Why do clothes look ok in changing room mirrors and then not so good in my mirror at home?!!

[lavenderpekins]

Think i've wasted nearly £200 in the last month feeling guilty and gutted having children has wrecked my body and possibly any good sense i had

Sorry for the rant!

Oh and i'm so sick of overpriced pieces of polyester!!
Anyone else had the same problem?

its the mirrors

was once long thread on this. allegedly they are magic mirrors

Yep it's the mirrors. Look at them carefully, they will be on an angle, sticking out at the bottom. So you look taller and thinner. Some shops are much worse at this than others. We should name and shame.

The mirrors in some shops are definitely 'magic' mirrors, I think GAP and Jigsaw definitely elongate and slim your figure.

fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG3359211/Whose-mirror-is-the-fairest-of-them-all.html

Arghh I hate all these shops even more now! I never use to have this much trouble finding a decent outfit!
What's happened to me!!

Currently have the contents of my entire chest of drawers over the floor i may have pmt but i'm actually thinking of binning the lot!

Thanks for the link EliotNess interesting that is most women over 30 know this - i'm 31 and have just discovered!

Here's and idea what about 1 shop that has a colour me whats it person in it, a personel shopper, eyebrow thredding, bikini waxing (!)and then sections of; pear shaped, apple, column etc! With no polyester allowed!
Am i weird? I sound 80.. Any why can't the clothes be made there!

This is why I mostly shop online now - can try things on at home, in my own mirror, with my own shoes/clothing/accessories etc

I think you're right angeltulips - feeling SO wasteful two of the dresses i bought are non returnable because they were in the sale :(

I've always found the opposite. I never try things on in shops any more because I find the mirrors and lighting so depressing.

Will never forget walking past a mirror in H&M once in new skinny jeans that until that moment I had thought looked great. In my trusty bedroom mirror they pulled me in and made me svelte and lovely. In H&M I was all sags and wrinkles and lumpy thighs . I never wore them again!

My mum has a magical mirror at her house though, it's amazing. Really elongates and slims. Whenever we're round I sneak up and strike poses in front of it for a bit

Are they really non-returnable because of the sale? Have you checked? I know lots of shops will refund sale items these days - I've already taken a few things back.

Unfortunately the sales lady told me when i bought the dresses yesterday that they were non returnable (boutique).
JazDalek i have had that problem too outside of the changing room.. Sometimes i daren't look.. Will get to the gym as soon as Dc3 starts preschool in sep but right now i can not do any low carb/no choc diet too depressing to think of!

Lavender - if the dresses are £100 each in the sale, and non refundable, can you sell on via e-bay or similar to recoup some of the £?

Don't be too hasty it does sound like you have pmt and are just feeling irritable . I bet they look lovely really put a photo up and we will tell you honestly bet you feel differently in a few days !

Thanks nextphase yes I think ebay might be worth a go.. One of the dresses is from bravissimo (£70) looked great on in the changing room. Went home and ordered it online and stupidly didn't try it on till there was a summers day well over the return date! Completely my stupid fault! Looking back i think the bravissimo changing room mirrors are really flattering and thinking about it the lighting is very dim..

I didn't know this either. It explains why I always look freakishly tall in changing rooms. I'm 6ft, I don't need elongating mirrors.

I'd say over 50% of whatever I buy ends up going back once I've tried it on at home. To me the worst place is GAP. Everything looks fine on and awful at home. And Zara too. Are you sure you can't return the sale dresses? Even if you just got an exchange it would be less of a bugger?
And PMT won't be helping either. Everything about everything will be totally wrong at that time of the month.

Lavender - I think that on line selling has different rules to buying in a shop and you may find you can return sale goods, even though you might not have been able to if you'd bought them in store.

the mirrors in our branch of Zara lean at angle that makes you look thinner
i moved the top of one last time I was in there to straighten it, and ended up putting everything back on the rails

Oh no, so you mean when I look fat and frumpy in the mirror in the changing rooms then I look worse than that really? Oh great!

Thanks for the posts everyone - I'm glad I had a rant on here instead of spiralling..
I'm going to have a complete clear out I've decided; lots of ebaying, get my colours done and gym classes in September.. Just have to get through this summer.. (cold, chilly fog here today)!