Clothes, again

I hate shopping for clothes. Rather, I hate needing to shop for clothes. Shopping is fun when there's no pressure and an ample supply of money. Like that ever happens.

Even after my trip to the mall a couple of weeks ago, my wardrobe is still, well, just plain sad. It consists mainly of jeans, and comfortable shirts that go with jeans. There is a small subset of workout clothes, and a couple of suits that I'm keeping more for sentimental reasons than because I ever intend to wear them again. Most of the shirts hanging in my closet are oversized denim ones with assorted company logos that I feel bad throwing away, but would never wear unless I were painting or doing yardwork in the dead of winter. I also have a nice selection of formal/party dresses and bridesmaid dresses, mainly from college. Don't ask if any of those fit. I don't intend to find out.

What I don't have much of are nice clothes for work or for church. Work is fairly casual, and church doesn't exactly require a floral bonnet and patent leather pumps, but something other than jeans and a henly would be a nice change. For either occasion.

Yesterday, armed with another of my infamous giftcards, I spent an hour and a half at Kohls. Like my trip to Eddie Baur, I had some success. Some. And I learned a few lessons.

1. I can't buy pants at Kohls. They believe that you are either 5'8", or are 60+ years old and in need of elastic waist pants. There is no other option. Seriously, I tried on every pair of gray slacks in the place within a 3-size radius.

2. If you want fall clothes this year, may as well search the summer clearance racks. Because the "fall" collections are full of short-sleeved shirts and tank tops. They might have varied the colors.

3. If I were pregnant again, I would have no need of visiting a maternity department. Unless the "Simply Vera Wang" section really is their maternity department and I missed the sign? Because everything fit like a tent.

Shopping is becoming an epic struggle. I can only find pants that fit at Old Navy or Gap. But Old Navy's styles are getting too young for me, and Gap is too expensive. Eddie Baur has colors I can wear without looking wretchedly ill, but I have to avoid anything woven, and again, expensive. Kohls can be ok for tops, sometimes, but forget buying pants there. Target sucks for everything except bathing suits and underwear. I haven't tried on a stitch of clothing in a Macy's in at least a year, because nothing appeals to me (No, I don't need clothes that can take me from the office to a coctail party...). I won't buy things mail order, because I don't want to spend all the time shipping clothes back and forth that won't fit.

I still have several things that I might like to own. Like a skirt. I have a pair of great black leather boots that would look really cute with a skirt. And I bought a nice pair of pants at Eddie Baur (that fit!) but I haven't found a single top that goes with them--they're a sort of mocha color that doesn't work with brown or plain gray or black (and stores so rarely stock other colors that I can wear this time of the year). If I wait until winter, I might have a heavy sweater that would work. Or I could return them. But that would mean another trip to the mall.