On The Shopping Belt

So I was shopping alone in the mall when a top caught my eye.

It was ordinarily plain, not particularly eye-catching yet something about its design caught my eye. It had a haughty air around it, despite its simple clean lines, and its material just oozed pride. I was ga ga over the top, and kept lingering around the area, checking out the price, the material, the designer, basically everything except buying the damn thing.

I went home and raved about the top to my friends and sisters. I found it online and showed to them.

"Isn't it just gorgeous?" said smitten, lovestruck me.

"If you like it so much, you should just buy it." was the common reply.

So once, I went to try the top. It was a great fit. Comfy and casual, just the type I like. But somehow, I just couldn't bear parting the money. So I hanged it to where it was again.

Months later, I still haven't bought the top. I went back to the mall many times, just to get an innocent peek to see if

1) The price is finally right
2) I could gather the impulse to buy

But it was never to be.

Through my trips to the mall, a salesgirl came up to me one day.

"Can I help you please?" she smiled politely. Abashed that she knew I was spying on that top for so long, I hurriedly replied.

"Oh just looking around."

I grabbed the nearest top and headed straight to the fitting room, taking a last peek at my darling top before I closed the door.

In the fitting room, I was surprised to see that the top I had hurriedly grabbed was that of the same designer. I tried it on and though it too was comfy and casual enough, it was absolutely nothing like the one I had my eye on. This one was colourful, and body-fitting, and while it was figure flattering, it wasn't the kind of clothes I want in my wardrobe anymore.

"I really don't understand why you like that top so much," said my sister one day when I came home, yet again empty handed. "It's not really your style, if you think about it."

I don't understand it either. But I guess it's a process that I'm actually used to, even though I've given up trying to buy it.

And so the top hanged there, still full-priced while I linger around the mall for a peek every weekend. The other top, the colourful one went on sale instead. Oh the irony.

"Why can't the OTHER top go on sale instead?!" I lamented to my sisters and friends.

"You know you can buy the other one instead." said my friends.

There are certain reasons why we wear some clothes more than the others. I'm not sure about you, but although I have 1001 outfits in my wardrobe, the ones I really wear are all located in a small heap which constitutes less than 10% of my clothes. Because we like them for a reason, though there are times we don't exactly know why.

And there are those that we have no idea why exactly we bought them in the first place.

And of course, there are those that we always long to have, but probably can never, and will never afford to.