Sunday 6 February 2011

Retail therapy: don't knock it


OH. MY. GOD. I have a waist! It’s brilliant. I’ve not had a waist for years and now it’s there. I can’t tell you the joy. I can actually go shopping for clothes again. You know clothes that are pretty and dare I even say it frivolous!
For years I have dreaded shopping for clothes and avoided it at all costs because invariably I would come home in tears. Every time I’d go in a shop I would see beautiful things and then try them on only for huge disappointment; those beautiful things did not look beautiful on me. It got to the stage that I just didn’t bother with things like skirts or dresses. I avoided all clothes that were short in the body as these would never cover my fat tummy and I avoided low slung jeans. Not for me the straight leg or slim fit.  Not for me a crop top or even a jumper that was not deliberately baggy. I craftily covered up my shortcomings with gillets, big jumpers and long shirts.
I dreaded the warm weather when people started to uncover. My legs certainly never got to see the light of day and as for me wearing a T-shirt please with my body! I used to say I didn’t feel the heat and would have the air con in the car at full blast so none of the Mummies at school would have a clue.
I blended into the background all 11st and 5ft 3 inches of me ashamed, saddened and ever so slightly envious of all those leggy things.  Those Size 12s and Size 10s who all looked so happy and pretty and ever so stylish.
I started to notice  my turkey neck and all those grey hairs as I became more and more critical of my looks or lack of them. And I felt old so very very old. Probably whay I decided to try ThinkingSlimmer. It has worked on my weight but although I could see it coming off I couldn’t see any changes so to speak…
So on Friday I got dressed in crumpled clothes and hid it all under a coat for my trip down to London for a lunch with work colleagues, a rare treat for me. I arrived an hour early so decided to have a look round the shops, a glutton for punishment.
I trip trapped my way to Hobbs on Regent Street, as in the distant past before children and before living in the countryside had taken its toll, Hobbs had served me well.
My heart sank a bit on entering but just as I was about to make a hasty retreat I looked at myself in the mirror and realised with a sudden horror how awful I looked. There was no way I could possibly go out to lunch looking like that!
A dilemma.
Humiliate myself in front of yet another load of unspeakably glamorous shop assistants or humiliate myself in front of my work colleagues.
I chose the former reckoning that if I did humiliate myself at least I would never ever have to confront the shop assistants ever again because the likelihood of me even setting foot again in Hobbs let alone the Regent Street store would be exceedingly slim if not impossible.
I was approached by a softly spoken lady asking if she could help me and she said it so sincerely and was so gentle that I blurted out my fears and begged her to help me. An outfit for lunch; for today.
But no short skirts above the knee…
I glanced dubiously at the serried rows of impossibly chic clothing. Rack upon rack of it and nothing looked comfortable and none of it looked remotely as if it would suit me.
I tried to enter in to the spirit of things and was offered clothes that were silent in soft grey and navy blue. No shouting these. Understated one might call them safe may be another word. And then my eye was caught by a little animal print top and a heavenly green skirt. I was expecting disaster but when I was taken into the changing room something amazing happened. I had a waist. It was really there and I didn’t look half as bad as I feared. I tried on a few more tops, things that clung to me accentuating my long forgotten form.
I ummed and awed.
Then I was shown a dress, a wrap-around animal print dress. Surely a step too far!
It felt like a bit of heaven. I stepped out of the changing room and had a look at myself in the large mirror on the shop floor. I put my hands on my hips and turned this way and that and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a fabulous bright green scarf. Grabbing it I draped it over my shoulders and took another look in the mirror. The image looked back at me and smiled and well it was perfect. I looked good. Really good.
I left the store feeling a million dollars, a lightness in my step that I had not felt in years. And do you know what: Retail therapy: don’t knock it….

22 comments:

Potty Mummy said...

Wow - congratulations Tatty! Good for you! x

CherishedByMe said...

Fantastic! Well done, is that all from the slim pod do you think?
Nothing like a confidence boost when something new that you like fits and looks good. :)

Von said...

Yess!!!! Well done you!

Tattieweasle said...

Potty - Feeling good!
Cherishedbyme - The slim pod certainly got me to lose the weight, THE dress got me to realise it!
Von - Yes indeed!

Miss Sadie said...

Well done, I'm sure. Congrats!

But with my year-round fur coat, I don't really need much else.

Expat mum said...

"Serried". A new word for me and I love it.
BTW - I must have been sitting next to someone different last summer as you certainly didn't look like your description of yourself. You were definitely wearing something pink and lovely.

Tattieweasle said...

Miss Sadie - what can I say Stule must be your middle name!
Expat Mum - it's amazing what you can do to disguise things! Thank you!

Lampworkbeader said...

Yippee! Good for you. I gave up 'looking' for clothes years ago. Now when I see something I like I just buy it. If you go out seeking what you want is never there.

Tattieweasle said...

Lampworkbeader - I think that's the best idea buy what you like and now I can as long as I remember NOT to eat when adn what I like all the time....:)
Miss Sadie - abject apologies STYLE is your middle name not stule a mere slip of the typist's fingers there.....

Posie said...

Fantastic....isn't it just lovely when you find something that really lifts your spirits like that. So glad you plucked up the courage, and didn't it pay off? Brilliant news about the waistline, very very well done you!

Tattieweasle said...

Posie - Still can't beleive it and spend more time than natural looking at myself in the mirror.....:)

Unknown said...

Congratulations on the waist! I've accidently gone down to a small size and I'm still getting the size Im used to as I refuse to believe my new size!! Hehe..

mrsnesbitt said...

wey hey! I too am on a diet - lost 1 stone, 2 to go!

Tattieweasle said...

Emma - that's fantastic although possibly a tad expensive beleive in your new size!!!!
Mrs Nesbitt - weigh (geddit) to go girl!!!!

Spencer Park said...

Just to prove men can worry about these things as well I've noticed that I have started to gain weight lately. Having to commute 1.5hrs each way to and from my new job is affecting my life in so many ways - my eating habits and exercise routine especially!

Well done you though!

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Shopping can be huge fun if you forget "Navy always looks good" or "This will go with anything" or , worst of all , "This will never date".
The green scarf sounds like a touch of genius !!

Anonymous said...

Bloody hell...I'm off to Hobbs first thing in the morning. My waist disappeared years ago...I've always wondered where it went and now I know....

Tattieweasle said...

Spencer Park - commuting is death to the waist line - but at least you are aware of it so you can combat it!
SmitoniusAndSonata - EXACTLY! And I had SOOOOO much fun!
Muummmmeeeeee - Damn and I thought it was all my own work...I am sure your waist will be found with the help of the goodly folk at Hobbs!

Anonymous said...

good girl. retail therapy: absolutely, it has a potent necessity at times. and you sound beautiful in your new dress too.

Tattieweasle said...

Reluctant Memsahib - I feel beautiful in it!

Dorset Dispatches said...

Yay Tattie! Yay Hobbs! When can we see the dress?

Tattieweasle said...

Pants - the dress is the on in the picture. Despite losing loads of weight and finding waist still looks a heck of a lot better on the model!!!!

Go on you know you want to...

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