Clothes shopping with the women in my life.
Missy and I had a shopping trip two weeks ago. There was one reason for this. I wanted a pair of skinny flare black trousers that I should have bought from Burberry when, on a previous trip I saw the perfect pair in my size. As always I hummed and ahhhed and then when I decided that I had to have them they were gone.....never to be stocked again in my lifetime....hence the search on the High St for something similar.
Now the British High Street shops are renowned for their diversification and affordable copies of what the Designer Fashion Houses are showing on the cat walks across the world. However, if what you are looking for is not what they are selling then you may as well be looking for pink unicorns. At the moment, skinny flare trousers are as rare as hens teeth!
My glossy mags are full of skinny models with endless legs clad in Chloe and Stella McCartney but where are the High St versions .......?
Going shopping with your 24 year old daughter who looks like she has just stepped down off one of the aforementioned catwalks is like putting yourself through chinese water torture. It seems like only yesterday it was me that looked good in the skinnest slinkiest form fitting clothes, you know the ones that male designers make for the 1% of women who can get away with wearing them and the remaining 99% of the female population hold their heads in anguish wailing -my boobs look huge in this top, omg these jeans won't do up ( it says in the label they're my size, oh no I must have put 7lbs on over night), too short, too mumsey, too....oh just wrong, the colour, the style and the worst ones of all....I look like my mother....or 'mother you are not going to buy that are you?'
I don't think I am cut out for mother/daughter shopping. The quest for the trousers- after several attempts to find the holy grail - ended and Missy took over, Missy takes after my mother, her grandma - she knows what she wants and she goes out to get this-along with a few other well chosen accessories to boot. Like a smash and grab raid on her favourite shops she had a complete new Autumn look complete with giant sunglasses and handbag witin 15 minutes and we we were off to Starbucks for a welcome Latte.
This reminded me of a shopping trip with my mother whom when shopping with my dad will browse around Marks and Spencer for hours and not buy a thing. However, with me, one minute she was besides me flicking through the affordable cashmere and the next minute she was gone! As an aging parent she does have a habit of wandering off like a toddler, so a few frantic minutes of looking high and low for her with my heart in my mouth, finds her flirting outagously with the young man on the cash desk with 2 blouses and a skirt bought in seconds. Lets go and get a cup of tea she says swinging her bags like a child. Both generations leaving me in my fruitless search for the perfect pair of trousers for hot beverages!
Shopping with Suky - a woman of my own age - surely must be different! Suky called me to say she wanted to buy a new leather jacket and would I come along and help her choose. Suky and I have shopped together before, we have enjoyed shopping trips lasting several hours helped along with the odd cocktail and lengthy lunch. The leather jacket shopping I thought may be of similar epic proportions.
Unfortunatley the shopping trip had to fit in with other committments in the diary and was squeezed in on a Wednesday evening late night opening at the mall. We met at 6pm and I had to leave at 6:45 - this was going to be the smash and grab shop of a lifetime - a bit like Supermarket Sweep ( for those of you not of a similar age this was a TV show where the contestants had 2minutes to fill their respective trollies with goodies - including certin items on the list - it used to make me tired just watching it). Suky did herself proud. Just like Missy and my mother she knew what she wanted and where to get it from. The shop in question was empty, the male assistant turned to jelly when Suky turned on her usual charm and he ran in and out of the stockroom arms full of leather jackets for her to try. The shopping spree was done and dusted in 20 minutes.
As the assistant rang up the purchase, Suky turned to me - have we got time for a Latte? she smiles.
Defeated by the hot beverages again!!!
By the way, a package arrived by courier a few days ago, Burberry (I love you) had a new drop of the elusive black trousers and sent me a pair. At least I will be spared the shops for the remainder of the season.
