How much I hate shopping for clothes?
Anywho.
I decided to take my mother's advice today, and wander into town, just to get the hell off campus and have a change of scenery. So I took some books to Starbucks, sat and had a coffee for a couple of hours (and actually _did_ get some reading done), popped into the Body Shop, and then realized I was on Stonegate.
Ahh... Stonegate...
Home of many antique shops.
This is a bit deadly considering my slight fetish for all things Victorian that I developed this summer. I also have a friend with a slight fetish for all things art-deco/20's.
So I popped into the Antiques Centre to look around. I didn't spend anything (haven't gotten the transfer of "birthday money" I'm expecting... but then, my birthday's not for another 21 days... and my upcoming birthday, my friends, is a post in and of itself for the mental anguish it's causing me). But holy crap, could I have spent a shitload of money in there. Granted, most of it would have been on presents for people I know (I mean, really, there were antique cameras! I dunno if any of them were old enough - didn't get a good look at all of them... but there were antique cameras! And the costume jewelry! And the matchboxes... and the cigarette cases... and... and...) rather than for myself (but shit, there was some nice Victorian jewellery... and a great 1900 watch... and... and...).
Right, get ahold of yourself.
This evening, however, I popped out with a friend and went to a store that sells clothes of the more modern variety. And I was reminded, yet again, that I have a body that was meant to have lived at least 100 years ago.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have curves.
I am not flat, rectangular, straight up and down. I have an hourglass figure that would look absolutely SWANK in one of those waist-cinching 1900s corsets, people! This means that my waist is several inches smaller than my hips, people. Why is it that no manufacturer of pants/skirts/dresses seems to understand that these days? Honestly! So yet again, I have had to pass up a lovely pair of pants because, to get them to fit through the hips, I have had to size up, thus leaving a massive gape where the waistband does not taper in at all. This is not to mention the issues I am already having - depending on the fit of clothing, I'm anywhere from a 12 to a 14 back home. Here, you automatically size up. A 12 US/CDN is a 14 here. And lord, do I have a mental inhibition about buying anything that has the number 16 printed inside. (Ok, I know that technically my costume at FEP was a 16... but for some reason I don't feel bad about that...because my body was made for those sorts of clothes and I looked oddly good in something that would have been worn 120 years ago).
I did find a nice tank top, though, and it was only 5 quid, so I'm not completely desolate. Nonetheless, I feel the need to point out that I may be buying my next pair of jeans from that Levis site that builds you customized jeans according to your measurements. Or the Gap. Somehow the GAP (shudder) manages to make pants that fit me. I hate it when the companies I don't like actually make the products that fit/work/are comfiest (ie: that is why I own Nike sport sandals).
Right.
Back to sex with the devil.
That's what my paper's on, folks. I'm not actually having sex with the devil. It's supposed to be cold and nasty anyway. Not the sort of thing you want to be spending your spare time doing.
I am reading
Academically: Thinking With Demons (Stuart Clark), Malleus Maleficarum (Kramer and Sprenger - in English translation, my Latin's not THAT good yet)
For fun: Portrait Of A Lady (Henry James)
**I decided to add this bit since I have lots of friends that are readers. Hopefully I'll remember to add it to all posts from now on.
Anywho.
I decided to take my mother's advice today, and wander into town, just to get the hell off campus and have a change of scenery. So I took some books to Starbucks, sat and had a coffee for a couple of hours (and actually _did_ get some reading done), popped into the Body Shop, and then realized I was on Stonegate.
Ahh... Stonegate...
Home of many antique shops.
This is a bit deadly considering my slight fetish for all things Victorian that I developed this summer. I also have a friend with a slight fetish for all things art-deco/20's.
So I popped into the Antiques Centre to look around. I didn't spend anything (haven't gotten the transfer of "birthday money" I'm expecting... but then, my birthday's not for another 21 days... and my upcoming birthday, my friends, is a post in and of itself for the mental anguish it's causing me). But holy crap, could I have spent a shitload of money in there. Granted, most of it would have been on presents for people I know (I mean, really, there were antique cameras! I dunno if any of them were old enough - didn't get a good look at all of them... but there were antique cameras! And the costume jewelry! And the matchboxes... and the cigarette cases... and... and...) rather than for myself (but shit, there was some nice Victorian jewellery... and a great 1900 watch... and... and...).
Right, get ahold of yourself.
This evening, however, I popped out with a friend and went to a store that sells clothes of the more modern variety. And I was reminded, yet again, that I have a body that was meant to have lived at least 100 years ago.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have curves.
I am not flat, rectangular, straight up and down. I have an hourglass figure that would look absolutely SWANK in one of those waist-cinching 1900s corsets, people! This means that my waist is several inches smaller than my hips, people. Why is it that no manufacturer of pants/skirts/dresses seems to understand that these days? Honestly! So yet again, I have had to pass up a lovely pair of pants because, to get them to fit through the hips, I have had to size up, thus leaving a massive gape where the waistband does not taper in at all. This is not to mention the issues I am already having - depending on the fit of clothing, I'm anywhere from a 12 to a 14 back home. Here, you automatically size up. A 12 US/CDN is a 14 here. And lord, do I have a mental inhibition about buying anything that has the number 16 printed inside. (Ok, I know that technically my costume at FEP was a 16... but for some reason I don't feel bad about that...because my body was made for those sorts of clothes and I looked oddly good in something that would have been worn 120 years ago).
I did find a nice tank top, though, and it was only 5 quid, so I'm not completely desolate. Nonetheless, I feel the need to point out that I may be buying my next pair of jeans from that Levis site that builds you customized jeans according to your measurements. Or the Gap. Somehow the GAP (shudder) manages to make pants that fit me. I hate it when the companies I don't like actually make the products that fit/work/are comfiest (ie: that is why I own Nike sport sandals).
Right.
Back to sex with the devil.
That's what my paper's on, folks. I'm not actually having sex with the devil. It's supposed to be cold and nasty anyway. Not the sort of thing you want to be spending your spare time doing.
I am reading
Academically: Thinking With Demons (Stuart Clark), Malleus Maleficarum (Kramer and Sprenger - in English translation, my Latin's not THAT good yet)
For fun: Portrait Of A Lady (Henry James)
**I decided to add this bit since I have lots of friends that are readers. Hopefully I'll remember to add it to all posts from now on.
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I've never written a paper about sex with the devil... I'm interested in knowing what class that's for!!
Ah, Kate, if its any consolation, my FEP costume is a 12-14, and my beautiful 05 skirt is a 14. Sizes were different back in the day....
My envy for your lovely antique district (my venture today produced a ladies wrist watch for 20's and very sore knees), and my sincerest empathies for your clothing debacle. Had you told me prior, I would have loved to take you shopping, because I hate to think that there wouldn't be anything lovely out there to fit you. Fortunately, waist lines are loving up again, which means that there may, just possibly, be a fashion future for you. That and skirts are coming back, and skirts are ever so much more flattering on the female form than trousers (though, I understand the skirt is an acquired taste). So my best wishes, and cosmetic whimsey....
(http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=4307&id=15438)
"Witchcraft and Gender in Early Modern England".
Wasn't my idea - I really had no idea what to do so the prof suggested it.
And, Sarah, we are so going shopping when I get back - I love your sense of style and would totally appreciate the input.
Take care,
slowly i have realized that we are all shapes and sizes and that's okay -- why would we all want to look like those stickly mannequins in the store (who incidently always have to have their clothes pinned, etc. to look good; even mannequins apparently don't have "the" figure)?
and we all have parts of us that are awesome. i, for example, am learning to love my bustling bum...
bookbonobo
I was getting ready to say the same as delly bean, which is that the down sizing is to make all of us feel less obese so we'll buy their clothes. This actually makes me feel worse considering that now if I am in a big size that my real size would in actuality be even bigger. I have the problem not with my waist, but with my height. I have no abdomen, no legs, nothing long, but I've got some chub and that makes clothes painful to shop for...Thanks for the input on what you are reading. I love to read and I am really excited to hear what you are working on!