Fashion Friday

I recently made my first Gucci purchase. And, what was more shocking to me than the price was that when I looked in the mirror, my ass wasn’t any smaller.


Did I actually think buying Gucci would make my ass smaller?

No.

But maybe I unconsciously figured that after such a landmark purchase, something amazing would happen.

Maybe I would magically be able to fit in my pants again, or look in the mirror and not notice I no longer have a six-pack (fuck you, metabolism after 30), or my nomination for sainthood would be announced. Something…anything…should have happened.

But nothing, except my husband asking me why I went shopping again, did.

It’s a conversation he and I have had many, many times. He doesn’t understand my need for new boots, purses, dresses, whatever. He asks me why I need four (okay, maybe closer to seven) pairs of brown boots. I tell him no one will know how pretty I am if I don’t have all this stuff.

He rolls his eyes and tells me to take off my make-up and clothes and smile like a donut, and then he’ll tell me how pretty I am.

For the record, he’s kidding. I think.

All joking aside, it does make me wonder: why do I feel the need to shop? I have an entire walk-in closet filled with clothes, shoes and purses, and that is just for my summer wardrobe. The guest room closet is full of all my cold weather clothes.

So why do I still need more?

Why do we, as women (I know I’m not alone here), feel the need to have the most trendy purse, the highest heel…the newest car?

Why, once we have it, is it not enough?

I know, I know, being pretty is about being comfortable in your own skin, loving who you are just as you are, blah, blah, blah. I could write a book on where true beauty comes from.

And yet knowing all that doesn’t make me feel any more beautiful or shop any less. Knowing that my husband--or most other men, for that matter-- doesn't judge how hot I am based on whether or not I’m wearing the latest trend doesn’t make me any less apt to run out and buy a new dress for a social event, even if I have something perfectly suitable already in my closet.

If I don’t even understand it, how can I expect my husband to understand it?

He says unless I can come up with a reason why I need to shop, I shouldn’t do it anymore. I haven’t been shopping lately because “it makes me feel pretty” just isn’t reason enough anymore.

And, honestly, that’s just a big fat lie, anyway.