An Intervention With the Mirrors at The Mall

Have you ever crammed yourself into shop changing rooms, and watched yourself strip down red-faced and hurriedly struggle into new garments, with the tags still attached mocking your reflection in the mirror?

The tags say: You might be a size 10, but girl, look at all that cellulite! Look at that roll of flesh under your arms! Checkout that pair of saddlebags on your hips! Your boyfriend must be crazy to love that! You should be ashamed! And, you turn to the mirror and think: It's right, you know. I'm a mess.

Even though I've stood beneath those glaring lights, lumpy images of myself reflecting back in triplicate, I still buy clothes. I still head to the till and part with my money. Telling myself that once I'm in that cashmere outfit, I will look good and I will feel great. Just not today. *Confidence levels shattered*

But imagine how much more we'd spend if we stepped into softly-lit changing rooms fitted with lights that accentuate our curves, and mirrors that are more House of Wanders than House of Horrors?
Imagine peering at your reflection and thinking: WOW! I look awesome! Check my butt! And my luscious hips! Look how they curve gracefully from my waist! And my dimples are actually cute!

Very few people now-a-days still put themselves through all of that. They would rather buy clothes and fit them on at home and go through all that trouble just to return them to the shops the next day, for a refund. You'd think the shops would have learned by now. With all their market surveys and brainstorming sessions, you'd think they would have considered that stadium lighting + obese mirrors + pussy side reflections = blind spots.

So until they start installing mirrors that make me look like their carefully accessorised mannequins- I will continue buying clothes which i haven't fitted, just to return them the next day, therefore leaving the shop with my self worth still fully intact. And in so doing, making their jobs that much harder.