In the past few weeks, Princess and I have been looking to buy our outfits for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards in Singapore this Friday. I initially wanted to just go in my suit but Ming insisted I go in a tuxedo so I ended up having to go buy a tux and almost emptying my bank account.
Then I had to go through a process that most bfs find painful: Following the gf shopping for her dress. Over the years though I’ve learned ways to ease this pain. Here’s how you can make the whole process a lot simpler.
1) Don’t fight it
Fine we hate shopping and doing things we hate makes us grumpy. So when you walk around with your girlfriend, you give a bored looking face. When she asks you if a dress is nice you just say “It’s ok” and then go back to playing with your phone.
The truth is, shopping with your girlfriend is a bit like getting your tetanus jab. The more you struggle, the more painful it is. So what you gotta do is this.
Look like you FUCKING LOVE SHOPPING! That you’d rather follow her shopping than play beach volleyball with Jessica Alba and Kate Beckinsale.
Follow her around and when she tries on a dress and asks for your opinion give her one. And I don’t mean just “It’s nice..”.
I mean a real opinion like
“I think the cutting and all is nice but the colour isn’t really nice. I think the yellow is a bit too pale, makes the dress look a bit old.”
So she really takes it all in.
What’s the point of doing all this? It helps her decide quicker and when she does decide quicker, it cuts down your painful shopping time from 6 hours of walking around to maybe just 2.
Don’t lie for the sake of getting it over with quickly though. She’ll know you are and she’ll never ever listen to you again.
2) Be Patient! Wait for it…. wait for it….
Ok here’s how we guys shop. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I went to Pavilion to look for a tuxedo. Went to Zegna, asked for a tux.
They brought out two different types. One that cost RM12,000 and the other RM9,000. I kept my cool and pretended that it was a reasonable price eventhough inside my head I was going (HOLY SHIT!!!). Acted cool, ran out of the shop and never looked back.
Then went to Hugo Boss. Asked for a tux. Was quoted a much much cheaper price and said ok. Tried it on.
Like it. Buy.
End of discussion. It didn’t matter to me if there was another suit somewhere else in Pavilion that was potentially a bit nicer and a little bit cheaper. It didn’t matter. Just like all guys, here’s how we shop: We come, we see, we like, we buy.
Women though don’t usually shop like that and that’s something we will all gradually learn. She may find the best dress in the world in the shop but she won’t buy it. No not yet. She’ll want to go looking around some more. Don’t grumble.
In fact, since you know it’s going to happen already why not just suggest it.
If you find a dress that you like then say “I think it’s really nice darling but lets go see if we can find something better. If not then we’ll come back and buy it”.
Yes accept it…. with or without you, she is going to go look around and chances are come back and buy the same dress! You might as well accept it and be the one to suggest it. Besides it makes her decide quicker too. Otherwise you might end up spending another 20 minutes in the shop while she looks at herself in the mirror.
3) Smile
If you’re lucky and with your cooperation, sometimes this ends really quickly. Like within a couple of hours. So give yourself a smile then. Because your girlfriend will probably wanna give you a big kiss for being such a good patient shopping buddy.
But most importantly, she will have a nice dress that you liked and you suggested she buy.
Princess’ dress for the Nuffnang APAC Blog Awards is really cute. This picture doesn’t do justice but you’ll all see from the Nuffnang Blog Awards pictures.
The thing about buying dresses for formal events though is that it’s a bit of a marathon. Not a sprint. It doesn’t end at the dress. After the dress you’ll have to move on to finding the right shoe for the dress (unless you’re lucky enough that she bought a black dress, because chances are she has black shoes) and accessories.
Glad shopping is done. I even find it a bit of a pain for myself. Don’t like shopping… unless it’s buying gadgets or something. *sigh* I’m such a geek.
Can’t wait for Friday.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space