I love going shopping. Even if I don’t plan on buying anything, I love walking around the store to see the things I could potentially buy. And as much as I love clothing, there are many things that so many clothing companies do that absolutely drive me crazy. These aren’t major problems, just small inconveniences and annoyances. I should also acknowledge that all of the things I bring up in this list are based off the things that I’ve experienced. I know others may not relate to some of these, or have a completely different list of pet peeves.
Stockings, Tights… Whatever you want to call them
As the fall and winter months quickly approach, unfortunately this means I can no longer wear shorts, skirts and dresses the way I did during the summer months. Hence why tights are so great. There are many different colors and patterns to match your outfit in mind and I can still wear all my skirts and dresses without freezing in the Rochester winter. However, it feels so useless to get tights because the moment I put on a brand new pair of tights, I only have to wear them for five minutes before already noticing tears.
Weird Shirts
Do you know how many times I’ve seen a shirt that looked nice from afar, but are hideous when I pull them off the rack? Way too many to count! Sometimes less is truely more. There’s nothing more disappointing then liking the art work on a t-Shirt only to see some weird random phrase like “Wild Heart’. I’ve also had an experience with a shirt where I loved the color and style, but when I went to try it on, I noticed the weird, unflattering cut out that went across the stomach. All I could ask myself was: “just why?” I did end up buying the shirt though. Instead of a weird cut out on the stomach, I now wear it backwards and I love it.
Crop tops, body suits, T Shirts… but nothing in between
Staying on the topic of shirts… While I have nothing against all of these styles and wear them regularly, they’re not always practical. T-shirts and crop tops aren’t professional enough for a lot of jobs and internships, and while I love the idea of body suits, if they’re not the perfect size and length for your torso they can be highly uncomfortable. All I want is a shirt in the cute styles that crop tops and body suits usually come in, but in the length of a normal t-shirt. I feel like once body suits and crop tops came to be in style normal t-shirts have become so difficult to find.
Can my skirt be just a little longer?
Let me paint the picture for you. I walked over to the clearance section of a store and find a simple black skirt. Form fitting and would match pretty much anything. I held it up and saw that it would go down to my mid-thigh. “Perfect!” I thought. It was my size, on sale for $6, and the material was so stretchy that there was no way it wouldn’t fit me. I hadn’t worn a skirt since middle school, and was really happy about my find. Fast forward to a month later, when I finally decided to wear this skirt. While it looked fine from the front, there was absolutely no way I could walk out of the house in it without flashing my entire behind to the world. I didn’t take into account that thick thighs would make the length of the skirt look very different. Clothing designers put extra fabric space into the back of pants, shorts and even dresses for this exact reason, but why don’t they do this for skirts?
Nude Colored… well anything
Most of the time, the whole point of nude colored clothing is that it matches your skin and is neutral enough that it blends in and isn’t very noticeable. However “nude” is completely useless when you’re a dark skin black person and no traditional nude color has ever matched your skin. I kid you not, I didn’t even realize that band-aids were meant to match your skin until a few months ago. I always thought that band-aids were just band-aid color. The color nude clearly was not meant for all skin tones. I would love to have more nude-colored basics in my wardrobe that actually matched my skin, but they are so difficult to find that I’ve given up altogether.
Weird SWIMsuit Choices
For some reason during the lockdown every single bathing suite designer decided to make the most useless bathing suits to realistically use. While they look really creative, they’re impractical, and unless you’re using them solely for the purpose of an Instagram picture, I don’t understand who the designers expect to actually buy and use them. When I see the asymmetrical cut outs, all I can think about are uneven tan lines. And when I see the interesting tops and bottoms, all I imagine is everything falling out the second I even think about taking a step in any direction. While they look really cool, I have never seen anyone off of social media actually wear them.
As much as I love many of the fashion trends lately, I just wish clothing designers would make clothing more practical for everyone. I would like to get actual wears out of these pieces, not just use them for pictures.