Pretty Woman Without the Limitless Credit Card

I am someone who enjoys fashion. I don’t like to use the word fashion because I think it has a connotation of shallowness. I don’t believe I’m shallow so I would prefer to say I like clothes, the fabric, the details, colours.

I’m no fashion guru by any means but I do spend money on clothes. I enjoy it. And I’d say compared to many people I know I’d spent a lot more than them. That’s not necessarily good thing. Maybe I could learn more self-control. I buy brands and non brands. If I like something I don’t mind whose made it. Whether it come from a local market or a designer.

I have clothes from stores of all ranges of price. The reason I make this point is I felt I could purchase from this store.

I had seen a garment advertised by a particular designer store. I personally have not yet bought anything from this store but the label is within my price range and I really liked a velvet skirt and top from their current season, winter 2019. I love velvet so was keen to try it on. I was on my way home from work and decided to go home past the Armadale store on High Street.

Every time I shop in High Street Armadale I feel uncomfortable. It’s a very affluent area and everyone seems to look perfect. It’s a suburb where the women clearly have a lot of money to spend on themselves. They drive expensive cars and look like they have money to spend on cosmetic surgery. There’s nothing wrong with that. What I don’t like is what I feel is an air of snobbishness.

The shops are glamorous and shiny. The clothes perfectly hanging on display with each garment spaced perfectly apart. Many of the shops in Armadale are brands I buy from but for some reason they feel and look different,more expensive. The people who work in the stores look perfectly groomed. This particular store they looked immaculate.

On walking into the spacious beautifully arranged and designed store I felt I didn’t belong. I was said hello to but no one asked me if I needed help or showed me to my change room which in a store such as this they usually do. I don’t believe it was the staff were busy with other customers necessarily, I think I didn’t have the look of most women who enter the store and make purchases.

Did I not look groomed enough that would make me look affluent enough to shop in their store. I felt I was having a pretty woman moment when Vivienne goes to buy a dress on Rodeo Drive.

I was pretty much ignored as I went into the change room, tried the skirt on, came out of my change room to look in the public viewing mirror because the curtain surrounded change room had no mirror forcing you out for public humiliation. I went back in to my change room, tried the top on, came out, paraded myself then went back in the change room where I decided to get changed back into my own clothes, then walked around picked up another 2 or 3 garments, stood in front of a mirror, held them up against me, placed them back on their perfectly adorned racks with not one sales assistant offering me any help.

As in pretty woman, it shouldn’t matter what you are wearing or who you are, you should be greeted and served as any other customer. I shouldn’t be thinking was I not good enough for their store and their service from staff. I shouldn’t have been made to feel like I didn’t matter, invincible.

I shouldn’t have left feeling the way I did, like I was undeserving.

Maybe it’s all in my head, but I never feel like this shopping in other areas except when I shop in Armadale on High Street, Victoria.

I wouldn’t even want to go back with Edward Lewis and his limitless credit card. I honestly don’t think they are deserving of my money. There’s plenty of other stores that are more than happy to take it where I have pleasure spending it. If you have to be snobby or have a certain look of affluence to be served then I’m not interested in those stores.

When I see people lined up outside high-end stores, I think, you’re kidding me. No store is worth lining up outside of to shop at.

I have no time for snobbery or exclusivity. It’s totally unnecessary. People may have higher incomes, may or may not have better jobs than me, may or may not be more intelligent than me but one thing for sure they are no better than me. Those people are removed from the reality and compete with their peers.

I know plenty of affluent people and the nicest are those who have nothing to prove and are salt of the earth people. Those who are snobby I believe have insecurities. They need to feel better than others to give them self-worth. And the staff that work in those stores feed that need of their snobby customers. Perhaps they are like that themselves or perhaps the culture has worn off on them. For me, it’s more than unattractive, it’s unappealing and something I want no part of.

Love Lucy x