Forever 21 - Conflicted Consumer

I confess - I love Forever 21's clothing. So much. It's budget-friendly (I found a ridiculously cute skirt, of the same style featured for $50 at Express, for less than $10 - and it wasn't on sale). It's stylish and edgy, but still has a lot of girly, vintage-inspired clothing.

However, and this is a BIG however.

Faith 21.
Cute clothes! Good prices! A limited selection, to be sure, and about the size of 1/8 of the rest of the collection (based on the Ross Park Mall location).
My issues are threefold:

• There is a totally separate selection of clothing for the Faith 21 line. This limits options incredibly.
• The styles are SUPER flowy and big and there is very little body-hugging stuff at all. Oh, look, big flowy tunics and tights! No, dude, seriously. Where are my cute military-style tops? Shorts? Hrmm? Also, while I do want the cute styles, I want them to feel more comfortable - longer sleeves that actually fit around my arms, shorts that are longer and fit around my thighs (longer only because if you're slightly bigger, it takes up more fabric, y'know?).
  
• What the hell is up with separating the fat girl clothes from the skinny (occasionally SUPER skinny) girl clothes?
  

It's somewhat insulting, really. I can't shop at the front of the store. I can't even shop for the same clothes as everyone else (I'm a size 14, bee-tee-dubs). I have to walk the whoooole way to the back, and stand uncomfortably by the checkout while others are checking out with their size 2's and 4's, feeling awkward because my clothes aren't even numbered with the others - I get XL, 2X/XXL, 3X/XXXL. Really, Forever 21? Really?

It bugs me that they couldn't just duplicate some of their styles and put the bigger sizes in line with the others - on the same shelves, even! It would be so nice for that to happen.

I do have other issues with Forever 21 - you know, the fact that they don't have rings bigger than a size 8, the fact that they have pairs of shoes lying around and no sense of where to find them to purchase, and that they have possibly the most disorganized store in the universe, but this one is really starting to sting.

There is no reason at all to separate Faith 21 from Forever 21. Just let us be part of it!

Dress for the Job You Want

In the corporate world, and most other jobs that are not super casual, people often say "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." I have a huge problem with this.

First, there is the assumption that someone can afford to dress for the job they want on the salary for the job they have - an incorrect assumption. Dressing like an executive when you're mid-level, or mid-level when you're entry level, is incredibly hard on a wallet. You may be able to thrift, make some wise choices with basics, but it will never quite be enough. Everyone who tries this always looks one step behind (particularly if you have a body type outside of the fashion norms - read: you're not skinny, in uniform sizing, with good skin and magic hair). Going to a stylist for haircuts is expensive, and a hairstyle is a vital part of an outfit. Good shoes - hard to find if you have any orthopedic issues without going to a higher price range - are also important. It's a little rough for those of us on the low levels to try to achieve style nirvana that will help us make it to the top.

BAM!

There have been no secret Me's lately, mostly because I'm tired and losing faith in myself. I was a Secret T-Rex again, which is always a fun thing to do. I need more ideas. My creativity is dying along with my interest in many other things.

The holidays have been... holiday-like.