Clothes shopping…a lament

No quilty stuff today…sorry…just a lament about clothes shopping….

I have a couple of things/events coming up really quickly that I have to sort of “dress” for…no yoga pants and hoodies or jeans (even with a NICE sweater) which has been my usual leaving-the-house attire for quite a while now…since I left the “real” work world for quilting.

I’ve stopped buying dress-up clothes because I would only wear them once or twice before they became passe’…so when something or somethings! come up I am scrambling…Maris says I have a little vicious cycle of “I don’t have anything to wear to someplace like that.” accompanied by “I am not getting that because I don’t have anywhere to wear it to.”

He’s got a point.

Don’t get me wrong. I know how to dress appropriately for weddings, funerals and semi-nice parties…I used to enjoy it…when I was a size 10…things have changed and not just the numbers on the tag. Now, the sorts of things I USED to look good in don’t look so good any more.

I tried on 5 dresses today. FIVE! They all made me look like a busha…kinda dumpy and blah…ooooookaay…a dress is out…on to skirts…no selection in January…winter stuff is on the way out and the spring collection is in…not gonna work for this Saturday…

My fall back position is dressy black slacks…I found a pair that fit beautifully Yay! The sales lady makes a point of tell me they are not on sale…I DON”T CARE…sure I would LOVE for them to be “on sale” but they FIT…they look GOOD…ring them up!

Since  I have ended up with the lovely, but traditional/classic black slacks I am thinking something trendy on top…silky, flowy, colorful…yeah, about that…8 attempts later we have two options one that looks pretty good, but is uncomfortable AND would force me to go BRA shopping (oh, HELL no!) and one that is comfortable, works with my current undergarments and looks frumpy.

I left with the slacks. Poor sales woman. She gave her all.

On to the mall…straight to Chico’s…Now, I have never shopped at Chico’s, but nearly every time I admire something that someone is wearing they tell me they “got it at Chico’s”. Every time I walk by the windows all I ever see are animal prints…not for me…those things tend to look terrific…on OTHER people…I just can’t pull that off.

But I ignored the animal prints in the window and marched in. I looked the sales woman straight in the eye and said “I need help”. After a few false starts she kinda had my number…she planted me in a dressing room and handed me a handful of hangers…”Don’t look at them on the hanger. You have to try them on.” I was desperate and for a change I did what I was told. ( I know! Maris doesn’t believe it either!)

By the way, Chico’s has a brilliant marketing ploy…if you haven’t been there you might not know this…if you are a size 14 on other planets, you are a size TWO on Planet Chico…I know, I know. It’s just a number and I am still a 14 in real life, but still…

I left the store with a tunic length, flirty, FUSCHIA, blouse that is kind of iridescent (soooo not me, right? It looks terrific!) and an unrelated purchase of a longish, dark lavender sweater with water fall lapels and fitted back. Yum! a little trendy, but flattering shape.Yay!

It only took all day…and I still need shoes…help me!

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