Convertibles and shop talk...

...no longer the domain of men.

I have a dress. It's cute. It is a halter neck. When I bought it I thought, "no problem, I have a strapless bra". Turns out that doesn't fly with this particular dress, because it shows in the front. I went in search of an undergarment that wouldn't show, and I wound up with a convertible bra. It has straps which can be worn halter, crisscross, over-the-shoulder, or not at all. Pretty impressive technology. While on my shopping excursion I marveled at the choices available in bras these days. They come in all colors and materials, all shapes and sizes - some even already have boobs in them. There's waterbras, wonderbras, demis, plunges, underwires, and bandeaus. Some have a little ratchet in the middle so you can crank together your cleavage in an emergency flirting situation.
Silly me, I thought they were just for support.

I was in the shoe department the other day (big surprise), and as I was admiring a pair of Bandolino sandals in the mirror, a woman from a few yards over looked at me and said, "those shoes are so cute, and they look great on you!" I thanked her and she laughed, commenting that she gave an unsolicited opinion. But she's certainly not the first. Camaraderie in the shoe department is universal. Go sometime and sit near a shoe department - big sales are best, like at Dillard's or Nordstrom's where they put out racks of all sizes of shoes - and listen to the women talk. Shoes break through all other barriers - race, age, socioeconomic status. Women love shoes.
The lady who commented on my shoes was probably thirty years my senior, but no matter. We had a moment, thanks to some bronze strappy heels. A few months ago I saw a woman about my age trying on the most impossibly high platform wedges (absolutely adorable, even if they were ankle breakers), and after a couple minutes of wobbling around in them she had a group of about five women around her, talking shop. An older woman who reminiscing about when she could wear shoes like that, a girl who enviously said that her feet never looked that good in wedges, and so on.

I love being a girl.