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

It wasn’t necessary to be completely naked . You could change more discreetly in a gym changing room.

Gym changing rooms at least have lockers. These used to be just one grotty carpeted room with nowhere to put your stuff etc.

Yes!I have memories of French connection opposite Covent garden tube and Top Shop having communal rooms.The FC one was just behind a giant curtain.

At least at a swimming pool you have a towel to cover up with!

Oh god, yes! Reading that immediately evoked sweaty foot smell.

Oh and dont forget the scrunched up tissues and discarded pop socks.

We were away recently and the pool only had a private cubicle in a communal changing room. I walked in and there was a woman stood in all her glory, making zero effort to cover up. There was even children in there (not hers)

It was all made worse by the benches being in front of the lockers, so I had to ask said naked lady if I could squeeze past to get my stuff. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed, or admire her confidence!

I couldn't believe there were no cubicles even at the time, as many shops did have separate cubicles. I do remember them in Top Shop, River Island/Chelsea Girl and Miss Selfridge I think. It felt like a human zoo on a Saturday. I didn't go in them very often. They seemed to be gone by the mid 1990s.

I don't care about communal in the gym. Totally different as hopefully your clothes fit!

This has taken me straight back to the changing room for Miss Selfridge on the first floor of Schofield's in Leeds in the 1970s. The teenage years are the peak time for self-consciousness so it was incredibly embarrassing. Communal changing rooms are not missed in the slightest!

I'm 58 and remember these with horror. Saturday shopping trip for that nights outfit. I was early 20s and very self conscious, it was awful if you looked up and someone was watching you, probably just looking at what you had picked to try on but really awkward. Then making sure your bag and stuff didn't get nicked whilst you were waiting for the one and only mirror to be free. Then standing in front of the mirror, trying not to "pose" in the outfit but desperately assessing how you looked in it from all angles, whilst being aware of many pairs of eyes on you!

Yes i remember this in Mark One as a young teen! Horrific!

Yes and yes!

They were in the UK I remember Top shop had them going back to the 80s here. It was a trend and I don't think lasted long actually but I could be wrong

It was near universal in the 1970s. I thought things started to change in the 80s but I wasn't shopping in Top Shop then.

I'm a year younger than you. They were definitely a thing. Topshop was the worst for this.

I remember when M and S didn't have fitting rooms, and trying a pair of trousers in the shop under a skirt.

Horrendous

Im 66 and remember them well. Also individual changing rooms in jean shops like wild west wooden saloon doors. Everyone could see your head and neck and legs as you squeezed into Falmer jeans. God forbid you lost your balance and fell through them.
I was a retail manager in the 80s and women would leave used tampons/ towels plus shit in lockable changing rooms.

Yes! And as someone else said they didn't accept credit cards either, debit cards didn't exist, so you had to pay in cash or write a cheque. Everything branded as St. Michael too.

Horrible experience. Especially if you forgot to put on your decent undies. And then getting stuck in a too small or badly cut item. And wrestling your way out of it. Awful.

Yep, Topshop in the 90s I was a horribly self conscious, shy teen and I could blush for Britain. I hate communal gym changing rooms to this day.

I've been to a few held in town halls, where they hire one big room and all the rails and boxes, tables etc are shoved in there.
Wiggy Kit, Hush, Karen Millen and Alice Temperley have been my most recent ones.

Some sizes are small but it's all old/bad stock so definitely worth a try as that's where the wrong sized clothes end up.

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H&M was so much better when it was Hennes!

Yes, they were godawful, I remember being so pleased when a shop had cubicles.

In 1984 I discovered I'd started my periods in the communal changing room of the Liverpool Top Shop. Mortifying. 😬