By: Lorena Sidoti lorena.sidoti@elsol.com.ar @loresidoti
People who are blind or have low vision connect with the world of fashion through the sensation produced by the texture of fabrics, their colors - yes, their colors - and how they feel on their skin. The pleasure of dressing with what is worn comes from friends or relatives who take on the role of image and wardrobe consultants, and give tips to achieve fashionable outfits.
The experience was reported to El Sol by blind Mendocinos who pointed out the difficulties they encounter in stores when shopping and agree that it would be more bearable if the sellers "were trustworthy" in returning how a garment fits them , and in the good predisposition to serve them and talk to them about the qualities of the fabrics and the clothing.
“I prefer to be accompanied because I don't trust the vendors, for them everything looks great. I would like the sellers to help me touch the clothes, describe the quality of the fabrics and the tailoring, but I have not found anyone who has that predisposition. They serve you in a hurry as if you were taking up their time,” said Micaela, a twenty-year-old from Maipucina.
“People are more interested in selling than describing clothes to you. They just offer it and that's it. Rarely have I had the experience of being told about a garment or allowed to touch each of the fabrics," lamented the young woman.
Those who go shopping without seeing find it more difficult in malls and fairs, "because it is more complicated to identify the stores and the racks that are everywhere," explained the young woman.
Large stores, in which there are disorderly racks in the center of the room, "are complicated because you have to search among the hangers here and there and there is not always an employee to attend to you," said Federico Accardi, a blind soccer player from Mendoza. .
The role of friends as Personal Shoppers
"I usually go shopping with references from my friends, my cousins, and what they wear. Nowadays clothes don't differ too much by age, because basically a person from 20 to 50 years old can wear more or less the same thing" , said Jorgelina, a 34-year-old young woman from Mendoza, who lost her vision at 18 months due to congenital childhood cancer of the retinas.
It is easy to fall into the assumption that those who do not see are always accompanied when buying. But it's not like that. The lack of time and arranging an outing with someone else means that the role of Personal Shopper of friends or family begins long before the time of purchase.
"I rarely go shopping with a friend or with someone I see, for a matter of time. I usually go alone," confirms Jorgelina, who emphasizes that she asks for advice from those around her before going shopping because "for vendors, everything It looks good on you, everything looks great on you, that's why I prefer not to appeal to that advice".
The young women go out on the adventure of buying something new with certain armed concepts of what is being used and what they are looking for. Both them and the majority of their blind friends, it helps a lot to go shopping for clothes knowing well in advance what they are looking for.
"In order not to go through that stress, the one who buys me clothes is my wife. She chooses what looks good or bad on me," confessed Accardi.
"I am not guided by the opinion of the sellers; what they want is to sell and I do not know the tastes of that person. I always go shopping with my friends and they advise me. I trust that they are geniuses when it comes to look", Michelle pointed out.
"I never ask a vendor if it looks good on me or not," said Jorgelina, who agreed that she perceives that the interest in selling is greater than in serving her: "I ask them 'what do you think about combining this with that' or 'with this fits, what will fit me better, what is used with this other, what can I wear with this other', but nothing more, "he added.
color combination
When combining one thing with another, the key is to seek advice beforehand. Consulting people who are in stores about colors is the guide, since the applications that "would help" to reveal the nuances of things for those who do not see, paradoxically, "are so precise that they do not help at all", the girls told
"For wanting to give too many details, they don't work. Instead of saying that something is blue, white or black, it tells you that it is dark indigo or dull indigo," explained Jorgelina.
And she added: "I go with certain concepts because I take into account the combination of colors. I know that a strong color must be extinguished with a calmer color. Like a hot pink with a gray or with a black."
"I would prefer that the applications give light and dark specifications but with simpler words, otherwise you have to look for it to know what color it is. In the end, I do not use any," said Micaela.
"I have a certain notion of what color combinations are, but I always ask. In any case, I buy few clothes, I don't care about that anymore," Federico Accardi said.
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Blind Mendocinos buy clothes
