Fashion disaster...

Last Christmas, I was given a $50 mall gift card by the parents of my preschool class. I recently remembered that I had this card, and I started to panic, realizing that I had to use it or lose it. After all, it's no good to me if I move 300 miles away from said mall. So today, Seth and I headed to Tysons Corner shopping center. I had some specific items in mind. I wanted a simple sundress that I could nurse in, a big, tall order, I know. At the least, I was hoping to find a simple, cute skirt and top with my gift. This mall is the largest one in the area, so I figured that a full day of shopping should yield something acceptable.

I was so, so wrong. And why was I wrong you ask? Because retailers have decided that they want to harken back to the dreaded decade, the 1980's, for their inspiration. I was a child during the '80s. I've seen my photos, and let me tell you, it isn't pretty. Purple courderoy pants with butterflys on the back pockets look good on no one, my friend. The orange mummu does not need to come back. Neither does the green tent shirt with multicolored hearts on it. Most of the shirts out there are so long that they look like dresses...almost. If they're not long and tentlike, they're long and skintight. If they look good on the rack, you try them on, and instantly, you look like you belong in the Red Light district. Super plunging necklines are in this year. I may have the cleavage to wear the clothes, but I have no desire to do so. The purpose of Forever 21 is to remind you that you will never, ever, be 21 again. I wear an extra large in their clothing, if I can squeeze into it. And I don't remember dressing like a hooker at 21 anyway...

I wandered the entire mall today and came away pretty much emptyhanded and totally disgusted. I saw nothing that I could afford that I actually wanted to put on my body. And if I did see something that I wanted to wear, I tried it on and discovered that it was indecent. The higher end clothing stores are charging $100 for a simple sundress that probably cost them $12 to make in some sweatshop in Honduras. I don't feel like paying their prices for something I'm hoping I won't fit into in 6 months.

Whatever happened to simple, modest clothing? What happened to something timeless and gasp, pretty? Where has all the good fashion gone? I'm not the only one out there that thinks this is a problem. According to a recent article in Market Watch, retailers posted the weakest month of sales on record in April. The reason? Here's one speculation: "While retailers were quick to blame mitigating external factors, independent analyst Jennifer Black said the culpability goes beyond that. 'The overall product assortment was not compelling,' she commented. 'Fashion trends continue to have had a mixed response with no real trend focus.'
You can say that again, to put it mildly. The article then goes on to list the drop in sales of places like Bebe, Limited, and American Eagle.

So today, I resorted to spending my money on some classic, cotton, boatnecked, solid colored shirts at L.L. Bean. Yes, you heard me, L.L. Bean. I was the only person my age in the store, but darn it, at least I got something that covered my body and didn't make me look like an 80's refugee. I've had it with "fashion." This is the last time in a while that I waste my day at the mall, looking for clothes. I join the consumer boycott until styles get better.