Thursday, December 07, 2006

Hunting and gathering

As I barely get a lunch break during working hours, my only chance to shop during the week is after work. That's when all my Christmas, birthday and personal shopping gets done. Tonight, I stepped out into the windy, black night illuminated by Christmas lights, store neon and traffic headlights and braved the manic Oxford Street crowds as they jostled me into one shop after the other.

I was hunting for an outfit to wear at the office Christmas party this Friday night. I'm not a natural born shopper - easily irritated by the crowds and depressed by the sight of myself in tiny, overlit and unflattering fitting rooms - but it's getting easier as I get older to limit myself to the styles that I have learned through long and bitter experience actually suit my body type and personality. Usually this means alot of black and I wasn't straying far from my clothing norm tonight.

At Monsoon I tried on a thousand tops, skirts and dresses and finally struck gold with a long black skirt emblazoned with gold, silvery-grey and dusky pink embroidery along the hem and with a pretty black ribbon tied as a bow along the waist. I also bought a necklace cascading with tiny, glossy black beads and some silver and black drop earrings. Tomorrow I'll buy a simple black cashmere jumper to wear with it, and with the classic black pumps I already own I'll be set.

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