Mumsnet Talk

My ds starts school next wk and it seems to be that all the parents I have seen in the last few years look immaculate, fashionable and trendy, almost like they have stepped from the boden catalouge. Will my jeans and jumper surfice?

If you're happy with what you're wearing then that's all that matters. Why would you dread the fact that others have chosen to dress differently?

Nope. I go in my scruffy hippy atire amongst the boden wearing yummies. Who cares.

But they all look so composed and confident.

cos they've been up since 4am putting on makeup. Not worth it

Well maybe they are composed and confident! That's not a bad thing surely?

I am a "Boden Mummy"......I guess.......takes me 5 minutes to do my make up as I am sooo not a morning person (no danger of me seeing 6.45am let alone 4am!)

We do not all feel confident.....some of us are hiding behind our clothes .

I make sure that even my "can't be bothered days" clothes are nice and good quality. That way even tho I may not look supremely stylish and put together, at least I look clean and tidy

Have also made pact with self to lay out clothes night before to avoid the standing in front of the open wardrobe for 20 mins and waiting for something to leap out at me experience which I usually have.

Anyone who turns up at the school gate looking "composed and confident" has too much bloody time on their hands.

What SpawnChorus said too

No composed and confident is a good thing, perhaps I feel that my clothes may be saying, untidy, boring and uninteresting. Never before felt my clothes may be a reflection on my personality when really am sure will be lack of organisation. Am I really the only one who is a little worried about this?

tulip27: A warm friendly smile on your face will be more important than the clothes you are wearing. And frankly, if the other "composed and confident" mums don't recognise that then you don't want to be friends with them anyway.

I think if someone turned up wearing this I'd have a quiet chuckle

missmelly

Ditto this offering

UnquietDad - what bollocks.

we have all sorts at our school gates
horsey mums in wellies and jodphurs
sexy mums in minis and knee high boots
frumpy mummies in fleecies and jeans <me>
etc etc

My favourite school gate attire are the local famers who take their boots off and walk around the school in their socks, normally next to the suited, dressed to the nines high powered mummies.

I think SpawnChorus is a too-much-timer.

I don't care and take absolutely no notice.....

Its not anything I have ever noticed or even cared about.Surely people don't have time to think about it? I assumed that if they came from work they looked fairly smart (depending on their job)or they just happened to be wearing what they were had on to walk the dog, do the gardening, go to the gym etc. If anyone has time to think about it, they have too much time on their hands!

Ha! IME it's the uber-busy WOHMums that look most composed and confident. I'm not a WOHM. Make of that what you will

ok so top ten of what NOT to wear at the school gates ......

dd starts school this time and tbh im not stressing about what other mums will be wearing...

Madness imo. As long as they wear clothes who cares what they are like

tulip

so long as it is not pyjamas you are doing ok

I like clothes but am generally a scruffbag, especially now as I'm pg, feel like shit and only a few things fit. DS still at nursery rather than school so maybe it gets worse, but quite honestly I can't imagine ever caring. I would make an effort to dress nicely for a night out or a day going shopping - the school run is way down the list. I like it when I see other scruffbags at pick-up too - no one should have to feel they have to dress a certain way or get frowned upon, so anyone who is prepared to burst that bubble is fine by me.

As for Boden - I actually like some Boden but never in a million years would I call a Bodeny look "fashionable and trendy". Unless you choose carefully it's a more slightly weird 30-something-mum-with-mental-age-of-6 vibe.

I think I've arrived in all sorts of outfits except composed and confident
combat trousers and shaved head, long hippy skirts, pink hair and gothic.
Don't recall anyone saying anything.
Now its jeans and a tee and <shock horror> crocs.
dd goes to school in a very Boden area with big houses. But they are all too busy staring at her as the only quadriplegic to notice what I'm wearing.