Personal Shopper

I have been doing the shopping thing lately. I am not an experienced shopper. I tend to buy the same things over and over because I am comfortable with those products or because I know where to find them. So this has been challenging for me. Especially when it comes to clothes.

My upcoming trip to Hong Kong has forced me to look at my summer clothes much earlier than I normally would. I had some things from last summer, but not much plus I have lost weight so even what I did have some of it is too loose. I am set for sandals, last year I bought several pairs and I will of course have my sneakers with me.

So I have been shopping. Online, in stores. And then I went to a "personal shopper." Macy's has this free service and I decided to try it out. I shop alot at Macy's. I know exactly where to find my size and the store brand is in my comfortable spending bracket. I think I have bought a designer label all of twice. I thought this would be good for me, expand my mind on what to wear.

My appointment was on thursday evening and it was interesting. She is primarily a saleswoman but she comfortable enough with her product to say, "that does nothing for you." She tried a couple of colors for me that I never wear-yellow, fuschia. Yellow somehow makes me look like a totally different person. My favorite color when I was a child was yellow. My family discouraged this and I didn't understand for a long time. It was only after not recognizing myself in an old family photo that I understood. Fuschia is a beautiful color but I have to be in the right mood to wear it. So even though I told her I was looking to expand my horizons on how I dress, I clearly had my limitations. I wear a lot of blue, I like the way it looks on me.

She brought out some suits and some dresses. I did try a few on but I didn't see the need for them for my trip. I do have a couple of casual dresses that I plan to bring. I honestly don't expect to go to any fancy restaurants or events. And rarely do that here either. But they were nice to try on. This one dress was beautiful on me. I felt like I had just stepped out of a Joan Crawford film. She brought out some tank tops. Eek, expose my arms? But I love the cut on them, not the usual ones where I feel exposed in every which way. And I bought some lightweight blouses/jackets to put over them so that I can wear my tank and still hide my arms.

Despite my limitations on her I still walked out with 12 items. And quite a few are Jones NY, a designer I like but rarely buy because they are usually out of my budget. But somehow I caught some special sale and got an extra $25 off of everything. I had walked in there with a dollar amount in my head. I overspent it by $27. Now some of the things I am still iffy about, will I wear it? Is it me? My personal shopper was very practical about this--pack it with the tags still on it. I can return it for up to six months.

Personal shoppers are a free service, tipping is not allowed. It was a positive experience overall and I plan to do it again in August for work clothes. As I become more of a "player" at my job, I am feeling the need to dress the part a bit more. Of course now I will want to be timing this for another one of those 25% off sales. I have told 3 of my friends about this and they all reacted much more positively than I would thought. Even my one friend who almost always shops at Goodwill was fascinated by this. I wonder if I am starting a trend :)