Why We Can’t Browse Happily Ever After
BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE FOOD COURT PIT STOPS?: Never before have male/female shopping dynamics been so brilliantly and savagely revealed as in “The World According to He & She,” a cartoon book by Julie Logan and Arthur Howard.
As they see it, guys routinely shop in two basic steps: “finding it fast and getting the hell out of the store.”
Women, however, require nine procedures: “finding it; fantasizing (how they will look in it); finding it cheaper in another store; trying it on; more fantasizing; spreading the word; working it into the wardrobe; showing and telling (pretesting the item’s appeal with close friends); wearing.”
Of course, die-hard shoppers know that this break down includes only the most basic steps for women.
Among other things, the female list neglected to mention taking a movie break to rest up for more shopping, trying on different sets of accessories for each new outfit (each variation accompanied by yet another fantasy) and getting distracted by at least 93 things you have no intention of buying.
Asked if there is one basic shopping tip she can recommend to avoid a war of the sexes breaking out in the scented halls of Victoria’s Secret, Logan advises that men and women should almost always avoid shopping together.
“Men are very goal-oriented and women are very process-oriented,” says Logan, who is West Coast editor of Glamour, “unless it’s shopping for electronic equipment. Then men are process-oriented and women are goal-oriented.”
DEAR HOT: Do you know where to get diaper bags that don’t make hip, young moms like me look as if were still in nursery school?
DEAR HOT SHOPPER: When they were new mothers a few years ago, periodontist Caren Rouri and artist Meshell Jesse couldn’t stand the standard diaper bags with lollipops and bows.
“I remember getting ready to go out with my husband and saying, ‘There’s no way I can carry that diaper bag with the bears’,” says Rouri. “I said to him, ‘I need a black alligator diaper bag.’ ”
Rouri and Jesse couldn’t find any sophisticated diaper bags on the market, so they began making their own. They formed Tickety Boo, which offers bags of pony fur, zebra-printed vinyl, faux black alligator and more.
The bags, which have built-in changing pads, are priced from $70 to $120. To order or request a free flyer, call (818) 845-1007. Or write to Tickety Boo, 10120 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, Calif. 91602.
