Aug 22, 2018 3 min read

A funny thing happened in the fitting room of a clothing store the other day, and it’s too funny not to share. I was trying on sale dresses when I heard voices next to me. Women often shop together and sometimes share a fitting room. I have not, however, seen a man share a fitting room with a woman until now.

I was taken aback when I heard one of the two voices in the room beside me was male. It seems the couple came into the room together, and the woman was trying on outfits. They were chatting away, and he would give his opinion on how something looked, and she would sigh or giggle. At one point, she said something was too tight, and he said it looked “hot.” This was the last straw for me, and I had to bite my lip so as not to yell, “Get a room!”

In my experience, members of the opposite sex usually wait outside the fitting room area, though this unwritten rule varies with parents and kids. There’s always a little fashion show when you come out to show whether something fits. Years of working in the retail sector gave me a good look at people’s shopping habits, and I have always been amused by a woman who drags a man shopping and either models clothes or makes him hold her purse while she browses the racks. In my entire life, I have never done this. I certainly never put on a fashion show for a guy inside a dressing room. I would marvel at women who would let men pick out clothes for them, model them and then have the men pay for them. How did they come to this arrangement? Can she only wear what he picks out and buys? I’m not quite sure I would make that deal, but I guess it would depend on his fashion sense.

I was watching that television show where women pick out bridal dresses, and one bride-to-be brought her fiancé with her. She said she always asks him what he wants her to wear when they go on a date. She let him choose wedding gowns for her to try, and when he proceeded to disapprove of all of them, the bridal shop owner finally kicked him out. Only then was the bride able to decide on a dress. Call me traditional, but I still think the groom should be surprised by the wedding dress coming down the aisle.

I guess I shouldn’t have been startled at the man in the fitting room beside me. I didn’t think he would peer over the wall at me, so I guess it just surprised and amused me. Maybe I should have asked his opinion on how my dresses looked.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.