Earlier this week I read that Forever 21 is declaring bankruptcy. The death of the mall continues to leave large empty buildings and store fronts that are featured on Instagram reels by urban explorers exposing abandoned spaces. Some of these malls shelves still fully stocked with items waiting to be purchased as if the news came and everyone merely disappeared. A bizarre still life that no one is coming to paint.
Part of me doesn't care that Forever 21 is closing. Just another place that sells cheap sweatshop clothing will be gone. I haven't been to Forever 21 in 17 years so I personally am not losing a space that I benefit from as a consumer or on any level spiritually.
Another part of me mourns having brick and mortar stores that continue to vanish as an option.
Is all shopping going to become an online activity? No trying on clothes in the dressing rooms with your girlfriends. Not that I am trying to glorify the dressing room experience. The dressing room has always been a space that fuels trauma. Every woman I know has cried in a dressing room at some point. Every woman has had to psych themselves up before a day of bra or jeans shopping both of which will push your ability for mental sanity to it's absolute limit.
Part of me doesn't care that Forever 21 is closing. Just another place that sells cheap sweatshop clothing will be gone. I haven't been to Forever 21 in 17 years so I personally am not losing a space that I benefit from as a consumer or on any level spiritually.
Another part of me mourns having brick and mortar stores that continue to vanish as an option.
Is all shopping going to become an online activity? No trying on clothes in the dressing rooms with your girlfriends. Not that I am trying to glorify the dressing room experience. The dressing room has always been a space that fuels trauma. Every woman I know has cried in a dressing room at some point. Every woman has had to psych themselves up before a day of bra or jeans shopping both of which will push your ability for mental sanity to it's absolute limit.
***
Please do not misinterpret my desire for in-person space as some kind of deranged capitalist love letter to malls or shopping culture. I enjoying feeling fabric between my finger tips, seeing how a skirt will drape on my body, and I loath returning things. I want new rituals but we are ridding ourselves of these spaces before new rituals have been rendered to take their place.
I do fear that what was once an in-person experience, potential group activity is now another task that will lead to hours online, scrolling in isolation.
***
The last time I went to the mall with my girlfriends was nearly five years ago to buy a dress for my high school reunion. Had I only agreed to attend through a combined team effort of peer pressure from my friends and my twin sister promising to buy my ticket, yes.
Once I leaned into the cliche that is the high school reunion I was able to enjoy some of the teenage-like absurdity. We were getting older and we all knew this would be the last time we would have the chance to get ready like this together. At least not until a wedding came along but there were significant others now, we were in different states, and real jobs with project deadlines. In that way we felt that sisterhood thrill of playing dress up.
I do fear that what was once an in-person experience, potential group activity is now another task that will lead to hours online, scrolling in isolation.
***
The last time I went to the mall with my girlfriends was nearly five years ago to buy a dress for my high school reunion. Had I only agreed to attend through a combined team effort of peer pressure from my friends and my twin sister promising to buy my ticket, yes.
Once I leaned into the cliche that is the high school reunion I was able to enjoy some of the teenage-like absurdity. We were getting older and we all knew this would be the last time we would have the chance to get ready like this together. At least not until a wedding came along but there were significant others now, we were in different states, and real jobs with project deadlines. In that way we felt that sisterhood thrill of playing dress up.
Curling iron hot, lip tint applied, light perfume filling the overly crowded hotel bathroom, thick eyeliner.
We had our own high school sitcom reunion episode and the dressing room sequence was a pivotal scene.
A chorus of --
We had our own high school sitcom reunion episode and the dressing room sequence was a pivotal scene.
A chorus of --
That looks cute.
That looks really cute.
That's actually like so so cute.
A burgundy cocktail dress that came just above the knee. A halter top cut, V-neck, synched waste with a tamed tulle bottom. Did I make out with my high school crush in that kick ass dress, yes.
LOVE it. I went to the new-ish Goodwill on Addison (by Elston) this weekend. I didn't have the interest or patience for looking and plotting (I sometimes do and sometimes do not), but there was a truly wide variety of lovely objects (all kinds of things and all kinds of sizes), and it might help to satisfy.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, my above-the-knee “burgundy cocktail dress” was also made of tulle, ruched and otherwise. I bought it for $22 from a department store clearance rack, and I wore it 19 years ago to my (now) husband’s groom’s dinner, one of the rare occasions I chose to go sleeveless. I miss clearance racks with might-as-well-try-it styles. This is lost online, where clearance is now final sale—returns not accepted. Try-on to donation.
ReplyDelete*strapless (not sleeveless). Ah, typos in comments.
DeleteKatrina - Again, I was inspired by your writing: https://littleedie.blogspot.com/2025/03/dressing-rooms.html
ReplyDelete