I recently had an opportunity to soend several hours in a major city shopping mall.
I’ll tell you what I bought, and you tell me what I was feeling:
Perfume .. and shoes.

Well, it wasn’t THAT bad- I didn’t try on bathing suits— but I was looking at pants, trying on a lot of pleated styles- Topshop ( in part because they offer a LOT of high- waisted, pleated styles) , but also Nordstrom, Saks, NM and a host of other stores, and other pants, and I just assumed that I’d find something, but everything just looked awful. As in, I just need to get in better shape— where did my shape go?

Aside from the pity- party, I had the following experiences of how frustrating it can be to just “ visit “ a shopping metropolis occasionally rather than be able to browse & re- visit when you want.
- there are so many stores that it’s hard to look for several types of things even on one’ s “ list” and not feel FOMO- as in, I didn’t get to this store or that, or some have the same items but in different colors or sizes,or prices etc, or
— sales goggles are a caution
— many items would be hard to return after doing the “ home mirror” test
— it’s only a “ snapshot “ of what’s available throughout the year.
— there was still a lot of Winter stuff and relative lack of color.

I go to this city several times a year but almost never on a schedule that allows shopping. And again, it’s such a “ candy store” that there would never be enough time to check out all the places I MIGHT find something, several times a year, unless I actually lived there. I felt like I could be such a GOOD shopper if I weren’t under time pressure - but maybe that’s a delusion.

I did try very hard to stay in the mindset of “ retail research “ as success, and not just that only buying would be successful.
It also got me to thinking about reviewing more critically what I’ve already got and understanding why I do or don’t actually need anything different, and also how not to settle but to enjoy looking but not finding as oh, good, not liking this item means there’s a really fab item in the future. And that maybe online shopping is better than I thought, after all.
As an aside, there was one pair of Topshop paper bag waist pants at Nordies that I almost made the mistake of buying! They really fit and flattered well from most angles so I thought, Eureka! but then noticed that had that way-too-much-fabric-in-the-front thing if I moved a little and I knew that would totally bother me, and that that was The Pants’ problemo and not me. Yes, it’s kind of a pleated- pants hazard in general , but the right pleats at the right place in the right fabric don’t do that, or at least, I know what I tolerate vs not. Saved!
So, that was my mad/good- bad Big Mall day. Back to practicing gratitude and to SYC/outfit creation/ wardrobe culling for a bit. Perhaps I will have some in- home epiphanies or maybe even a Style Shift!
Those of you who either can access vast retail B&M options anytime, or who have occasional visits, please share the good , the bad, the ugly!