From Introduction

Despite the repetitive degrading self description by Mabel, she describes the moment she sees Bob Brinsley as follows:
"What had she to oppose to this massive masculine achievement? An essay on the character of Dean Swift! And as she came up to the group, which Bob Brinsley dominated, (with his heel on the fender, and his head back), with his great honest forehead, and his self-assurance, and his delicacy, and honour and robust physical well being, and sunburn, and airiness and direct descent from Shakespeare, what could she do but lay her essay, oh and the whole of her being, on the fllor as a cloak for him to trample on, as a rose for him to rifle, Which she did, emphatically,...."
Why underestimate self so much and not for others, especially this man?
She's being introduced to him and his group by Mrs. Dalloway, so I know that Mabel does not know this man very well, and yet, her words on him are overly generous. There she stands before the group of men and one dominating man, in one hand holdeing her essay on the character of Dean Swift, a great achievment, a joy that she shared with others at her house. And she feels endlessly so small. Also, she was so being self-conscious about her hair and dress that I thought she was having a panic attack of some sort. I don't think her dress is necessarily misfitting, neither her hair. I think she could wear the most beautiful dress in the world and unsatisfied. Not if she's dressing up for men to see.