The trouble with buying clothes
Published by on October 30th, 2007 1 Comment »
To say I loathe the need to purchase clothes is an understatement sandwiched between two thick slices of trivialisation.
Although the days are gone of chub-induced terror of entering the fitting rooms with several ‘cool’ items only to find a single pair of jeans, inspired by a tent and large enough to fit my wobbling frame, or the imagined back room emergency alarms at GAP signalling arrival of a fat-bloke, there remains a distinct residual dislike of clothing stores. I am not fussy with clothing selections, indeed I embrace the straightforward and, let’s be honest here, cheap. But these days, flab-related option reduction has moved to practical option reduction.
A perfect example is my recent purchase of a new coat/jacket/overgarment/weather-keeper-outer for the winter; a season stampeding its way onto my commuting schedule.
Coats in particular are a delicate choice for temperature regulation. The primary problem is the natural way in which my body generates far too much heat, and therefore also, sweat. Don’t worry, blog-reader, you are in safe hands: I’ll not venture into further bodily unpleasantness. This means that any coat with a large amount of insulation, what is generally regarded as a good thing at this time of year, will invariably induce a sodden sensation at the end of my one mile morning walk to or from the rail station. “Breathable fabric!” I hear you cry. Alas, perspiration invariably exceeds breathable capacity. Summer jackets are simply far too thin to provide any form of protection from the elements, and most winter jackets sold at this time of year, far too insulated. This has been the clothing challenge for a number of weeks now.
The solution is relatively straightforward by selecting a jacket with a low level of insulation, yet enough to minimise wind-chill in the worst days of winter, all the while being styled to enable a little controlled layering of other garments based on a day’s particular weather conditions. Bingo, we have a formula and therefore selection criteria. Oh, there’s also the general requirement of not looking like a complete dork. I know, dropping that final criteria opens up endless cheap possibilities.
“Buy several coats to fill all available situations!” There you go calling out your thoughts again, but I deflect your sensible suggestion with an instinctive inability to spend too much money on multiple items with very similar purposes. Plus there’s the storage issue, and the challenge of choosing which to use in the morning rush, add to that a whole host of things I could probably make up on the spot if you really needed the additional justification.
Good news, however. Winter approaches and the weeks of popping in to several stores to check out new lines have finally come to fruition today with the discovery in Next of a coat perfectly fitting all the above criteria – including the need for a pocket large enough to carry a Moleskine.
One Response to “The trouble with buying clothes”
Don’t worry too much Neil, with all this global warming you’ll soon be wearing shorts and t-shirts in December