Monday, May 25, 2009

Appeal to my vanity - yes go on!

I would rather be a man. I know it is difficult to shave everyday, and all that, but it is easier buying a pair of trousers for men. Imagine: I go to the store and the only choice facing me is 3 colours. What's the worst case scenario? I buy 3 pairs of trousers and come home. I don't have to think about trousers for a long time. For some people, they also don't have to think about height separately.

"What size Sir"
"32-32"

You don't even need to remember 2 separate numbers. How cool is that?

Or I could be a child, just ask me how old I am and bingo! I swear I would not be offended if it saved me hours of agonizing over the right fit. For those who insist on not divulging their age, it could be arranged by decades, and you could go there and pick out your age.

"How old are you?"
"You know, I look like a 2T, but I am really 3 years old!" *Gush gush blush blush*

Honestly, I don't know the deal with women's sizes. By the time, I arrive in the approximate geographical location, after hours of meandering down "Woman", "Petite Large", "Misses Petite" and "Misses Pregnant, but not yet large", I am ready to leave. But if I really must buy trousers, I dig up my perseverance and lumber on. Dockers, Lee, Gloria Vanderbilt, NY&C - every single brand appeals to my vanity in different ways. One says, I am size 2, another insists I am 0, another says 4 in the PM section(That's petite medium!) As if, these brands were not making it hard enough, stores decide to chip in for their share too. One store had sizes 3,5,7 - maybe, the odd numbers came and cried in the Board of Governors meeting.

One place, I picked up size 1. Now unless, we have the changed the value-based system of counting, 1 is lower-end and 10 is higher end. So, for pants, one would assume that 1 uses less cloth when you look at circumference right? Wrong! This '1' size was enough for the elephant in Oakland Zoo.

I would like to meet the marketing wizard who came up with the "psychology" that women would like to think themselves as slimmer, and the only way to do that was by confusing the trouser sizes?!

I gave up finally! The left leg doesn't have a tear yet, so, I suppose I could wait before buying another pair, I tell myself. Then, I see one pair for an obscene price with a tear in both legs. That's easy - I'll just pick up a pair of scissors and try to recreate another symmetrical tear, and make do for another year or two!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

If you were the elephant at Oakland Zoo, you would know how wonderful it feels to tell people you bought Size 1 and it actually fits comfortably!!!It actually buttons up at the waist!! Vanity is not for the elephants...humble animals they are....

Survivor said...

At the risk of sounding technical, let me highlight some things.There are some brands which are meant for heavier women like Gloria Vanderbilt and so the sizes there will not match what you see in other brands. Again, I suppose there are brands meant for slimmer beings like us..wink wink..
And, if you go to NY&C,you see Petite,Medium, Tall for trousers and S,M,XS, for tops.... For my vanity, I choose NY&C, as I can pick XS, 4 Petite..I know, 4 is still higher than zero and especially if the elephant could fit in a 1..sob..sob..

BrainWaves said...

Intention for you to get frustrated with the different units and end up going to same store again since you know that size Petite, Size 2, Average in Store X always works :(

It is like grocery store giving a plastic card to get their discounts. A sense of belonging will be tehre and you will visit the same store..

I understand the vanity part too..
when I went to India and they told that I was size 34 I was FURIOUS! (and offended of course) When I tried 32, it did not work.

Archana Bahuguna said...

You speak my heart! My hubby wears only black trousers and it takes him only 5-10 mins to buy anything! I on the other hand spend hours and days in the malls only to find nothing. This time I ended up doing a lot of shopping in India to have a huge bunch of clothes in store. :-(

nourish-n-cherish said...

Survivor - thanks! That helps! NYC - here I come. SIGH

SK said...

Hahah, this is a good one :--)
but realize men dont mind wearing baggy pants or trousers a bit too long.
But we do :--)
Thats why so many sizes.

Charu said...

Same boat as you. I went to NYC 3 months back. They have some right sizes that will fit folks like us and not too much selection to tire your legs to find a good pair. For less patient shoppers like us its a good place in Newark mall.