“Shopping for Pants”

~ Elizabeth

Under the best circumstances I dislike shopping for pants for myself. I have no trouble purchasing pants for my husband. He wears the same style and size of Levi’s that he has worn for at least 30 years. Levi’s knows their men’s market, leaving key styles constant year after year, allowing easy repurchases. Women’s pants know no such consistency.

This spring, due to exercising and eliminating sugar, I seem to have dropped a pants size. Normally this would just be obnoxious, sending me to the store again to try on pants. Since stores are closed, I first tried simply adding and tightening my belt. While this didn’t solve the baggy look, it at least kept my pants up.  But I finally conceded I needed to buy new ones. (Lesson for the Marie Kondo school of straightening up. Don’t get rid of your too small pants. It is conceivable, however unlikely, that they will fit again.)

Of course they no longer make the pants that fit me, albeit oversized. Consulting size charts proved hopeless, as they said each pair of pants is sized differently. So last week I ordered five different pairs of jeans from two different stores. I hope that one pair fits. If not I will have to try again. And I will have to find a way to send multiple pairs back.

And if you are thinking why not just go to the store when it opens May 20? Well, because they are not opening the fitting rooms!

54 thoughts on ““Shopping for Pants””

  1. Over here, we call underwear Pants, and Pants are called ‘Trousers’. We even have an expression, ‘That’s Pants’, meaning it is bad luck, or something not worth having. You also call Braces’ Suspenders, whereas what we call Suspenders hold up ladies’ stockings, and you call them Garter Belts. We do call Jeans the same thing though.
    None of this is at all relevant to your clothing issue, but those small dfferences have long fascinated me. 🙂
    Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. No, we do call them lawns. The lawns are in , or part of, the ‘garden’. You call the garden ‘Yards’. Haha! We call industrial premises ‘yards’. 🙂 So many examples of the supposedly same language being different. Try this. Still a personal favourite post. 🙂

        Americanese

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        1. I loved ‘Americanese’, Pete. And, guess what? I’m from Worcester (Massachusetts), 40 miles west of Boston. We pronounce it, ‘wuh sta’ with accent of first syllable and New Englanders (NE corner of US) never pronouncer the er at the end of words. It’s always ‘a’ as in ‘writ a’, or ‘read a’. But we do put ‘er’ in places where it shouldn’t be, as in the country ‘Cub er’ (Cuba). Language is fun!

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        3. We call it Wuss-ter in Connecticut too. But sadly in the southern part of the state they actually have to nerve to call the river Thames with “th” enunciated.

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        8. Of course, then we have the well known city in Ohio, Wooster (pr. Woo’ ster) which we New Englanders pronounce as Woo’ sta!

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        9. It’s probably me but i rather enjoy that the thing at the end of my pencil is here in the UK, a rubber and in the US an eraser. After all why would i need a condom on the end of my pencil…? oh the hours of fun..

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  6. I feel the same way about shopping for pants. A few weeks ago, though, I got lucky. There is a small boutique I had always wanted to go to but never got there. They do a great job of online advertising and I needed a few things for summer so I thought, “Why not?” I took a chance and ordered 2 outfits. What a great experience! My package was delivered in 2 days, the sizing chart was right on so everything fit and it was reasonably priced!

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  9. I feel your pain. I found jeans that fit me well at Walmart. Five or so years later they dropped that brand, and I haven’t found another brand that fits me. When all these jeans are totally tattered, maybe I’ll shop at the funeral parlor.

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  11. I’d file this into the category, “Nice Problems to Have.” It’s a lot more fun going to buy smaller pants sizes than bigger ones.

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  12. I feel your pain, except my size has gone up, not down. I needed a new bathing suit last year, so I finally ordered one this year. I have no words… I haven’t even tackled the pants thing yet, and now you tell me the dressing rooms will be closed? 😩

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