I'm choosing pictures for the shop walls and thought I'd show you this one of Marilyn, which I think is beautiful. There's a great shop in Paeroa called The Vintage & Retro Shop, owned and curated by a lovely woman with excellent taste - I bought one of my favourite dresses from her (as my hips get wider and my stomach starts to balloon, I pray to Hera that I will fit it again), and a blouse that makes me feel like Joan Harris when I wear it, and I would have bought a hat or two if my head wasn't so much bigger than hat-wearing women of the sixties. Anyway, one of the lovely things about this shop is the changing room. The dress I bought was... friendly, around the bum/hip area, and required me to shimmy into it. Usually, having to shimmy into something in a changing room embarrasses me. I imagine some kind of strange, localised natural disaster occurring, and the curtain flying off its rail to reveal me, trying desperately to squeeze myself into a piece of clothing, like some kind of grotesque reverse-birth, and people gasping, and the shop assistant running over to rescue the clothes and escort me off the premises. Not at The Vintage & Retro Shop. In the changing room, there are pictures of Marilyn - all around the mirror, in all her curved glory. And they makes you feel great! You see her, poured into her dresses, and you forgive yourself your undie-line; just don't wear any on the day! Any loose bits; I'm so skinny! Tight bits; I'm a siren! Etc.
I'm not sure I would have risked ripping the lining of the dress to get it over my hips if not for those pictures. And I certainly wouldn't have felt like the tightness was a-ok; I would have pretended that I would exercise before I wore it. As it was, I felt like Marilyn, and I never forgot the genius and kindness of the shop owner for putting those pictures in there. I probably don't need to add that there will be a couple of pictures of Marilyn in the changing room at Dogtown Vintage.
Hahah omg Em, that was the best mental picture ever. Grotesque reverse birth! I am painfully reminded of something I told a customer the other day who couldn't fit one of our blouses. "Have you been running today?" I asked as I noticed she was in her exercise gear. She thought I meant that if she did a bit of running that she might be able to fit it. I politely rephrased that I meant if she'd been running that day, her body may have expanded slightly, like when your fingers expand and you can't fit your rings anymore. Obviously she wasn't sold on it. Obviously I pretty much made up the idea of body expansion on the spot there, nice try.
ReplyDeleteHahaha oh I love it!!! Damn, I miss making up things in the shop, especially the ones that don't work! Silly lady; she missed an opportunity to feel better. I'm claiming temporary body-expansion next time I can't fit something (I think I already am; looking at outfits thinking "if I wasn't pregnant" when I know they'd still look funny or not fit. Haha, also I'm glad you reverse birth wasn't too gross; there was more, but I thought I'd better leave it alone xo
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