Of online shopping, unrealistic expectations and aerial views..

Last week, I had ordered a dress online as a new year present for myself. It got delivered today. Now, the dress looked very nice in the pictures posted on the website. But then, the pictures featured a tall, leggy model with porcelain skin inside the dress, apparently 10 years younger to me if not more. People often blame designers for not using real people to display and promote their clothes. I can't even do that as I have observed myself subconsciously scrolling over clothes that feature plain Jane models. Truth be said - modelling is a profession, which like any other, requires certain qualifications. Models do make the clothes look desirable and designers need to sell. And I am no activist really, just a regular person who browses fashion websites and buys pretty-looking stuff online to feel good. I am not here to make a statement or take a stand with my purchase. 

We digress but to be fair, even the dress didn't look like its picture. The actual dress looked like a poorer cousin of the dress in the picture, similar to how I looked when compared to the model in the picture.  Now, I am a very reluctant person when it comes to returning clothes or other things once purchased - online or offline. I feel that my time invested in the selection and purchase would go waste if I were to return the item. Therefore,  I continue to seek validation of the item to avoid a return. My darling mother is my go to person for self-affirmation. It is not that she actually likes all of my shopping, rather she instinctively  knows it when I come to her for an approval that wasn't found anywhere or with anyone. And she loves me way too much to turn me down. I asked the husband to take a couple of pictures of me in the said dress to share with my mother. He took the pictures from his eye level which is about 6 inches over my head and I ended up looking like a dwarf, with stunted growth. I insisted that he bends down to my level and take another picture. This time the picture came out well with my body appearing proportionate. While comparing the pictures, I had an strange thought - most people are significantly taller to me, is this is how I appear to them? Funny that I never thought of this before! In any case, I have sent the good picture to my mother and am now waiting upon her approval of my dress.. fingers crossed!