Comments on: Beware the skinny mirror

By: Dolly

Dolly — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:11:39 +0000

Can these ’skinny’ mirrors make your ‘head’ look too big for your body?

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:40:07 +0000

I’ve been saying this about mirrors since i was a kid. My Marshalls definitely uses skinny mirrors. I’m glad to read the tip about checking for a skinny mirror. I do think photos work for me, because it forces me to look at myself as a whole, instead of zooming in on a body part I’m trying to conceal or alter the appearance of.

By: KING 5 News

KING 5 News — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:38:23 +0000

I am a reporter at KING 5 news. We’re interested in doing a story about “skinny mirrors.” I’m very interested in talking to anyone would would be willing to help us expose the issue. I’m open to all suggestions. Since stores are not real keen on having news cameras in their dressing rooms, I’m thinking some one could bring a small personal video camera and perform a few of the tests mentioned in the previous postings. I know this must sound pretty weird, but I assure you this is legit. Please e-mail me at ewilkinson@king5.com . FYI — we would need to do this some time this week, as we want to run the story next week. Thanks.

By: seashell

seashell — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Hear, hear! I hate having my pictures taken, and I really have just a few of them – I’m totally unphotogenic. The only way you can hope to take a more or less decent picture of me is to use some unusual angle – straignt on any camera makes me look totally different from how I look in real life, and ten times less attractive.
Even the professional photographers notice it (a friend of mine is into that, so I’ve met quite a few).

It’s like — you know how there are lots of unflattering things a camera can do to you? I get them all. I look ten years older, fifteen pounds heavier, and even my facial features seem different, and not in a good way. Every time I travel, I get the Stare from the airport security because my picture doesn’t look like me.

The funny thing is that the same thing appears to be true about some mirrors. Not all of them, just some – I look different in them.
Yet Dad, who’s extremely photogenic, always looks the same (and true to life) in every mirror.

By: Angie

Angie — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:09:07 +0000

Nice tip Lulu.

Well Jane, BCBG and Gap’s mirrors down in Seattle are definitely skinny. So are the mirrors in the TBD denim area in Nordstrom. There was a mirror down at J Crew that was so skinny it had me in hysterics. I actually complained to the manager about it. They remodeled their store recently and that particular mirror has gone. I can pick up on a skinny mirror immediately and warn my clients. I had to let one of my clients know that the mirror she was using daily at home was a skinny mirror.

Note that not all skinny mirrors are intentional. They are just imperfect mirrors. But there are some retailers that do this consistently enough that it is almost certainly by design.

You’re right that tilting mirrors have the same “skinny effect”, Ana. I think that’s what happened to Maya at H&M. It’s so blatantly distorted, it’s laughable. It also happens from time to time in mirrors when people post pictures of their outfits on the forum. Mirrors can be our friends and foes.

And you are the poser of all posers Shiny! Actually I’m sort of surprised you had your mirrors at home deliberately tilted.

Photos are tricky. I’m on the fence as to whether they lie, or tell the truth (without digital enhancement). Jenniferblue makes an interesting point that looking good on photos comes from within.

By: Jenniferblue

Jenniferblue — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:59:36 +0000

Really interesting. Dressing room urban legends. This one, about the mirrors, I never suspected. I’ll be on the lookout next time I’m in a dressing room and I’ll use the “Lulu test”. Angie thanks for letting us know. Lighting as many of you have mentioned is big. There has to be a marketing agenda behind the horrible lighting that makes us look sick and shadowy and green. Some of these stores are beautiful elsewhere but the dressing room is hobbit land.
You come out into a bright beautiful store. Another legend-2 way mirrors and hidden cameras. What’s up?
On the photo thing. I think the person being photographed has to ” love the camera” to reverse the saying ” the camera loves her”. Seems like any insecuity, stress comes through and no amount of posing, promting can make
you naturally photogenic. I think it begins within.

By: Lulu

Lulu — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:37:28 +0000

Just want to chime in with Shiny, Maya and Anne on the unphotogenic issue. It is true that some people are simply not photogenic. One of my girlfriends is absolutely gorgeous and turns heads walking down the street, but in all her pictures she looks plain. She loses her confidence whenever she looks at her pictures, although she looks 1000% better in real life! I don’t understand this as her proportions are good, she has dark hair and perfect pale skin so contrast is not the issue either

By: joelle

joelle — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:12:57 +0000

I have long suspected that some stores have skinny mirrors, but since I always try clothes on again at home, and return items that don’t suit, I am not fooled by this trick, although it is a hassle to have to go back to return. Fitting room lighting is a big issue for me as well–either they are too dark, or the light is greenish and makes one look sick. I have probably rejected lots of items that might have looked flattering in natural light but looked bad in fitting room light.

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:47:06 +0000

Maya – I think I would agree – you look unhealthily gaunt to me in the first picture!

I tried on some things in a op shop (thrift shop?) recently that looked so hideous I suspected a warped mirror. But as I didn’t buy anything I can’t really test that theory. I am sure I have had more experiences with bad fitting room mirrors than flattering ones.
Nice to read a methoed for testing mirrors Lulu.

Shiny – I am also unphotogenic. My late father said he was too (although quite a handsome man) and attributed it, correctly I think, to not having much contrast in the face. I have blond hair, olive skin, pale lips and blue eyes. People with pale skin and dark features often look better in photos, I think. Shiny, we have never seen your face, so I can’t tell, but would this theory apply to you?

By: Maya

Maya — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:28:53 +0000

I agree with Shiny! Depending on the angle, I think I look much bigger in photos than in real life. I noticed once I started taking pictures from other angles, I looked and felt a lot more “me.”

Angie, how are the mirrors placed or distorted to cause this effect? I think H&M definitely had skinny mirrors when I bought that colorblock dress.

This is the picture in the fitting room:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....8_1311.jpg

and this is the picture at home:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....1006-1.jpg

Luckily I was able to make it work, but I don’t think I would have kept it if it wasn’t so cheap.

One of the mirrors I have at home is tilted slightly forward at the bottom. It took me ages to realize that it was making me look bigger. Maybe that’s why I thought I was a pear for so long?