Chapter 11 (post 4)

Pre-note: This section is long! Let me know what you think I'm trying to get through in this section :)

Chapter eleven, section four:

Amy owned a gray convertible, complete with leather interior.

“Seventeenth birthday present,” she’d explained when my jaw almost hit the pavement.

We drove through the suburbs to downtown. We headed to the shopping district, although the only way you could tell it was the shopping district was the name on the GPS or the display of clothes and items in the shop windows, since the buildings all looked the same.

Amy parked along the road, in front of a row of clothing stores.

As we got out, she said to me, “You haven’t been shopping here yet, have you?”

“No,” I replied, “Only at a big box store.”

“Oh good!” Chantel smiled as she linked arms with me and began to direct me down the street. “We’ll show you where to go.”

“There’s really only one place to go,” Cara added.

“Well, we’ll show you how we shop. First stop, Sunrise Drugs.”

Sunrise Drugs was a drugstore by that brand I had already started to recognize as better quality, Sunrise. It was located on a corner, between the shopping district and the cafes. As well as being a pharmacy, it carried some books, makeup, hair products and such.

“Oh,” I said as I was lead through the store. “Could I get hair mouse here? And shampoo? And makeup?”

“Yep,” Chantel replied, “But first we have to pick up the catalogue, as we always do.”

We ended up in the magazine section, although it was the smallest magazine section I’d ever seen. The rack must have been only four feet wide, and there was little to choose from. The fashion magazines were the only ones that stood out with colours, professional cover photos and logos. The others looked like small business magazines in comparison.

“This one,” Cara showed me, picking one up.

It was called “Sunshine Magazine.” The cover photo was a girl in a floral dress with thick necklaces, tag lines beside her shouted about latest fads and new arrivals. Compared to the other two fashion magazines, it looked to contain the most expensive clothing. Glancing over, I saw the other were “Sunrise” and “Basics.”

“Why this one?” I asked.

“Basics is cheap,” Amy said, “No one but the people who can’t afford better wear it.”

“Sunrise Magazine is ok,” explained Cara. “But Sunshine is Sunrise Cooperation’s upper-class brand. They have the most amazing clothes, and although they have the higher price tag as well, they are the most fashionable. Everyone wears what they make.”

“So these aren’t magazines, they’re catalogues for Sunshine or Basics or Sunrise?” I wondered aloud.

“Magazines are catalogues, they’re the same thing.” Cara said slowly, as though I was stupid and should’ve known this already.

“Right,” I said quickly, then watched Chantel flip through the book.

“This is the new one, it must have just come out yesterday,” Chantel said, pointing things out. There were some stories about inspiration and such, but the pages were devoted mostly to the “Top 10 Looks.” They would have a model posing in the same outfit for three shots, to show all sides, and then have a write-up about the outfit. After the top 10 were the “Outs,” a list of clothing that had previously been in style but now were not recommended to wear.

“Do you have the pens?” Chantel asked Cara, and then turned to me. “We mark what outfit we like best and which items we’re going to buy right in the magazine, so it saves time.”

We were each handed a different coloured pen by Cara, who told me their colours we pre-assigned, so I would have to pick mine. I chose green. Then, standing in the middle of the aisle in the drugstore, we each marked our favourite outfit. When I chose a skirt and top paired with high boots, Chantel, Amy and Cara were quick to point out it would work for the football game. We went through and picked out what we were going to buy when we got to the store, and I noticed they marked the clothes off with the same carefree manner I did with regards to money. The price of item was listed on the page, but never was it even mentioned by my friends.

After marking-up the magazine, they helped me pick out items I’d forgotten before. I felt much better after buying some makeup, applying lip-gloss as we walked out the door with our purchases. We headed down the street the way we came, dropping by the car to stick my drugstore bags in the trunk.

Sunshine turned out to be a four-level store, larger than Urban Outfitters or Gap back home. For a high-end store on a Wednesday afternoon, it was bustling with people. The first two levels were women’s clothes, and then the top floors were men’s and children’s. Chantel opened the magazine and we begun our search for the clothes we’d already picked out. I quickly noticed, though, that the magazine was hardly necessary. For two levels of clothes, there was a lot of repetition. I found my skirt, top and boots on the first level. Although I liked the colours they’d chosen in the magazine, and they only offered one other colour in each item, I chose to get a light blue shirt instead of the pink one.

“Skinny jeans are really in,” said Chantel, holding up a pair in a navy wash, “And dark washes are too, so these are super cute.”

Amy and Cara both agreed, each adding a pair to the pile of clothes they were holding.

“Yeah, those are cute,” I said, but I picked a pair of black ones to try one, not wanting to look like I was copying them.

Chantel looked at my choice as though she was a little shocked that I didn’t follow her lead, but she covered it up and said, “Those are nice too, New Wings.”

In the change room, I discovered that the size six in everything fit perfectly. I was happy, but I also noticed that they carried absolutely every size, instead of even or odd. It made sense in a way, though, as it was the only high-end clothing store in the city, so they had to make sure that everything fit everyone.

By the time everything was wrung in, I spent over $900 on clothes. I was surprised at how quickly it added up, but then again there was nothing in this store below $50. I ended up getting the outfit I wanted, as well as the skinny black jeans, a bra, knee-high socks and a pea-coat fall jacket. I noted that next time I’d have to pay more attention to the price tag or else I could easily go over my daily maximum.

With big bags swinging at our sides, we walked back down the street. We paused at the car again, stuck the purchases in, then headed towards the drugstore. Just past there was a row of coffee shops; they led me right to Sunrise Coffee, where they ordered “the usual, please,” and I got an iced chai latte. We settled into one of the rounded, cozy booths right by the front window.

“We got some awesome purchases today, ladies,” said Amy, “I think we did pretty well.”

“We’ll definitely have all the ‘in’ looks,” agreed Chantel.

“We typically critique around now,” Amy said to me, “We watch what people are wearing and see if they’re Sunshine and if they’re wearing out clothes.”

“Hence the window seat,” pointed out Cara.

“That’s cool.” I said.

“Look,” Amy said, her eyes darting out the window. “Sunshine.”

A lady walked by our window in a bubble skirt like the one I’d just bought, paired with high socks and a blazer.

“So cute, very in, a look right out of the magazine,” critiqued Chantel.

“Five out of ten?”

“Five,” we all said together.

“Oh, this one’s not so good,” said Amy slowly, careful not to look out the window obviously. We watched as another lady walked by, this one in boot cut jeans and a windbreaker.

“Basics,” said Chantel.

“Last years,” said Amy.

“No points,” said Cara.

By the time a few more people passed, I was able to distinguish the brands myself, probably because I’d been doing this back on earth for years. The Basics ones were obvious; cheap material, cheap colours often ripped or faded. The Sunrise was sometimes harder to distinguish, but by the time they walked by you could tell that the clothes they were not as high quality nor as fashionable as Sunshine, and the logo of a sun was printed on it obviously.  Sunshine’s clothes looked as expensive as they were and I was quickly taught their mountain and sun logo, as well as looped back pocket stitching on jeans.

I had never considered myself very fashionable back on earth, I followed trends for fun, but only after they’d become popular and I could get them for a good price. Here, though, I was caught up in it all. The industry was huge and booming, probably the most creative thing I’d seen here. It was not even limited to teen girls, as even small children and adults dressed in the same trends.

I won’t lie; I was on top of the world by the time we got back to the residence. I’d had a blast and was making friends in this place where I had felt out of place.