it's tough being a girl

Today instead of going to the Violent Femmes concert we had tickets for (Craig is still sick and I am still injured) we went a-shopping. For me. Clothes for what-what to wear on an interview. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted - a brown skirt and a white shirt. Should be easy enough, right? Wrong.

We started out at Bloomie's, only because we judged Macy's on a Saturday would be too much to handle. It is the world's largest store, you know. So up we went to 59th & Lex, into a store that (apparently) only old rich white women shop in. While I am a white woman, I am neither old nor rich. The only thing I liked, and it didn't fit my picture at all, was a $650 skirt-suit from Hugo Boss. It was very nice, and I'm sure it would have looked absolutely stunning on me, but seriously I can't justify spending over a week's pay on one outfit. Obviously, I didn't buy it. But we did get to laugh at all the old white men parked on benches with newspapers while their old white wives spent all their money on designer clothes.

So next to H&M. Not as classy as Bloomie's, but not as expensive either. Also not as dressy. That store trip did not last long. On to Banana Republic. I normally like their stuff and found lots of things I would buy just to wear, but we were there for interview clothes. And I wanted my brown skirt, which they didn't have. sad face des. Next door was Express. I used to have good luck with them in CA (along with The Limited, which apparently does not exist in NYC). But not so this time. No interview-y brown skirts.

Daffy's. WTF is this? It's worth a shot. They made Craig check his bag of shoes as if we would steal something and hide it under our Mooshoes stuff. One quick lap around the store and we decided that not only would we not buy anything, but we certainly wouldn't steal anything either. Ew.

Kenneth Cole, best known for making The Best Coat Ever, which I am currently not wearing because it is above 20 degrees outside. Again, some clothes that would have been nice for an interview if I did not have this ideal stuck in my head. Of course, they had no brown skirt. In fact, I don't think they had any skirts at all. So it went on like this: store after store, no brown skirts.

Finally we saw a store called Barami, which I had never heard of nor seen. Desperate, we went inside. Hey there's a nice brown skirt! Pleated, knee-length, very professional. Only one left, and my size? *grab* White shirts are easy to find. I picked out 2 and brought them down to the fitting room. The salesgirl and Craig agreed that the simpler one was better then the ruffly one, even though it kind of made me look and feel like a pirate. I was all for it, but Craig thought I looked less like a pirate than a very old Hispanic woman. Since I am not a very old Hispanic woman, it was not a flattering look. Of course the skirt fit perfectly because it was fate, so I took my purchases up to the counter. And, the simple shirt was on sale.

We decided I needed a neck kerchief to complete the look. Back to Bloomie's. Sure, I could pay $50 for one that I only kinda liked, or I could leave and go to Ricky's* where they have them for $4. I found a hair accessory that had a cool browny-greeny-cream colored pattern, and took it home. However, it was decided that as a neck kerchief, it made me look like a stewardess. So I turned it into a belt by cutting the elastic out. Hooray for scissors! Now I just have to find shoes, because the only brown shoes I have do not go with the skirt. And we all know how much I hate buying shoes.

All in all, a successful shopping day: brown skirt acquired.


ps - voting is still open for best hobby blog. Go vote for jewelry by des!



* Ricky's is still my favorite store in NYC, btw. It's like a high-end beauty supply store that has things like fishnets and wigs and things from the Archie Mcphee catalog. No Punky Color though, but they can be forgiven.