklace.Caroline Jones

Ms Jones said she was also seeing different people in charity shops and having different conversations.

"It's wonderful to see that younger generation, 25 and younger," she said.

"I've definitely noticed [that age] probably weren't shopping there 10 years ago."

With so much now available online, she is having more conversations to champion the "bricks and mortar" charity shop.

"You make your best decisions when you're holding something and trying it on," she said.

"Fashion is not downloadable – you can't touch it through a screen."

Caroline Jones On the left, in 2025, Caroline Jones is standing against a pale green wooden background and is looking at the camera and smiling. She has brown hair and blue eyes and wears cream sunglasses on her head, a long cream beaded necklace and blue earrings. She is wearing a pink and blue floral blouse with a cream top over it and a denim waistcoat. She wears a pink shoulder bag across her body. On the right, in 2015, she stands against a light wooden background. She is wearing glasses and looking away from the camera to the left. She wears a mustard-coloured jumper over a floral blouse and a black skirt with white spots. She has a black shoulder bag across her body.Caroline Jones

A decade on from the first time around, Ms Jones said the joy of physically finding an item in a charity shop remained the same and that it was not about what was "on trend" but about "the item in the corner that no one else is looking at".

"It's very freeing wearing second hand. It gives you total carte blanche to do what you want."

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