ShopStyle: Diary of an online shopping addiction

This is the true story of a woman and a website: ShopStyle. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t click that link. But if you are one of the people who have asked me about the super-ultra-amazing shopping search engine I can’t stop using, here is our tale.

: Recently, a colleague complimented me on my interesting legwear. Here’s what I had on the other day: ivory herringbone tights layered on top of hot pink tights.

: My hosiery obsession is a product of ShopStyle. At first glance, it looks like any shopping site.

: Naturally, I used it to shop for red boots. And found more than 2,000 pairs.

: This is where it pays to be a size 11 — simply because it takes so many options off the table, and makes the selection manageable. Even more so if I eliminate anything with a serious heel.

: I can narrow by price, so that I’m not tempted by stratospherically expensive options.

: I can just look at the latest additions, in case — hypothetically speaking — I did the same search last week.

: By now, I know I’m going to do this search yet again next week, so I’ll save all these search parameters to my permanent collection of search filters. Now I have nothing to do but wait for a new batch of red boots to arrive.

: ShopStyle has that scenario covered in a bunch of ways. One of my favorites is to look at “my brands”, which shows me the latest items from stores and designers I’ve favorited.

: Browsing through the latest finds can be a good way to while away the time it takes a kid to fall asleep beside me.

: Where things really get fun is when I start to look at stuff that has been wickedly marked down. If I’m going to look at stuff that’s 70% off, why limit myself to my usual brands? Let’s look at all dresses that are on sale. All red dresses, anyhow.

: Why torture myself by looking at dresses that will never fit? I narrow my search down to two sizes, in case there’s a gorgeous dress that runs small.

: Then I sort by price, so that I see the least expensive options first.

: It’s hard to argue with a $17 dress. Worst case scenario is that I’m out $17. And the $17 jeans I ordered on a ShopStyle-inspired whim have turned out to be my favorite jeans of all time.

: But hey! I could have a Valentino dress. It’s only a bit over $200. I’ve paid that much for the occasional special dress — and not nearly this special!

: For just a little more, though, I could buy a thousand-dollar Calvin Klein dress in a classic style that I could wear forever….if I were the kind of person who liked classic.

: Holy! It’s an actual Halston. That doesn’t mean a whole lot to me, except that I was just looking at an old Sex and the City picture, and SJP was wearing a Halston dress.

: Or I could have an actual Alexander McQueen! OK, it wouldn’t actually look good on me, and it is a crazy amount of money — but imagine what it would feel like to wear a $4,000 dress!

: But if I’m going to make a major investment, maybe it should be in something I’ll get more use out of — like a perfectly cut, perfectly made Armani suit.

: But a black pantsuit is just a black pantsuit. If I’m going to splurge, shouldn’t it be on something unusual?

: It’s not as flashy, but this Donna Karan beauty caught my eye. Then I realized it’s just the more expensive version of a jacket I bought this fall at Talbot’s. I wonder if the button on the more expensive version would have survived the first wearing.

: But I don’t have a blue jacket. And since its pointy collar could double as a weapon, it’s a steal at $553.

: Speaking of weapons….how about a military jacket? I had the army surplus version of this in high school, and I loved it. Of course, I didn’t have boobs yet. OK, so maybe it’s not a wise impulse buy.