BS: Mirrors in clothes shops

Subject: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: april showers
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:11 PM

Hey girs (and chaps maybe) is it my rotten eyesight or is it true? When I stand in front of the mirror at home I don't look that bad, body wise, but when I go into a changing room in a dress shop I look dreadful!

Am I the only one to have noticed this?

AS

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: april showers
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:14 PM

Hey 'girs'??? I mean 'girls'! Sorry slippped up a bit there.

AS

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: jimmyt
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:22 PM

April, the reason you look different to you in Shop dressing rooms is that those two way mirors reflect differently than your mirrors at home. (By the way I think you look pretty good.)   grin                  Signed, Shopkeeper

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Amos
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:24 PM

April,

It's a psychosomatic distortion, perhaps -- you're on your public mettle in a shop, and presumably you feel safe to relax at home.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:33 PM

Maybe it has something to do with the lighting in shops being usually fluorescent lighting which is pretty harsh and unflattering?

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: *daylia*
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 12:36 PM

I think that's it, JennyO. I find I like what I see in the mirror(s) better at home too - I don't use flourescent lights.

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: PageOfCups
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 01:39 PM

Maybe it is the lighting, but why would a shop use lighting that makes not only its customers but also their wares look bad? Seem counterintuitive to me.

Speaking of two-way mirrors: I've heard that the way to tell if a mirror is two-way is to point your index finger at it, and touch the glass with your fingernail. If your nail and its reflection touch, it's a regular mirror, but if they don't touch, it's a two-way. True or false?

PoC

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 02:13 PM

Ah,...

But if your finger goes through, and some rabbit runs past ya
And the mad hatter queen's you, on a chessboard of laughtah...
Insist on new management, fresh days gaze on new cards
With colors intelligent, and the singing of Bards
ttr

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:08 PM

They use flourescent because they are so much cheaper to run and need changing much less often, however, imo they are really losing business because people just plain don't like the way they look under that kind of lighting!

Oh, and the mirrors are surplus fun-house so everything gets distorted and none of them are the ones which stretch you up and make you llok tall and thin; no, they are all the ones which may you look like a tugboat!

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Kim C
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:02 PM

It's the lights. My legs look great at home but not so great in the department store...

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Alba
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 05:10 PM

It's a nightmare. I have bought things in the store without trying them on because of the "mirror Image".....and the lights...yuk!!!!!
Maybe I should install a strip light in my room and whenever I am going to buy something. look at myself under the light before I leave the house with the hope that it has prepared me for the oncoming blow to my already delicate ego.....
At least in changing rooms now they have re-installed cubicles.For a while there was the horror of communal changing rooms. Nothing worse than the lights. the mirrors, and a young firm size 6 next to me (a size 16) complaining about how the shorts she is trying on make her butt look big..........and finding myself saying to her, no no dear it's the mirrors that make you think that....if only that had been my problem!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 06:33 PM

in view of the advent of J-Lo and bum transplants can we hope for shop mirrors that make yer arse look smaller in order to sell more clothes?

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 06:46 PM

I meant weatherwise; the people are simply pleasantly weird on occasion

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Peter T.
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 08:42 PM

The reason why security guards in big department stores are paid so little is that they are allowed to watch people undressing on hidden video cameras. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Peg
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 12:57 PM

I think it is definitely more than the lights. Fluorescents do affect the way colors look next to the skin (as it also wrongly displays skin color) so it's best to know how a color already looks on you if you're stuck withcrap lighting in a shop (or bring the item into natural light outside the dressing room and hold it up next to yoru face in front of another mirro if there is one).

But I have noticed that the mirrors themselves distort at times; making one look taller and thinner or shorter and fatter. They may just be substandard mirros, or hung this way intentionally. The fancier the shop, the more I tend to notice the mirrors are quite flattering; which of course leads me to hope these are "good" mirrors and this is the way I really look! :) Of course, most of the time I tend to buy my clothes at thrift shops which usually don't even have dressing rooms...

I like dressing rooms which show a rear view as well as a front one; it's weird to get this view as one does not usually have the ability to see in this way. Sobering at times, but nice to break down one's illusions, too!

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 12:36 AM

The bit about two-way mirrors reflecting off the front side instead of the back is an "urban myth." They're made just like a regular mirror, but with a thinner layer of the reflecting (once silver, but now often aluminum) layer.

The way to tell if they are two-way is to turn off all the light on your side, and then (only) if there's any light on the other side it will show through. They work both ways, but the "through" image is hidden by what's reflected if you're on the side that's more brightly lit. (And if you're on the other side, be careful not to turn on the lights.)

And probably the reason you feel that you look "different" is that most "fitting rooms" have at least two mirrors, at an angle to each other so that you can see your backside (if you want). You tend to see yourself from several sides at once, and from different directions than your used to. (Is it cruel to say that's the way you always look to other folk?)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Blackcatter
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 02:03 AM

if the suspected two-way mirror is fairly large, try to gently push in the center of the mirror - if it is a 2-way, it should be thin and may flex inward. If it's a regular mirror, it's probably hanging on a solid wall.

This subject is another reason why internet shopping is growing by leaps and bounds.

pax yall

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: Alba
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 03:08 PM

All this talk of two way mirrors aghhhhhhhhh11. Makes me think of Rabbie Burns.....to see ourselves as others see us!!.......The nightmare of the changing rooms (at times) that used to be me and the lights and the mirror has now been expanded to the lights, the mirror and whoever else might be watching......Great!!!!!:>)

Subject: RE: BS: Mirrors in clothes shops
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 06:35 PM

The two-way mirror is probably not something one should worry a lot about, since a quality two-way is rather expensive. One can get "novelty" mirrors that exhibit "usable" two-way effect under "magic show" conditions fairly cheaply, but even a casual look in any ordinary environment usually reveals their presence quite readily. Anyone using one of the "cheap-o" mirrors for voyeurist purposes would run a very high risk of being detected, which tends to take the "fun" out of it, especially for the voyeur.

With the incidence of "shoplifting" so high, there are a few reputable places that purport to have "surveillance cameras" in place, including in fitting rooms. If the real purpose is to be able to observe the occasional "suspect" customers, such "cameras" are generally placed very conspicuously and will not be undetected by even the most casual patron. (About 99% of the time, the "surveillance camera" is nothing but an empty cardboard box painted/printed to look like a camera - for "deterrent effect.")

Judging by a few spam ads, and without additional research, the "method of choice" for the modern voyeur would be one of the many "spy-cams" that are advertised as "tiny and undetectable." Anyone with any experience of video photography will be aware of the critical need for very bright lighting to get useful pictures, especially with small (inconspicuous?) apertures, so one must doubt that these work very well. But - if you're skin peels before you can change the outfit - someone may be attempting to light things brightly enough to use one.

In the meantime - smile into the mirror (and listen for the "click").

John