How to be a good shopping partner

The other day I had the opportunity to try on clothes with someone I’ve never really shopped with before, and I ended up walking away from the event with a bag filled with cute pieces for my wardrobe as well as a new idea of what it takes to be a good shopping partner. In contrast to the friends I usually shop with, this woman was very energetic, upbeat, and at times even a little bit pushy and aggressive, but she brought an indescribable energy to the experience that made it great. So while looking through my bag of new clothes, I also looked back at my day and was able to pinpoint a few key things that I think made her such a great shopping partner. Here are my tips on how to be a good shopping partner, inspired by her, and elaborated on by me: 

Just put it on. 

I’ve always been the kind of shopper whose motto is “you never know until you try”, which causes me to be that girl who goes into the dressing room with somewhere between 20 and 40 pieces to try on at any given time. However, maybe my approach was a bit off. My “you never know until you try” policy only applied to things that I thought were cute on the hanger. But what I realized is that some clothes look terrible on a hanger. Plain and simple. My idea was right, but my approach was wrong. In taking a risk and trying a hideous-on-hanger item on, I ended up with some pieces that look great on me. Good on human, bad on hanger. Now, the only reason I tried on these pieces was because of the encouragement of the woman I was shopping with, so I feel it is very important as a shopping buddy to encourage your friends to try on everything that has even one tiny redeeming quality on the hanger, because on a body it could surprise you. Be the person who pushes them a little bit beyond their comfort zone, because with a little fashion risk there can be great fashion reward. 

Don’t put down, keep encouraging. 

Imagine this: you’re in a dressing room staring at the same shirt you’ve been staring at for the past few minutes and you just can’t decide if it looks good or not. So what do you do? You decide to ask your shopping partner, and as soon as you walk out of the dressing room they look you up and down, shake their head, and say one word, “no.” No? Just no? You slump back inside your room but now you’ve been filled with confusion and doubt. Did I really look that terrible? What else have I been wearing that I look this bad in? Because of your friend’s measly, one-worded dismissal you lose the trust you had in your decision-making abilities and have an unsuccessful shopping day as a result. So listen up shopping buddies! I want you to erase the word no from your shopping-day vocabulary. When your friend asks you how she looks, you should definitely be honest, but don’t be mean or dismissive. Here’s how it goes: If you like it, tell them that you like it, throw out a compliment and give them a good reason why you think they should get it. If you don’t like it, tell them one positive thing (ie. the color looks great on you, the fabric is nice, the neckline suits you well etc.) but conclude it by saying that although it has some okay qualities, they could do so much better and they look better in other things that they own or have tried on. When my shopping buddy said that to me I felt great. Sure that one thing didn’t look good, but I knew that there were better things out there for me, which made it easy for me to go back to the dressing room and be done with that piece instead of going back to the dressing room and still being unsure. 

Keep the energy up. 

Though shopping is fun, it can definitely be an exhausting experience. Get undressed, get dressed, look in the mirror, get undressed, get dressed, show a friend, get undressed, get distracted by a text message, get dressed, show a friend, get undressed, get dressed, put your shoes on, shoes off, shoes on. It’s a lot of work, which can make you get easily frustrated if you don’t have someone there to keep you energetic. As a good shopping partner, make sure you’re helping to keep spirits high and moods lively. Tell a joke or a story, compliment your friend, bring snacks, and make sure to keep them smiling because it’s gonna be those smiles that get you through your intense shopping extravaganza. 

I really did learn a lot from that day of shopping, and I hope that my luck finding a good shopping partner will in turn make me into a good shopping partner. Hopefully I’ve been able to pass on some useful words to shopping buddies everywhere. Happy shopping everyone!