Do you remember the horror that was communal changing rooms in clothes shops?

[Sidebeforeself]

Just reflecting on this today .. I remember cowering in a corner trying to show as little as possible ( I was obese as a teen) . Then the shame if something was too small ( everyone’s looking!) . Also the wait for the mirror
It made clothes shopping a nightmare for me

Top Shop in the Manchester Arndale. Great shop, terrible changing rooms.

Yes. I never went to those shops. I was bullied enough in school changing rooms. I didn't want to continue it outside of school.

‘Here’s three more items’ um … okkkaay - but I don’t want them!!!

Gosh, yes - I'd forgotten all about that. Going in to try on a size 12 top clutching two random pairs of size 14 jeans and a size 10 skirt 😆

And they were always awful ,tatty items too . You hoped nobody thought you actually wanted to try them on!

This is one of the many reasons Genx are resilient (and in therapy and drink a lot).

I was in one in Dublin in the early 90s. Truly horrible, and yes, 100% communal.

It had a row of mirrors along one long wall of a big rectangular room. The wall opposite the mirrors had hooks on it where you could hang your coat and bag and the clothes you wanted to try on.

I decided against buying anything there. Iirc, it was on Nassau Street, but that detail is hazy.

Thanks. I'd blocked all of this out!

My guess is that it was because someone took in just one or two items, it would be relatively easy to conceal them under their clothing in order to nick them. Especially if they were accompanying friends so could claim that they weren't actually trying on any clothes themselves. And presumably the assistant couldn't be expected to remember who and who hadn't taken clothes in to try, especially at busy times.

Whereas, if the insistence was that everybody who had to pass the assistant to get into the changing room, had to take in the mandatory four items, they wouldn't be so easy to wear all four of them under one's own clothing without it looking odd, and of course if they didn't emerge with four items to either hand some or all back, or take to the sales counter, that would arouse suspicion.

Of course, that could all be complete cobblers. I haven't a clue, really. 🤷‍♀️

WEWW. 😂 Now that’s a blast from the past. Thanks for the ear worm.

would that have been dorothy perkins?
i remember one shop but could not say which

Yes that’s exactly why shops used to make you take four or three items into the changing rooms.

I remember vividly the male shop assistants in the trendy jeans shops in Kensington Market and Camden Market who always insisted thst if you could get the button at the waist done up on a pair of jeans the zip could be pulled up, and who wrestled for ages to try to get mine done up for me 🤣🤣. That was before the days of stretchy jeans.

I was taking my memory for the name Miss Selfridge - that’s the one I remember. A pretty small room mirrored on all sides, with girls/women positioned all around. It was before selfie culture as well so I always felt self conscious of other people seeing me looking at myself!

@JennyChawleigh @UnctuousUnicorns
Yes Laura Ashley in Bath was the same, Mum used to take me in the late 70s. When you could just go to Bath on a whim and park the car. We did spot a girl nicking a load of stuff, she had brought in with her much cheaper items and swapped the Laura Ashley clothes with the other clothes on her way out. No security tags back then

Urgh, I hope it's not James Corden because doesn't everyone not like him anymore?

Yes, MK1 or 'mark one' it was the days before you could return things if they didn't fit (had to be faulty) so we're forced to try stuff on before buying. I was a chubby, awkward teenager, it was horrific.

I think your might be on the wrong thread. 😅

Yes, I used to work in Miss Selfridge. As awful as they were they could be lots of fun. I 'manned' the changing rooms on a Saturday and they were full of girls taking about where they were going that night. Some even did their make up in there.

Oh, ha ha. I don't mean to suggest he was hanging round the communal changing rooms of Top Shop 😄

😲 Heaven forbid! 😡

I’m your age and I certainly do remember them in the clothes shops of our youth.

Came here to say the same thing😆 My Saturday job in the 90s was at Miss Selfridge and we used to rotate hourly around the store. I absolutely hated being on the fitting room. Was always awkward, never knew where to look, mirrors everywhere....and the smell 🤮

mark 1 sounds familiar
i dont think even then i went clothes shopping much, perhaps this was why?
1989 i bought shorts in mark 1.
miss selfridges or it could have been top shop, i shopped at in the 1980s and the brighton one had cubicles

I refused to buy clothes from Topshop as a teen because of this.

Top Shop in Oxford definitely had the massive communal changing room.

It was awful, was bad enough having to change in communal changing rooms at school after PE let alone when out shopping.