When I first arrived in Dublin, I took a walk down to the center of town, and found the big pedestrian shopping mall. After 7 months in Africa, I was giddy - my first thought was "I am in retail heaven."Turns out it's more of a purgatory, really. The clothes are a bit pricey, and they all seem to be made for either Twiggy or pregnant women. I had no idea of the current trends, of course, because the prevailing fashion in Malawi is prom t-shirts from the 1990s. (I once saw a man in a Star Trek uniform shirt. No kidding.)
The skinny jeans will never be a go for me. My legs would look like hamhocks in those things. Apparently Sir Mix-a-lot was on to something with the whole red beans concept, as they do, in fact, appear to have missed the Irish. But not me.
However, I have warmed up to the new flouncy maternity look, given that my diet for the last 5 days has consisted primarily of cheese and Cadbury's Cream Eggs and my belly could now use a bit of camouflage. Elastic waistbands here I come! The damage so far is $385, which accounts for:
- 4 pairs of shoes
- 1 handbag
- 1 pair of pants
- 2 sweaters
- 1 shirtdress
- and 5 tops
That's a lot for just 5 days, but when you consider that I haven't bought clothes in 7 months, and won't again for another 7 months, it's not bad for a year's worth of shopping.
2 comments:
Ha! I'm sure that living in Malawi leaves you even less fashion-aware than living in Anchorage, but it is nice to know that you understand where I'm coming from. We are fortunate enough to have Nordstroms, Banana Republic and Gap here, but they are small stores and everyone in Anchorage ends up wearing the same thing. I just went to Boston for a week and had some retatail therapy. $215 got me:
2 dresses from Anthropology- can you say 70% off President's weekends sale?
1 dress, 1 pr jeans, 1 pr patton leather turquise pumps from H&M
1 hot red belt from Filene's Basement
Keep up the good work girl, looks like you found some hot outfits! Malawi won't know what hit it!
Ooh, Clare - good haul! I love Anthropology. And H&M, obviously, because in London I hit their huge Oxford Street store and added to the collection:
1 pair of jeans
1 great day-into-night black dress
1 turquoise cap-sleeve wrap sweater to wear over the black dress
I am playing it low-key though - I'll throw in a new piece every so often - don't want to startle the staff here, who have seen every possibly configuration of my one-suitcase wardrobe already!
Post a Comment