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[quote=Anonymous]I went shopping at the mall on my own at lunch today for the first time in a very long time (usually even if I do in person shopping, I have a kid or my husband in tow because we are on the way to something or the way home from something, so I'm distracted). I'm mid-40s and struggling a bit right now with clothes because I am looking to shift into an in-person job after years of WFH and basically have nothing appropriate and don't even know what people dress like in the office anymore. So it's a lot of looking at what's available, tons of trying on and trial and error.

The thing that struck me today was how much advertising I saw in store promoting incredibly beauty standards that just made me feel like a troll. And the thing is, I'm not. I'm a regular person but fit and reasonably attractive for a regular person. Before I went shopping I felt fine about myself. But every store I went into had these images of ultra thin women with perfect bodies and perfectly airbrushed skin and perfect hair. And seeing those images over and over as I tried stuff on and tried to make some peace with my middle aged body left me feeling really deflated. At one point I walked passed a Victoria's Secret and there was a photo of Gigi Hadid outside in a bikini that just kind of got in my head like oh my god that is so many light years away from what I look like, should I go hide under a rock?

I am aware that the fashion industry has been like this for a long time, I used to read fashion magazines back before I had kids. But I guess I was just used to it before and then being away from it and getting older, it really hit me today. Today was a useful exercise because it's nice to try things on and be able to look at tons and tons of clothes at once, but I think I will revert to online shopping only from here on out. My ego can't take it![/quote]

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