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Filed under: Choice, Clothing, Consumerism, Retail, Weekend Punch

12 comments

Two blue jackets – size small and medium; one pink jumper; a sparkly cinnamon tank; a pair of yellow jeans; one Peter Pan-collar top; the turquoise cami; the nude blouse; a grey off-the-shoulder knit. Oh, and an orange skirt, which is what I went shopping for in the first place.

Like a kid in a candy shop. Pic: Supplied

I carted these ten items into the Zara changing rooms expecting I’d have to leave half on the rack. But, no, you can try on a wardrobe’s worth of clothes and the army of shop assistants will happily grab more.

Let’s deconstruct this: I don’t need a blue jacket; I already have a pink jumper; cinnamon looks best on apples; yellow skinnies scream 2012 – and may well make me look that old; you need a bob to rock a dainty collar; the turquoise was in fact icky jade; nude – particularly when worn on TV – makes me look naked; jumpers that fall off your shoulders are as pointless as a bikini in Thredbo. The orange skirt I needed – OK, wanted.

So why, when I didn’t have an hour to spare trying on clothes I didn’t need and couldn’t afford, did I hit that shop like a kid with a bag of jelly snakes? In a word, choice.

It’s not only clothes. I’m the same with shampoo, books, bread, holidays and schools. Yes, schools. You’d think it’d be a no-brainer, but welcome to the modern world, where we peruse the nutritional information on our children’s education for fat content and added sugar. Sorry, I’m confusing it with yoghurt.

All this choice is leaving me so befuddled, I’m considering hiring a life editor. He’d be gay, called Tom (as in Ford) and he’d edit my life by condensing my choices. Tom would curate a quarterly library of worthy books and organise my playlists into kids/dinner/happy Saturday/shagging. He’d order from menus, trawl paint charts to find the right shade of sage and source holiday houses that actually resemble the pictures. Crucially, he’d find five pairs of perfect-fitting jeans and then tell me which one looks the best.

“Get over yourself,” I hear you say. But I can’t, because I’m gripped by ‘analysis paralysis’. Whereas life used to be like a box of chocolates, now it’s Willy Wonka’s whole damn factory.

“Choice no longer liberates, it debilitates,” writes Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. “The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better,” he advises.

I hear ya, Baz; it’s Parenting 101. You don’t ask a child, “What would you like for lunch?” Rather, you offer two choices: “Ham or honey?”

But short of having Tom with me every time I visit the supermarket or switch on the TV, how am I supposed to a) limit my choices and b) ensure I make the right one?

I’d consult an expert, but have you seen the bewildering assortment of books about choice? So I asked my mates.

“I’ve given up on sales,” says Rach. “I shop online or at a small boutique where I know they have clothes that suit me. And I buy the same meat, cheese and cereal every week.”

“Set a time limit,” advises Jacqui. “If you say you’re going to buy a camera in an afternoon, stick to that goal. And don’t even look at Missoni if you can only afford IKEA.”

But it’s Cath who sets me straight. “I never read a full menu,” she says. “I order the first thing I spot that I know I like. Perfect choice doesn’t exist – whether you’re talking about margarine or life partners.”

Her policy does, however, have drawbacks. “I love ‘buy one, get one free’,” she says in an email. “Trouble is, the husband and I are now wearing the same sports shoes.”

Email angelamollard@sundaymagazine.com.au. Follow her at on Twitter: @AngelaMollard.

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12 comments

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- stephen says:
  
  10:55pm | 29/07/12
  
  Zara ?
  Angie, you went shopping at Zara ?
  Did you win lotto ?
  
  I’ve been buying stuff over the internet - Sierra Trading Post is very good, too - clothes mainly, and even though the shops need business they do not have the range of styles and types.
  They stock garments that appeal to the younger set.
  I’m older, and my jeans do not deserve a crutch that scoops up dust from the ground. (And how do the wearers run for the bus, or even sit down ?)
  
  I want more choice. not less.
  The quality is secondary ; I like variety in dress and food and company.
  
  ps Zara’s, for any sensible girl, should be where it belongs : at the end of a sentence.
  
  Reply
- Utopia Boy says:
  
  10:10pm | 29/07/12
  
  Modern society is in a very tricky place at the moment.
  
  Basically we have a choice between Islam, Christianity or Atheism. For all the wrong reasons we aren’t able to make a choice without fear of upsetting one of the three. It’s simple - you either belong to one of the three camps and are derided by the others. Choice is yours.
  
  Politics now essentially tells us we have to be conservative (Liberal) or Socialist (Labor), because although our system is based on the British one, we are constantly hammered by US politics. And their games are just plain dirty. A choice of two very mediocre parties. No real choice.
  
  FInally we have “choices.” Which car to buy, where to live, who we sleep with, who our friends are, etc etc.
  
  Except there are no real choices. You can’t decide for yourself what is a safe speed to drive on the road. You cannot refuse to answer questions asked by a police officer (or else you can be arrested). You cannot make a moral or legal stand on an issue because the government has made prison a cage, not a rehabilitation centre. Even when you vote, the “representative” you vote for will trade away his representative duties in the name of party allegience, money or power. You cannot receive your regular salary in cash if you wish to not let the banks get their grubby hands on your money. You have to pay for services before they are complete, often without recourse if you aren’t satisfied (think building industry). You are treated like a criminal every time you want to catch a commercial airplane; even SPEAKING about a bomb will get you arrested and interrogated. Your government continues to gouge your wages with new taxes, excises and levies while bailing out insurance companies and subsidising poorly managed businesses who do nothing but put their hand out for more. Returned servicemen with horrific physical and psychological scars get less benefits than a freeloading politician. Backward policies for the “young people” like apprenticeships and vocational training leave many school leavers with no choice but to take one of these apprenticeships on, knowing full well they don’t want to be a tradesman, and also knowing there’s no chance in hell of getting a job at the end of it!
  
  What can you do about the above?
  Nothing.
  No choice at all.
  
  So if there needs to be an argument about what diet you should be on, whether or not you should breastfeed or use a bottle, what school to send your kids to, then the pigs at the top have already won, because none of that shit really matters.
  
  Reply
- Robinoz says:
  
  12:09pm | 29/07/12
  
  One morning you wake up and realise you are getting so old you’re now in the danger zone; death from everything including boredom has a higher probability of striking at any time It’s then that it hits you that when you go to the incinerator, your prized Tag-Heuer wrist watch, Toyota Prado GXL and favourite porn collection can’t go with you; some other lucky person will take over these and other prized possessions. It’s then that you wonder why you have 30 T shirts but can only wear one or two at a time; that you have a shed full of tools you rarely use. Given another life, I would take a minimalist approach and have spent more of my money travelling, socialising and doing those things I never got around to eg, scuba diving.
  
  One couple I know has five or six sets of clothes each and every January they chuck out the old stuff and buy a completely new wardrobe. I can’t do that because I get attached to a pair of shoes or a jacket, but it’s not such a bad idea. I tend now to replace what wears out. And although I’m not so old that I only buy ripe bananas, I’m actively shedding much of the clutter I have gathered and wonder why I bought it.
  
  Reply
- SydneyGirl says:
  
  10:45am | 29/07/12
  
  Its a pity that so few people seemed to have watched the SBS doco on The Birth of Shopping which had some intriguing ideas on department stores, the appearance of women in public spaces, the shopgirls who began to earn a small income etc.
  
  http://www.sbs.com.au/documentary/program/788/Seduction-in-the-City-The-Birth-of-Shopping
  
  Shopping has an underbelly as the link also notes. But its a given in the industralised world which makes replication cheap and easy. We would have more analysis and less paralysis if you looked at how it works and how society changes as a result. Not the usual 1) I love shopping article 2) Do we really need crap and I am so tired of organising my cupboard article and c) Women the stupid gender comments/articles from the usual lot.
  
  Reply
- spanky says:
  
  09:38am | 29/07/12
  
  Not a great way to end the war http://www.news.com.au/news/angela-mollard-why-are-women-at-war/story-fn6ja31c-1226039216268 you might be pouring fuel on the fire oh sisters won,t be happy attacking the religion of shopping, lol.
  
  Reply
- TChong says:
  
  08:42am | 29/07/12
  
  Yep
  Dont know whether I’d accept too much advice from
  “Cath” who seems to find reading a menu a challenge..
  Anyone who would also infer that their spouse / life partner isnt their “perfect choice” ( “perfect choice doesnt exist, whether talking about margarine or life partners”) are hardly the type that would or could inspire trust and commitment.
  But , to be fair to “Cath”, are there any Punchers who dont believe that their partner / spouse, is their perfect choice ?
  I sincerely hope not.
  
  Reply
TChong says:

11:17am | 29/07/12

marley
great to hear that someone actually believes in their partner.
Me and Mrs C have clocked up 28 years , since teenagers, couldnt be happier.
marley says:

10:28am | 29/07/12

My spouse and I are the perfect choice for each other, which is all that matters. I don’t think we’d do at all well in the larger market, though, given our respective idiosyncrasies.
- Babylon in Canberra says:
  
  08:03am | 29/07/12
  
  Angela,
  
  In my opinion shopping online is crap. It’s for the morbidly obese or agoraphobics. It’s for people who do not get the ‘hit and high’ of shopping.
  
  The purpose of ‘shop shopping’ is not just the thrill of purchasing goods, it’s also getting dressed up to show yourself to the world. It’s trying on lots and lots and then a well deserved hot chocolate or boutique lunch over which to review the choices.
  
  Here’s the Approach to successful shopping.
  
  First of all a girl should get her colours done. A girl must know what basic colours and styles suit and what she can do with blends and combinations. This will save a fortune in erroneous purchases. Keep the booklet of mini swatches with you as much as you can.
  
  The approach to wardrobe is ‘less is more.’ Women make the mistake of buying tons of clothes, for all seasons and as a result suffer from Home storage anxiety (second bedroom wardrobes full as well), Home choice anxiety and Future shop trip guilt ( you’re shopping and the wardrobes at home are bulging). Any one of these can kill a girl.
  
  So the approach is have 7 outfits for example: 5 for work, 1 casual weekender, 1 smart casual weekender, 1 evening wear, 1 ultra special evening wear. This excludes gym wear. But you should have 1 smart workout set to wear when you know there will be lunch after with the girls.
  
  The idea is that whilst you continue to window shop as described above, you do not buy anything. Every three weeks you should be doing shopping excursions to plan your replacement purchases of your small wardrobe.
  
  By 6 months your entire wardrobe must be turned over, but maintained small.
  
  The small wardrobe is an excuse to go shopping more regularly. Because you are going more regularly you can carefully plan what you are actually going to buy over hot chocolate. Maintain a notebook or diary. After careful planning you can have the ‘thrill of the kill’ on occasion. The small wardrobe removes the anxieties suffered above. The regular window shopping trips and planning remove the difficulty of too much choice in the shops
  
  There is one more shopping aid required. Australian women will only socialise one on one with men if they intend to, or are having a sexu relationship with them. This has to change. When you are trying on clothes the best scenario is to have a manfriend, not a girlfriend to give you a second opinion. This manfriend needs to be someone whom you would, if you were not already involved with ‘x’. That way if he tells you it’s sexy, flattering etc, you know it works.
  
  Enjoy!
  
  Reply
Can count says:

10:59am | 30/07/12

“7 outfits for example: 5 for work, 1 casual weekender, 1 smart casual weekender, 1 evening wear, 1 ultra special evening wear… 1 smart workout set “

There’s your problem, you can’t count!!! 7 does not equal 10, hence overflowing wardrobe…
PsychoHyena says:

09:39am | 30/07/12

@Babylon, I disagree with your first statement. I am neither morbidly obese or agoraphobic, however I do my shopping online because there is no choice where I live.
- iansand says:
  
  07:48am | 29/07/12
  
  Have a sex change.
  
  Next problem!!!!
  
  Reply