In October, I went clothes shopping twice. Anyone who knows me will know that that pretty much doubles the total number of clothes shopping trips I've ever made.
Put simply, I hate every miserable, depressing, pointless, expensive, soul-destroying minute of it.
I don't do clothes. OK, I wear them! Let's face it, the alternative doesn't bear thinking about but I can't and don't get excited about them.
They're a necessity, like food or having a shower.
At the end of October, I went clothes shopping with someone else, for them. She was looking for a dress for her wedding - not a wedding dress, you understand, just something nice to wear. I have no idea why I was asked to go along but more to the point, no idea why I said yes. I could have predicted how it would go. And go it did. Within twenty minutes, I was bored stiff. We'd been to precisely one departement store so far and picked up loads of dresses, skirt suits etc etc. A couple of things had even been tried on and dismissed. I had a sinking feeling.
To be fair, I don't think anyone's heart was in it. The bride had already said that if she didn't find anything, she had something already in the wardrobe which would do the job so I guess there wasn't really much impetus.
Because I don't go clothes shopping, I really didn't know what a baffling array of styles, colours, sizes there were. Shops didn't seem to be laid out in any discernible logical order. Why not put all the dresses together? All the trousers? Etc. Oh no, they're all mixed up into party, formal, office, informal, casual, blah blah blah. All the other people in the shops seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves despite the fact that as far as I could tell, their trip would involve several hours of traipsing, trying on and then some serious damage to their bank accounts.
It is absolutely no fault of the bride in question that I hated the entire experience and I'm sure she knows that.
It just confirmed my long-held belief that shopping and I were just never destined to be friends.
PS - I feel obliged to point out that she didn't buy anything in the end!!!
Presumably, the admin job described in an earlier blog didn't have a clothing allowance and that was what attracted you to it.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been amusing to demand a clothing allowance for that job!
DeleteAh shopping, how well I understand your distaste for it. Buy something today that is the "height of fashion" and be told in a year that what you are wearing is so "last year". Humbug!
ReplyDeleteWhen Roots shoes were "in" I wore 'em, I liked 'em, and I bought 'em --- about twenty pair! Didn't even enter a shoe store for years. When I saw some nice French made wine glasses on sale about twenty years ago, I bought as many boxes as my car would carry. (They were selling for about a fifth of their usual price.) I haven't bought a wine glass since and may never have to buy another.
I don't recall if I mentioned this to you, but Brighton-Hove was the lede in an article in my hometown paper. You can see the piece here: http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/05/26/18199036.html
Cheers!
Do hope the new year is unfolding well for you.
Ken
I like your shopping method! I always think when I buy one comfortable pair of shoes that I should really buy at least two or three and save myself hassle for a good few years, but I end up baulking at the initial cost!
ReplyDeleteIf only I had enough space in my flat for a lifetime's worth of wine glasses. I have five wine glasses. Some of them even match!
Thanks for the link to the story - interesting.