Topshop, or not to shop...

I went to the opening of the new Topshop store at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town today. This is the first time in my life that I have had to queue to get into a store! Not queue as in the new iPhone has just been released and people have been sleeping outside to be sure to get one before they are all gone. No, this was a different kind of queue all together. This queue was orchestrated.

The kind of queue that brought me back to my clubbing days, in fact. Loud thumping music emanating from within it's shiny mall-lit wondrous plains, luscious merchandise hanging on bright new hangers, all gloss and glam in the giant window displays, designed specifically to lure us queuers. You WANT to come in. You MUST come in. You will be BEAUTIFUL if you come in (and spend all your money). 

And I kid you not, there was a rope. All that was missing was a couple of broad shouldered bouncers at the door intimidating people as they waited their turn to be let in. They even had a door lady with a guest list! No they didn't, I'm only kidding, but they could have. The store security guard who let me in was dressed all in black and she had a spirally ear piece connecting her to the gods of consumerism, I can only imagine.

As I stood there amongst 30-at-any-given-time fashionista's, all adorned in the cool, the funky, and the fashionably comfy-cas(ual), I was transported to a movie moment in Sex And The City, in Confessions of a Shopoholic, feeling all mod and hip in my fab self for being there. One of them! One of the first. One of the privileged, the shopping chique, the girl with the LV on her arm.

I suspect the atmosphere had gotten to me. Yes brethren, I drank the coolaid.

There were cameras outside, reporters reporting, paparazziesque, capturing this momentous occasion, this New York moment on a Cape Town winters day. I was enthralled.

Even though I am fully aware of my own silly bamboozlement, I have to take my hat off to the cleverness of this 'event'. TopshopSA were truly crafty in the planning of the entire thing. Setting the all too familiar scene of an independent woman out for a night on the town, it created the perfect mood: Prowless on the Hunt; All the single ladies with one thing on their mind: The Perfect Match.

And that got me thinking. Shopping is a lot like dating. (especially when the store you are about to grace with your wallet has an actual DJ playing!) And as with all budding romances, there are a few key do’s and don’ts in meeting that one, lasting soul mate.

• Don't stop at first sighting.
• Don't accept anything just because it's pretty.
• Do look deeper to the inner stitching.
• Accept compliments, 'these jeans make my a$$ look great', 'that dress slims down my torso perfectly'...
• But don't make lasting decisions based on whimsical flirtations. The tantalizing. The tasseled.
• You are young. You are free. You may love those leather hotpants right now, but really, can they be taken home to meet the folks?
• Enjoy the glittery garments, but make sure they treat you right. No one wants to wake up with the remnants of last nights rhinestones undone and stuck to your smeared face. How well are they attached? Is it going to survive the first wash?
• Don't settle for second best.
• Don't short-sell yourself for a ‘here today gone tomorrow’ flash in the fashion pan.
• Do smile sweetly, and then hold out for that shy but impeccably tailored piece of style in the corner.
• ALWAYS have your way in the shoe department. Own it! Get those shoe elves to bring you your size in this, in that, heck in those too! Get your Twerk on, girl!
• Get giddy on the feeling of the sky scrapers. Enjoy your moment in the stratosphere.
• But even if the shoe fits, be wary of glued seams and nearly-leather look-a-likes.  
• Repeat after me: You don't want it just because she does.
• Be your own woman amongst the mannequins. Choose wisely through the intoxicating haze of freshly tagged skinny jeans. Take your time. Don’t rush. Try them all. Boycuts, bootlegs, high waists, glitter cuffs… 
• Do check out all their moves in the dressing room mirror.
• But above all else, do NOT go home alone!*

Of course we all make mistakes and what is the point of a credit card if you can’t buy the leopard onesie pajama suit and glitter kitty-cat ears?

Well played, TopShopSA. Well played

Love, lust and fairy-star-dust

Cherry Blossom

* OK so that last one only really applies to shopping, not dating.