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 | 10 July 2006 - 9:37 AM Not the one for me KT Tunstall's 'Black Horse & The Cherry Tree' is not, perhaps, the best possible soundtrack for a department store fitting room. Saturday afternoon, there I stood in the local Nordstrom, trying on some skirts and blouses at Maman's behest, trying to walk the line between making Maman happy and still liking the clothes myself, not entirely happy with the selection available to me anyway, and over it all, the talented Ms Tunstall wailing
But I said no, no, no, no-no-no(You can hear the song, and several others, at the NPR site: KT Tunstall: Greater Than the Sum of Her Sounds. 'Miniature Disasters' is pretty good too.) I like pretty clothes. I hate shopping for them. And I hate that anyone over size 12 is sent to plus-sizes, that the plus-size section is smaller than any other in the store, that the clothes are badly cut and shoddily made. The clothes just across the aisle in the 'regular' section are not like that. I'm also not really happy with the amount of brown currently available, which is to say there is too much brown relative to other colours on the racks. I like brown, in general, or at least some shades of it, but I have my ancestors' luminescently pale northern European complexion, and brown (also yellow, orange, and certain shades of red) tends to make me look like I'm suffering from a terrible liver disease. I might be mistaken about these things, but I'm fairly certain that jaundice is never really fashionable. In the end, I did come out with an outfit which pleased Maman and me (mostly); I found an ivory-and-rose top and a skirt in a bittersweet-chocolate shade of brown, all of which fit and is flattering and dressy enough that I can wear it to the cousin's rehearsal dinner without embarrassing anyone. (Perhaps it is characteristic of all mothers to worry their children can't dress themselves appropriately without help; Maman never says anything, but she does seem to worry about this). I need to kick my sewing into gear and finish the black-and-white dress in the next couple days. Not much left to do, fortunately (I like that pattern a lot -- makes an elegant little dress without requiring acres of fabric or being too complex in the construction) but I do need to sit down and do it. |
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