King Charles and Courteney Cox among highlights for fashion challenge

Katy LewisBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

For New Year’s Eve 2025, Caroline’s last outfit of her second fundraising year includes a faux-fur second-hand coat and gold star earrings

Caroline Jones Caroline Jones is standing against a bright yellow background. She wears a black faux-fur coat. She has dark brown shoulder-length straight hair and a fringe and you can see a large drop earring made up of three gold stars in her right ear. She is smiling broadly at the camera. — For New Year’s Eve 2025, Caroline’s last outfit of her second fundraising year includes a faux-fur second-hand coat and gold star earrings

A woman who has been wearing charity clothes for a year, a decade after first taking on the challenge, has been reflecting on the difference 10 years has made.

Caroline Jones, 57, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, began Knickers Model’s Own in 2015 to raise money for Cancer Research UK while 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, posting her 2025 pictures alongside the corresponding 2015 images, she reflected on her different stage of grief, changing body shape and how charity shop donations have shifted over the decade.

Ten years after her first challenge, Caroline Jones has reflected on her grief, changing body shape and how charity shop donations have shifted

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. — Ten years after her first challenge, Caroline Jones has reflected on her grief, changing body shape and how charity shop donations have shifted

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. She named the challenge to reflect that only her underwear was new.

When she began ger second year-long challenge, she originally thought that by comparing the two years it would be interesting to see how her style had changed.

However, she was unprepared for it to show her grief had changed as well.

“The first time was really, really hard because my grief was so raw and I can see in those pictures,” she said.

“Doing it 10 years on brought me back to something that was hard the first time around emotionally and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do another year.”

Ms Jones said she can see her grief is “lighter” in 2025 photos (left)

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. — Ms Jones said she can see her grief is “lighter” in 2025 photos (left)

‘Giving me strength’

She said much of 2025 was “a year of joy”.

Highlights included wearing a £22.50 outfit at a reception hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla for cancer charities and receiving a Yves Saint Laurent bag from Hollywood star Courteney Cox’s personal collection, after her campaign caught the attention of the Friends actor.

She could also see her grief was lighter and her confidence higher, but her father John’s death in the autumn, almost took her back to the beginning.

“If you go back to my late October pictures, it felt very similar to the beginning when I first started with the loss of my mum,” she said, “that sadness, you can’t fake it”.

“But in both years you can see how grief has a profound effect on you physically and how fashion is the arms around you.

“My most recent pictures have often been outfits with a powerful colour, a bright lip, and big earrings. That is armoury, giving me strength and confidence to get through the day.”

“Everybody said I should carry on and it is actually what my dad would have wanted, so that definitely drove me forward.”

Caroline Jones, who met King Charles in an outfit costing £22.50, said he shared with her how pleased he was to be patron of Cancer Research UK – the role he took on from his mother

Ian Jones Photos King Charles on the left is wearing a blue suit with a thin white stripe, a white shirt and pale blue tie. He is holding a glass in which there is clear liquid and a slice of lime. He is looking at Caroline Jones and smiling with a closed mouth. Caroline on the right is smiling, she wears a light green floral dress with a long string of pearls and pearl earrings in a gold setting. — Caroline Jones, who met King Charles in an outfit costing £22.50, said he shared with her how pleased he was to be patron of Cancer Research UK – the role he took on from his mother

Ms Jones said she has also seen her style change and she wants to represent woman of her age.

“Being menopausal is not a reason to stop being interested in style,” she said.

“I feel that we have the right to be seen, to be central to the fashion conversation, just as much as if you’re in your teens or your 20s.

“My body shape has changed, and I understand it and work with it but my confidence, I think, is higher than it was 10 years ago.

“I’m also bolder, so I’m very accepting of wearing clashing prints and bigger pieces of jewellery.”

Ms Jones said her recent pictures have often been outfits with “a powerful colour and a bright lip” which are like “armoury” giving her “strength and confidence” following the death of her father

Caroline Jones Caroline wears a bright green jumper, two gold necklaces and a large metallic blue beaded necklace. She is also wearing sunglasses and bright red lipstick. Her hair is brown and shoulder-length with a fringe. — Ms Jones said her recent pictures have often been outfits with “a powerful colour and a bright lip” which are like “armoury” giving her “strength and confidence” following the death of her father

She added that the big challenge this year has been “finding great clothes”.

“The donation quality has definitely dropped because people are selling their best pieces through the online apps – that has had a real impact on our shop and across the sector,” she said.

“It’s been a lot harder for me to wear vintage pieces, they’re not there in the volume that they used to be so I’m wearing the High Street brands, the fast fashion brands.

“I understand the economy is hard but I really hope people still consider donating to charity shops because they’re so important within the community.”

While she won’t be posting new outfits every day in 2026, she said she wants to keep interacting with the community that has grown around her, while trying to do what she can for a charity that is important to her.

Being sent a YSL bag from Courteney Cox was “a golden moment” for her campaign, she said.

Caroline Jones In two images, Caroline wears a shiny dark blue metallic style dress with long puffed sleeves. Her dark brown hair is in a bun and she has a fringe. In the left hand picture she looks away from the camera and has a black YSL handnag over her shoulder. In the right hand picture she holds the back in front of her. — Being sent a YSL bag from Courteney Cox was “a golden moment” for her campaign, she said.

Will she feel relieved on 1 January that she doesn’t have to find a new preloved outfit to wear?

“I’m going to look back and feel pride that I did it,” she said, “It’s been hard, but it’s been illuminating.

“My top tip if you decide to fundraise is to not overthink it and just take a day at a time

“You’ll hit some highs and some lows, but it’s discovering in yourself this inner strength you have that can get you through it, in a way very similar I suppose, to grief.

And what about 2035?

“Never say never,” she laughed.

Same model, same cause. From 1 January 2025 Caroline Jones has been posting a new picture (left) alongside her corresponding 2015 picture (right)

As for another challenge in 2035, she said “never say never”

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. — As for another challenge in 2035, she said “never say never”

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‘Giving me strength’

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