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Shopping frustration
With the choir performance in November and the requirement that we wear "black, festive, not shoulder-free, short or glittering" (the men are to wear black trousers, black jacket, white dress shirt, and a black bow tie, and Gwydion is complaining that blue does not count as white and purple does not count as black), it has become high time to find something to wear. Ceridwen, singing tenor, has to dress like the men. She managed to borrow a shirt, but does not have a bow tie nor a suit nor a black jacket or even a blazer. So today we set out to find one. Which was complicated by the fact that Ceridwen is curvy (fortunately, she's tall), and cannot wear standard sizes, be they male or female.
So we drove into the city, which used to be a decent place to shop. 17 years ago (when I still wore plus sizes) I could walk into a slightly upscale store and say "I have a new job and I need professional looking clothes" and leave 45 minutes later with two new outfits. But that was then. Today, we went through at least twelve stores, from the large department store to a tiny owner-run place, from the upscale one to one looking like a trash heap, and found that only four of those had any black jackets or blazers (for women or men), only three had large sizes, and only one had something that fitted if you didn't look to closely, but that cost more than 300 Euros. Major fail. (300 Euros is the starter price for having something made to measure.)
Of course you can order stuff on the internet. However, a blazer or jacket is an item of clothing that needs to fit really well to look good -- very different from the stuff that actually was in the stores! We gave up. Next step, call the specialized stores and the costume rental company in the next larger city. After that, order a large selection on the internet and hope that one might fit.
This is stupid, really.
We went home, with a short stop at a grocery store to buy eggs.
They did not have eggs.
What can you do but roll your eyes, laugh at the silliness of it all, drive home, have hot cacao and eat lebkuchen?
I must be getting old. I cannot remember things being that complicated or plain stupid 30 years ago. (Of course, they were stupid in a different way. But still...)
I'm luckier with my size and with some old pieces in my wardrobe and a shirt from the second hand store I could assemble something very black and quite impressive. Which is good because I'm not the one with an amazing voice, and need to compensate. :-S
So we drove into the city, which used to be a decent place to shop. 17 years ago (when I still wore plus sizes) I could walk into a slightly upscale store and say "I have a new job and I need professional looking clothes" and leave 45 minutes later with two new outfits. But that was then. Today, we went through at least twelve stores, from the large department store to a tiny owner-run place, from the upscale one to one looking like a trash heap, and found that only four of those had any black jackets or blazers (for women or men), only three had large sizes, and only one had something that fitted if you didn't look to closely, but that cost more than 300 Euros. Major fail. (300 Euros is the starter price for having something made to measure.)
Of course you can order stuff on the internet. However, a blazer or jacket is an item of clothing that needs to fit really well to look good -- very different from the stuff that actually was in the stores! We gave up. Next step, call the specialized stores and the costume rental company in the next larger city. After that, order a large selection on the internet and hope that one might fit.
This is stupid, really.
We went home, with a short stop at a grocery store to buy eggs.
They did not have eggs.
What can you do but roll your eyes, laugh at the silliness of it all, drive home, have hot cacao and eat lebkuchen?
I must be getting old. I cannot remember things being that complicated or plain stupid 30 years ago. (Of course, they were stupid in a different way. But still...)
I'm luckier with my size and with some old pieces in my wardrobe and a shirt from the second hand store I could assemble something very black and quite impressive. Which is good because I'm not the one with an amazing voice, and need to compensate. :-S