Someone passed along a link that points out common retail “gotchas.” I’ve got another to add to the list: Women’s clothing.

Whereas my husband can walk into a store and buy a long-sleeved dress shirt appropriate to the season, women’s dressy clothes are puzzle pieces that must be assembled. Long-sleeved shirts, when you can find them, come with cute eyelet fasteners, making the sweater hang well, but necessitating a layer either under or over it to cover otherwise exposed flesh.

Far more popular are sleeveless dress blouses — incomplete, of course (brr!) without a sweater or jacket. That’s two to three layers against my husband’s simple shirt, and we haven’t yet considered other accessories, like that scarf that ties it all together.

This season retailers have gotten even bolder about charging by the piece. “I know, we’ll sell the ruffles for ruffled blouses separately!” No joke: Banana Republic.

What’s a girl to do?

This girl, if you haven’t heard about the uniform project (one dress, 365 days) got creative. Yet her project, which relies on donations of accessories to ensure she never looks the same twice, is the exception that proves the rule. It’s never just one dress.

The sale rack (I hit one last night that blared “$19.99 and up.” Way up. I saw not one $19.99 blouse on that rack), free shipping and the ubiquitous “save 10 percent if you open the store charge card” try to obscure the fact that good clothes are not cheap, and that a woman who achieves the everyday miracle of well-fitting, just-right dress-up outfits either obtained them through very hard work (spending hours on sales reconnaisance, thrifting, etc.) or is not telling you the truth about how much they cost. Because of course to admit that you paid full price is the biggest fashion faux pax of all.

All of this sounds grinchy grump, I know. I think she doth protest…and it’s true. I do. I like clothes, I like buying them, especially now that I’m old enough to know exactly what I like. I especially love when I do score that perfect piece for less, so much less, than it’s worth to me. There is a real, tangible, psychic value to feeding the sartorial side.

But enough with the obfuscation about cost — let’s leave that to the retailers.

Here is my gift to you this season. If you compliment what I’m wearing, I will not say, “Thanks, it only cost me a dollar at a garage sale!” If I’m feeling nice, I will simply say thank you. If I’m feeling naughty, I’ll tell you the truth: “Thanks. It cost quite a bit, more than I wanted to pay. But I love it. And I’ll be wearing it for a long, long time.”

No related posts.

Tags:   retail price · women's clothing2 Comments