Does anyone else's heart sink at the thought of clothes shopping?

[washinggotdarkedon]

I'm going on holiday soon. I have nothing to wear. Actually I've nowt to wear when I'm not on holiday! Have a uniform for work, the rest of the time I look passable actually I'm starting to look very tatty

I've got money to spend but I go into town and practically have an anxiety attack as I enter the shops!

Anyone else feel this way?

I don't get anxious. But I don't like it. Because I'm very small and curvy, I rarely can find clothes that 1) I like, 2) fit.

I get a complex for days after going in a changing room. I always look dumpy and ill in those mirrors.

I'm also at that horrible in between age where I am too old for the high fashion of most of the high street shops but not ready for Bon Marche!!

Clothes are made for Victoria beckham in some shops.
I dont go near these places.
I look awful in everything!

Yes, me. It's hot, I sweat like a pig and nothing fits right.

Has anyone been in New Look lately? I'm in my twenties and this week I realised I've outgrown that shop, it was a revelation. Apparently young women want to dress like American country bumpkins.

Primark is fine and you can get a lot of great basics for cheap, but there are MILLIONS OF PEOPLE in their stores ALL THE TIME. You can barely move without elbowing someone.

And then you get to the dressing room with the horrendous lighting and full-length mirror so you can get a nice dose of reality whilst trying on clothes that are mostly only cut for very thin women.

So stressful.

I went on a much needed clothes shopping expedition. I bought exactly no clothes but I did buy some Canesten which is already working a treat so something good came of it.

So I feel extra short, extra dumpy and extra pale but I am no longer itching where the sun don't shine!

Don't like it either.

Had to go the other day as I had an interview so needed something smart (ish).

Was on H&M and tried a skirt and blouse in whatever size, the went next door to Warehouse (though first i took the H&M clothes off and but my own on again), went into Warehouse (cause it waa next door) picked up a dress in same size: it was like a freaking tent.

As if the whole process isn't crap enough you have to take 3 of every item in with you because you don't know the secret code of sizes in different shops.

Who designs these clothes? Who..
I want to meet and shame most of them.

You would think that you would want people to feel good in your clothes so they buy more so you make more money. Instead, for many of us, it is an exercise in ritual humiliation, how is that profitable?

And I have no wardrobe and can fit all my clothes in two drawers. I'm a SAHM so no, not employed and I never go anywhere that requires smart clothing anyway. Not to mention no point in having smart clothing that is going to get tomato sauce or other things spilled on it. Sorry, am feeling very down on myself atm.

This thread is very depressing. There are so many posters on here with very negative views of themselves.

Where do you all shop that is so hot, so crowded and sells such badly fitting clothes?

My local shopping mall has aircon everywhere so it is never hot, and has a wide choice of clothes shops.

Confident. I feel much more confident. Sheesh. Can't spell but have a pretty good wardrobe bought online

I actually like clothes shopping, despite being fat and middle aged. I have a very short list of shops whose style and budget fits mine and where - just occasionally - I can find clothes that fit me and make me feel slightly less fat and slightly less middle aged. I therefore visit those shops occasionally and look on it as a sort of hunting expedition, where I might be lucky...

That's the view I take as well MaudesMum

I find it all very frustrating. Apart from shoes, bags and underwear, everything else I have to get online as I'm 6ft. I over order, getting as much as I can for the delivery fee, and more often than not it all goes straight back. Would be lovely to actually walk into a shop and see clothes that would fit me.

I don't have anxiety attacks, but shopping for clothes .... ok shopping for anything is just sooooo boring. Two of my SILs are shopoholics and do recreational shopping and have sometimes persuaded me to join them. Which I have done to spend some time with them and get to know them better. The first many years my husband's entire family seemed to think this was a treat for me. .... So it was of course totally fair that the men then went out fishing and left me home looking after the kids, as I had also had a day ... or two of fun. Yeah! "fun"

Just don't like clothes shopping, never have done despite being reasonably slim and small feet. Alas this depresses my DCs who love it and thinks it a companionable thing to do but then get cross when I'm reading a book on the floor in a changing room as they go through 20 outfits - but if I do attend and say "that looks great" they say "no it doesn't, can't you see?" . Horses for courses. Love dressing up to the nines (usually antique clothes) but bored by everything else.

God, yes, I hate it. And don't you find that if there's something very specific you want - nothing out of the ordinary; for instance, a short-sleeved cotton shirt with a collar - you won't find one anywhere?

I used to love it but now the stuff is mainly poor quality
Expensive and hardly anything is Cotton. Maybe the choice is better online

I HATE clothes shopping. I had to find suitable swimwear recently and nearly lost the will to live - hurrah to the online world where we can click a button and try things on at home - an absolute Godsend.

HAAAAAATE it! Apart from being 5ft1 with a belly that looks like a giant scrotum from carrying twins, I'm 45 next week. There is NOTHING age-appropriate that I like. Apparently I just have to schlepp around in the tatty gear I already have until I'm ready to sign up for mauve shirt-dresses and slippers.

The quality-to-price ratio of women's clothes really pisses me off as well.

I would like to look fashionable without paying $100+ for polyester rubbish made in China.

It's true that the quality of clothes seems to have gone downhill, why is it so hard to find cotton?

Another reason I don't bother is because everything that is on the shelves and racks today I have in boxes in storage from when they were selling the same stuff back in the 70s and 80s.

You keep clothes from 30 and 40 years ago? Why?

I don't have the space, and I hate hoarding and clutter.

I agree that there is a lot of dross in the shops these days. I like natural fibres, and not T-shirts that are so thin that you need to wear a camisole or vest under. Sadly the retailers that sold better quality clothes are all going under. I have a number of good quality summer clothes in my wardrobe in cotton and linen from BHS for instance.

I have not unpacked from my last house move 20 years ago. We bought on paper a bigger house but it has no storage and because of its design it is impossible to fit stuff in.
I have a storage area that has my tools, furniture stuff i might need in my business. I have about 10 beds all wrapped up in bubble wrap ready to dress which ever flat or house I am doing. Chest of drawers, at least 3, pictures, around 50, wardrobes, dining tables, chairs, every so often I find a box and go through it. When we moved it was done in such a hurry everything was boxed up and went into storage because between us putting the house on the market selling it and moving out was 21 days. We were moving from one area of the country to another,no internet, no rightmove we went into holiday cottage accommodation and have not really unpacked since.

Interior designer Oliver's? Sounds fab