Friday, June 09, 2006
what not to wear
I dropped off some of my old clothes at Buffalo Exchange today. I'm not sure if they have that store on the East Coast? BE is a store that buys and sells used clothing. It's not really Goodwill type stuff though. It's more like clothing that hipster kids wear to make you think they are so ironic and clever to shop at thrift stores when actually they spent $50 for their "vintage" shirt. Damn hipsters!!!
Anyway, the store has a very LA feel about it, and I always feel more geeky than usual when I'm shopping there. But I really love the store in spite of it's power to lower my self esteem, so I figured I try and make some money...to spend at the store. Anyway, I take my big bag of clothes up to the front desk and the salesguy says they are looking for items that are really "hot" and in style or at least, vintage. Crap. Unless he means "circa 1997" vintage, I'm not going to get much here.
After ten excruciatingly long minutes of raised eyebrows and grimaces, the guy takes one pair of jeans. ONE item out of like, 25 articles. For some reason, I feel offended and embarrassed, like I'm the last kid to be picked for the kickball game. Really, it's pretty dumb of me to feel that way, after all, there is a REASON I am getting rid of these clothes. If I find them too ugly to wear anymore, then someone that can actually dress themselves attractively certainly wouldn't.
But at that moment, I was crestfallen; WHY wouldn't they take these crappy, drab clothes that reek of 9th grade angst and have been hanging in my closet for years?? (I literally have been lugging around some of these clothes since highschool. I don't know why. Maybe I was hoping to construct an apparel model of my stumbling journey through puberty?) The whole debacle was actually pretty funny; it felt like they were putting my fashion sense on trial when the guy rifled through my stuff. It was hilarious; I felt like I needed to give an explanation for each piece of clothing, as if to justify my terrible choices:
"I was young! I was still experimenting!"
"Everyone has owned a suede vest at some point in there life."
"I was going through a rough time, I used crushed velour peasant shirts to get through it! Please don't judge me!!"
Anyway, the store has a very LA feel about it, and I always feel more geeky than usual when I'm shopping there. But I really love the store in spite of it's power to lower my self esteem, so I figured I try and make some money...to spend at the store. Anyway, I take my big bag of clothes up to the front desk and the salesguy says they are looking for items that are really "hot" and in style or at least, vintage. Crap. Unless he means "circa 1997" vintage, I'm not going to get much here.
After ten excruciatingly long minutes of raised eyebrows and grimaces, the guy takes one pair of jeans. ONE item out of like, 25 articles. For some reason, I feel offended and embarrassed, like I'm the last kid to be picked for the kickball game. Really, it's pretty dumb of me to feel that way, after all, there is a REASON I am getting rid of these clothes. If I find them too ugly to wear anymore, then someone that can actually dress themselves attractively certainly wouldn't.
But at that moment, I was crestfallen; WHY wouldn't they take these crappy, drab clothes that reek of 9th grade angst and have been hanging in my closet for years?? (I literally have been lugging around some of these clothes since highschool. I don't know why. Maybe I was hoping to construct an apparel model of my stumbling journey through puberty?) The whole debacle was actually pretty funny; it felt like they were putting my fashion sense on trial when the guy rifled through my stuff. It was hilarious; I felt like I needed to give an explanation for each piece of clothing, as if to justify my terrible choices:
"I was young! I was still experimenting!"
"Everyone has owned a suede vest at some point in there life."
"I was going through a rough time, I used crushed velour peasant shirts to get through it! Please don't judge me!!"
# posted by yellow_mustard_girl : 8:47 AM
