Beware the skinny mirror
September 12th, 2008My late Mother used to say “mirrors never lie”. But they do. Items that look fab in the changing room might look disappointing in your mirror at home. I used to think I was imagining the existence of “skinny mirrors”, but sadly, I wasn’t. Some stores have mirrors that give a distorted impression to make you think that their garments are magically removing ten pounds.
I’m sure that the skinny mirror phenomenon is fueling the return rut. No doubt retailers that employ this tactic have done a calculation showing that the additional sales generated by the skinny mirror compensate for the extra costs associated with the returns. This means that some of us are not returning the items we purchased under “false reflection”. Instead, they are probably becoming wardrobe orphans because we’re never quite satisfied with them when we put them on.
I would like to magically fold up our full length mirror and pull it out when I need it in stores. That’s not going to happen, but the next best thing is to try on your purchases when you get home. Look at them with a critical eye in the mirror you use every day. If you’re in doubt, return the item immediately.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I’ve been trying to tell people that some stores implement this trick, but no one believes me. I’m glad that the “skinny mirror trick” is not something I’ve imagined. I’ve returned many an item due to a changing room mirror lying to me.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:57 am
who knew??!!! I thought I was just crazy….Guess I can save that for another day now
September 12th, 2008 at 7:59 am
THANK goodness…I thought I was just a poor/impulsive buyer. Guilt-free returns! What a concept.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Incredible! Sometimes I actually thought that might be the case, but thought how low–no store would do that. If I knew who did this, I would not patronize that store!
September 12th, 2008 at 8:06 am
I’ve also heard of tinted mirrors that make colors more flattering than they really are. Just so long as retailers are prepared for massive returns!
I never make my mind up in a store - I will always purchase things, take them home, wear them around the house and with things I already own before I make up my mind.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:17 am
WOW! I never knew they did that. That is just low. I need to learn to really scrutinize items that are purchased in store before removing the tags!
Thank goodness I mostly shop online! Thanks for the heads up, Angie.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I totally agree (although, sadly in my case the extra 10 pounds are real!). I also noticed the lighting can make a huge difference. Many dressing rooms seem quite dark or have other lighting effects that make it hard to really assess how something looks. Very annoying!
September 12th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Care to point a finger, Angie? Any retailers consistently guilty of this?
September 12th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Thanks for this post, Angie. I have seen this before as well. Also, mirrors that are tilted at a slight angle away from you can have the same effect. I was in a store once where the mirror actually made you look shorter and heavier than you really are! I figured they must have had a warped mirror though.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I wanted to add that this is why posting outfits on the forum has been so helpful. Thank you!
September 12th, 2008 at 9:06 am
i have to say that my very favorite mirrors aka the “skinny mirror” are at Anthropolgie. When i feel fat, jiggly and really just not great, those mirrors boost me up and make me feel better about this bod of mine - whether or not the items look the best i guess is secondary in that dressing room. my naked self is happy and, i guess, that makes a big difference.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I have definitely noticed this effect when shopping, but I have the opposite problem even more often! The terrible overhead lighting in most dressing rooms creates shadows and definition where there normally aren’t any, emphasizing otherwise invisible bumps and textures. It destroys my self-image and drives me batty!
September 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I have noticed that Ann Taylor loft and Old Navy both have skinny mirrors. If I buy something from either of those stores, I always “re-try” at home and then return as needed. It’s VERY annoying…
September 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
If you want a little boost and you live in Seattle, go see a movie at the Cinerama. The full-length mirror in the bathroom is a skinny mirror. I was always surprised at how awesome my bum looked at the Cinerama and finally figured it out. Plus, they pipe in the movie dialogue so you can still hear what’s going on.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Sounds like you should pay attention to how you look wearing the clothes you arrived in. If you look better than usual, that’s a clue to take what you see in a skinny mirror with a grain of salt. Still, they help you see if the fit is good.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I feel similar to Kristin, I feel like I look so terrible in most store mirrors because of the lighting, and, I always look much fatter than at home! And, by ‘home’, I mean any of the mirrors at the house, at a hotel, anywhere where I can stand back from the mirror in natural lighting. I just know that if I can get through the demoralizing changing room to get an approximate fitting, I can get home and do a real check on what I have.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:25 am
My MIL has a very old cheaper full length mirror on the back of her bathroom door. It actually removes cellulite and lengthens out the legs! I love it.
A couple of times I’ve thought of mentioning to her how flattering her mirror is but then I didn’t want to burst her bubble, especially since she is 88.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Interesting. I’ve never heard of this before. I do hate the light (or rather lack of light) in dressing rooms though.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I agree with Kristin and Christine (maybe b/c we all share similar names). Even the mirrors in my own house are all different from one another. I tend to go to the mirror that makes me feel the best about myself!
Christina
September 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I like skinny mirrors myself. Any Ann Taylor dressing room I go to always have subtly skinny mirrors and subdued lighting and I look great.
A trick I developed to check for skinny mirrors: I turn my head sideways and check if my face suddenly becomes flatter in the mirror. Or I hold up my hand and check its reflection with the fingers first pointing up, then pointing sideways. If the mirror is “skinny” you’ll find that when the fingers point up your hand is long and lean, but when your fingers point sideways your fingers are short and stumpy!
September 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
So, is there any way to check for this? Maybe taking a paper with grid-lines or wording on it, and check in the mirror if the spacing’s distorted?
I have never heard of this, and I wonder whether it has crossed the pond to the Netherlands. What I do know is that I look good in the Mango-dressing room, but never, ever at H&M’s. But I thought that was just the clothes.
Would be nice to create some kind of sticker to mark these deceitful mirrors: warning, these images do not reflect reality.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Those CHEATERS! Good thing there is always a post-shopping fashion show in our house. Thanks for alerting us to this, Angie. I had inklings, but was never sure.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I have a skinny mirror in the basement where I out. I love it. It keeps me motivated. Unfortunately, I have a fat mirror in the bathroom and THAT is horrible!
Lulu, thanks for the tip. I will try it.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Heh…
My mirror at home is deliberately tilted so it makes me look skinny. I learned that trick ages and ages ago.
I went through a long period of time with body dysmorphic issues. I was not anorexic or anything that extreme; but I realized that there’s no way I could be fat when I had very low body fat percentage… it was all in my brain.
Anyway, I then threw out all my full length mirrors AND my subscriptions to fashion mags AND stopped watching t.v. Stopped flooding my head with images of stick-skinny women. For many many years. Did wonders for my self-esteem - and I highly recommend!
I only re-installed a full length mirror about 3 years ago… and deliberately tilted it. I don’t need to feel bad about myself. Life’s too short for that nonsense!
September 12th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I just want to add: photos lie too.
I am horribly unphotogenic. I am not exaggerating this; I have talked to professional photographers who’ve given me detailed explanations about exactly why this is so. I am constantly told by people who see me first in a photo, then meet me in real life - “wow, you look so much better and skinnier in real life than you do in your photo.”
So don’t put too much stock in your photos either. If you feel great, that’s usually the best guide. If people compliment you when you’re out and about in real life - or ask if you’ve lost weight -that’s even better.
As for photos and mirrors… Just strike a pose…
September 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Love you Shiny. Your amazing!
September 12th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I agree with Shiny! Depending on the angle, I think I look much bigger in photos than in real life. I noticed once I started taking pictures from other angles, I looked and felt a lot more “me.”
Angie, how are the mirrors placed or distorted to cause this effect? I think H&M definitely had skinny mirrors when I bought that colorblock dress.
This is the picture in the fitting room:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....8_1311.jpg
and this is the picture at home:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.....1006-1.jpg
Luckily I was able to make it work, but I don’t think I would have kept it if it wasn’t so cheap.
One of the mirrors I have at home is tilted slightly forward at the bottom. It took me ages to realize that it was making me look bigger. Maybe that’s why I thought I was a pear for so long?
September 12th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Maya - I think I would agree - you look unhealthily gaunt to me in the first picture!
I tried on some things in a op shop (thrift shop?) recently that looked so hideous I suspected a warped mirror. But as I didn’t buy anything I can’t really test that theory. I am sure I have had more experiences with bad fitting room mirrors than flattering ones.
Nice to read a methoed for testing mirrors Lulu.
Shiny - I am also unphotogenic. My late father said he was too (although quite a handsome man) and attributed it, correctly I think, to not having much contrast in the face. I have blond hair, olive skin, pale lips and blue eyes. People with pale skin and dark features often look better in photos, I think. Shiny, we have never seen your face, so I can’t tell, but would this theory apply to you?
September 12th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I have long suspected that some stores have skinny mirrors, but since I always try clothes on again at home, and return items that don’t suit, I am not fooled by this trick, although it is a hassle to have to go back to return. Fitting room lighting is a big issue for me as well–either they are too dark, or the light is greenish and makes one look sick. I have probably rejected lots of items that might have looked flattering in natural light but looked bad in fitting room light.
September 13th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Just want to chime in with Shiny, Maya and Anne on the unphotogenic issue. It is true that some people are simply not photogenic. One of my girlfriends is absolutely gorgeous and turns heads walking down the street, but in all her pictures she looks plain. She loses her confidence whenever she looks at her pictures, although she looks 1000% better in real life! I don’t understand this as her proportions are good, she has dark hair and perfect pale skin so contrast is not the issue either
September 13th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Really interesting. Dressing room urban legends. This one, about the mirrors, I never suspected. I’ll be on the lookout next time I’m in a dressing room and I’ll use the “Lulu test”. Angie thanks for letting us know. Lighting as many of you have mentioned is big. There has to be a marketing agenda behind the horrible lighting that makes us look sick and shadowy and green. Some of these stores are beautiful elsewhere but the dressing room is hobbit land.
You come out into a bright beautiful store. Another legend-2 way mirrors and hidden cameras. What’s up?
On the photo thing. I think the person being photographed has to ” love the camera” to reverse the saying ” the camera loves her”. Seems like any insecuity, stress comes through and no amount of posing, promting can make
you naturally photogenic. I think it begins within.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Nice tip Lulu.
Well Jane, BCBG and Gap’s mirrors down in Seattle are definitely skinny. So are the mirrors in the TBD denim area in Nordstrom. There was a mirror down at J Crew that was so skinny it had me in hysterics. I actually complained to the manager about it. They remodeled their store recently and that particular mirror has gone. I can pick up on a skinny mirror immediately and warn my clients. I had to let one of my clients know that the mirror she was using daily at home was a skinny mirror.
Note that not all skinny mirrors are intentional. They are just imperfect mirrors. But there are some retailers that do this consistently enough that it is almost certainly by design.
You’re right that tilting mirrors have the same “skinny effect”, Ana. I think that’s what happened to Maya at H&M. It’s so blatantly distorted, it’s laughable. It also happens from time to time in mirrors when people post pictures of their outfits on the forum. Mirrors can be our friends and foes.
And you are the poser of all posers Shiny! Actually I’m sort of surprised you had your mirrors at home deliberately tilted.
Photos are tricky. I’m on the fence as to whether they lie, or tell the truth (without digital enhancement). Jenniferblue makes an interesting point that looking good on photos comes from within.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hear, hear! I hate having my pictures taken, and I really have just a few of them - I’m totally unphotogenic. The only way you can hope to take a more or less decent picture of me is to use some unusual angle - straignt on any camera makes me look totally different from how I look in real life, and ten times less attractive.
Even the professional photographers notice it (a friend of mine is into that, so I’ve met quite a few).
It’s like — you know how there are lots of unflattering things a camera can do to you? I get them all. I look ten years older, fifteen pounds heavier, and even my facial features seem different, and not in a good way. Every time I travel, I get the Stare from the airport security because my picture doesn’t look like me.
The funny thing is that the same thing appears to be true about some mirrors. Not all of them, just some - I look different in them.
Yet Dad, who’s extremely photogenic, always looks the same (and true to life) in every mirror.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I am a reporter at KING 5 news. We’re interested in doing a story about “skinny mirrors.” I’m very interested in talking to anyone would would be willing to help us expose the issue. I’m open to all suggestions. Since stores are not real keen on having news cameras in their dressing rooms, I’m thinking some one could bring a small personal video camera and perform a few of the tests mentioned in the previous postings. I know this must sound pretty weird, but I assure you this is legit. Please e-mail me at ewilkinson@king5.com . FYI — we would need to do this some time this week, as we want to run the story next week. Thanks.
September 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I’ve been saying this about mirrors since i was a kid. My Marshalls definitely uses skinny mirrors. I’m glad to read the tip about checking for a skinny mirror. I do think photos work for me, because it forces me to look at myself as a whole, instead of zooming in on a body part I’m trying to conceal or alter the appearance of.