Have just dispensed with literally three-quarters of my clothes and need to start from scratch.

[TrickOrTrefusis]

With a landmark birthday coming up next week, I?ve decided that life is too short to continue wearing scaggy, ill-fitting clothes that I picked up in charity shops five years ago and didn?t particularly like to start with. I had a pile of clothes that I (rightly) never wore. Those are now gone, and I have wardrobe/drawer space to fill.

I?m OK, as you might have guessed, for tatty, round-the-house-and-garden wear. I also don?t need to buy any work clothes, as I have enough (albeit boring) things to wear there, especially as my job is temporary. What I need is stuff that will make me look and feel reasonably good when out for coffee with friends, trips into town, casual nights out ? that sort of thing.

Anyone care to advise?

[Spidermama]

I only wear dresses now. No trousers. I buy designer dresses from Ebay, second hand, and wear them with boots or leggings and pumps or just tights and shoes.

[TrickOrTrefusis]

Blimey, Spider - I'm sure you look gorgeous, but that would be way out of my comfort zone. I could literally count the number of times I've worn a dress or skirt in ten years, as it would correspond exactly with the number of weddings I've been to .

Could maybe cope with the knitted dress/leggings look, as long as the dress looked a bit like a long jumper.

[CybilWrites]

Decent jeans.

good shoeboots/heels for evening/converse for daytime

A couple of dressy-ish tops

good earrings etc to tart stuff up

a good evening bag

[CybilWrites]

It's ALL about the accessories IMO.

[MaggieBruja]

I'd advise buying what you love.

I am forty next may and I plan to buy myself a couple of outfits from either jigsaw or betty jackson in debenhams. What shops to you love???

Consider a personal stylist in a store even in M&S!, it's free and would make you consider things you don't normally consider, it can kind of shake up your image a bit.

normally, I hunt around for bargains,,, but i think it could be time to take a different approach. I'm the same as you, I have a million jeans and casual tops. I really should never buy another one.

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

Congratulations for getting rid of the things. I've tried to institute a "buy 1 get rid of 2" rule for myself, but a 3/4 cull of clothes in one go is great. OTOH this may be a time for reflection - do you need so many things? Or just wait and get what you really want when you want it.

[TrickOrTrefusis]

What are "decent jeans", I wonder? That sort of basic is the sort of thing I wouldn't mind spending a bit on, rather than things that are bang on the minute now, but will date very quickly. (I know myself well enough to admit that I'd never keep it up.)

When you ask what shops I love, Maggie... er, you overestimate me. I simply can't answer that. Am limited partly by personality, partly by my height (5'1"), and partly by geography (rural, provincial in the extreme, very few RL shops).

[CybilWrites]

I would be VERY sceptical of a personal stylist in M & S...

[CybilWrites]

decent jeans-

aren't from a supermarket

are usually darkish blue rather than lighter

fit fantastically well

are long enough to wear with heels.

I think it's worth having a couple of pairs, one everyday and one going out , you'll wear them loads.

There are lots of jeans threads in S&B

[TrickOrTrefusis]

No danger of that anyway, as M&S is FAR too cosmopolitan for these parts. I think the nearest one is 30 miles away. There's a food store in my nearest town, so I could always go for a few cunningly deployed cupcakes

[TrickOrTrefusis]

Will hunt through the threads. Am sure there's even one about how to find decent petite jeans.

The fit is always a bit of a bind because of my reliance on online ordering. In my case, they may have to be higher-waisted as I really can't deal with low-slung ones these days, plus I curve in loads at the waist and tend to get a huge annoying gap at the back.

Must try to be more positive about this exercise...

[TrickOrTrefusis]

MB - know what you mean about having a million bargain casual tops. They're so easy to pick up, but don't really amount to a well put-together look, do they?

[CybilWrites]

I'm soooo over bargains (says she wearing her new Matalan scarf)But it does look very french Connection so thats ok.

i've just had big wardrobe overhaul too, and am trying to buy with a list of what I need in mind.

[LetThemEatCake]

I'm a big believer in spending as much as you can afford on jeans

look here - some ££££ but the Nudies are a good price

[MaggieBruja]

Trick! ah yes, five foot one, we've met before, I'm five foot 2! we had a thread of shorties declaring their heights...

If you can find a petite range that does a single breasted belted coat in a nice muted colour, let me know! cos I think that's flattering for somebody small.

Jeans are something you need to take a day off work to buy. And if you find the right pair, dont worry if they're too long, it's worth paying 8£ to get them shortened.

[MaggieBruja]

Cybil, I know Cod always leaves the thread if I mention Next jeans, but some of their trousers in REGULAR not petite are great for short people with heels on. They'd be too short for a normal person wiht heels though.

I feel like I'm over bargains too..... I'm partly cured. I used to go into penneys and buy a basket full of rags. Never do that anymore. Not totally cured yet though tbh.

[TrickOrTrefusis]

So... from some perusal of the S&B threads, a good basic wardrobe might feature:

Decent jeans
Leggings/tregging type things?
Maybe casual dress/es to wear over leggings
Pumps/Converse/boots
"Thin, long sleeved coloured tops for layering"
Um

OK. Couple of laughably basic questions:

How do you "layer"?
What sort of boots would you wear with what sort of outfit?

[TrickOrTrefusis]

Ooh, thanks for the link, LetThemEatCake. I like the look of the 7 for All Mankind as well.

Can't sew for toffee so would be looking at having jeans/trousers altered. Tops I generally have to get in petite, as I'm quite curvy and standard-sized ones tend to go in and out in all the wrong places.

[CybilWrites]

OOh well done, you are a good student

Layering is wearing a v. thin long sleeved top under a teeshirt maybe with a long cardi o'er the top.

Or 2 long sleeved tees, with a little of one showing under. Layers must be thin.

Bootswise (collective groan from rest of MN) I would go for a longer boot that you can tuck slim jeans into or wear with tights an dress.leggings

[TrickOrTrefusis]

LOL - less a "good student" than someone who can parrot words back without really being able to translate it into real life .

So this long sleeved top and Tshirt of which you speak - any guidance about what style they'd be? (I mean things like necklines, etc.)

Boots I will have to go into shops and experiment with, I think. I know it's a controversial topic for this time on a Sunday night.

[cocolepew]

Trefusis aren't you in N.I? Get ye to the outlet centres.

[TrickOrTrefusis]

Good point, coco. I know there's one in Antrim - any others you could recommend?

(It's finding the time for the 80-mile round trip Just To Buy Clothes, really...)

[cocolepew]

The one that isn't Junction 1 is supposed to be better Though my friend says J1 is vastly improved.

[Pannacotta]

I love Seven jeans, you can get them on the John Lewis website, think they do free returns so you could try out a few pairs...

I also noticed on the JL site that Fenn Wright are doing a petite range, again perhaps worth a look?

[LetThemEatCake]

yes, i love 7 for all mankind too - and they are worth the dosh, 5 years on mine are still going strong

re layering - whatever neckline suits you!! but no polo necks, obv.