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Original poster

Do people dress up more in Liverpool?

274 replies

EmmaGrundyForPM · 11/10/2020 08:48

Just watching the news and they are reporting on Liverpool re Covid. The footage shows people out in bars and pubs and they are incredibly dressed up, especially the women.

My DC are in their early 20s, so similar age to those being shown. When they and their friends go clubbing they all tend to wear jeans and the women might wear a slightly smarter top but often not.

The report showed women in amazing dresses and heels, plus hair, make up etc all immaculate. Is it a "thing" in Liverpool or is it just that my DC and their friends are ultra scruffy? I live in Cambridge and am fairly sure that younger people here don't on the whole dress up like that unless it's a particular "special" occasion like a 21st birthday. Not just for a regular Saturday night out.

OP posts:
WolffromTheWest · 11/10/2020 12:35

I'm originally from The Midlands and live in London now. People definitely dress up more up there. It's one of the reasons I love living in London. You do your hair and make up and wear something nice obviously but usually comfortable and warm, and going out is a lot more fun and relaxed because of it. I've had this conversation quite often with friends from home explaining that they won't need the revealing dresses and heels here. I prefer that this is the environment my dd is a teenager in as well. In the big clubs and bars people are more dressed up but generally things are just more relaxed.

WinWinnieTheWay · 11/10/2020 12:37

I think it has become a working class thing.

Where I live the bars and restaurants are full of casually dressed people, come the weekend the trains and buses bring in orange women with too tight dresses and sausage curls, the men are no better in skinny jeans and too tight polyester mix shirts. The whole look and feel of the city is transformed.

IvanTheDragon · 11/10/2020 12:38

Grew up in a Lancashire town, moved to London in my mid twenties 5-10 years ago. I remember friends visiting for the weekend, telling them what I’d planned for the day and them being shocked that I hadn’t planned for us to go home and at least change our tops and redo/jazz up makeup before going out for a meal. Back home, everything was car based so we would be out in the daytime, drive home and get ready and then get a taxi out - somehow getting the tube back home to go back out again didn’t have the same appeal! Agree that Liverpool/Newcastle take things to a whole new level though.

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General style & beauty
Everardscastle · 11/10/2020 12:42

The women in my family back home in Clare dress up like this, the girls are really beautiful too and I think that has travelled over to Liverpool with the diaspora. Same level of chat and friendliness too. And good cooks.

WinWinnieTheWay · 11/10/2020 12:43

That sounds horrible, but is true where I live (not the north).

userxx · 11/10/2020 12:43

The ladies of Liverpool always make a big effort.

inchyra · 11/10/2020 12:44

Londoners walk everywhere so clothing and footwear has to be intensely practical. The extremes of wealth and poverty mean the rich dress down almost as a self-protective measure. The only peacocking you see is at G.A.Y.

Cavagirl · 11/10/2020 12:50

[quote Macaroni46]@Cavagirl but why do women feel they need to dress for other women? Why should anyone feel they have to dress for anyone? What's wrong with being yourself? [/quote]
Why do any of us brush our hair, wear anything other than lounge clothes outside the house, get our ears pierced or wear deodorant?

If everyone else in the world was blind would I ever use mascara again? Probably not. I'm wearing it "for myself" because I like to "look nice" but it's not is it, because if everyone was blind I wouldn't bother.
Conforming to cultural norms is a strong pull. Whether that's "good" or "bad" is always going to be disagreed upon.

My point was that the idea that this is some form of Patriarchal pressure is nonsense. If the world was full of women, we'd all still be getting dressed up for a night out, to varying degrees depending on the cultural norm in our area.
It's really interesting that on a small island like the UK there is quite a variety in cultural norms, which is what the OP was exploring.
But the argument by some PPs that this is because the Patriarchy is "strong" in the areas where the cultural norm is to dress up more, is complete nonsense.

toffeekiwi · 11/10/2020 12:54

I think they look awful, orange with makeup an inch thick caked on, painted on eyebrows and so much mascara they can't keep their eyes open.

Are you describing women from Liverpool or Donald Trump in drag?

MrsWhites · 11/10/2020 12:59

It’s not a class issue or a result of a patriarchal society, why does it have to be anything other than strong women wanting to feel good about themselves and expressing that through dressing up. Not everyone does it, it’s not like it’s mandatory!

I’ve just been in a park in Liverpool, reading these posts watching a line of people waiting for a cafe. Most were dressed casually, jeans or leggings etc but nearly every woman was well turned out, hair and make up, glam sunglasses etc. Not all of these woman will be from the same ‘class’!

FamilyOfAliens · 11/10/2020 12:59

[quote Macaroni46]@FamilyOfAliens I quite agree that people are entitled to different views. I am merely stating mine
and I stand by it - that I'd rather be natural and spend my money & time on other things.
I also said in my first post - each to their own. People can dress up or down as much as they want. It's just that personally I can't relate to it and wonder how much peer pressure there is to be so glam. And to me I feel saddened that women feel the need to go to such lengths to look good. It seems fake. [/quote]
Only you’re not simply stating your views, are you?

You’re saying it’s makes you sad that some women makes lot of effort to look good and that it seems fake.

So you’re judging them and pretending you’re not.

lakeswimmer · 11/10/2020 13:00

I think this might be a more recent thing. I grew up in Merseyside and went out a lot in Liverpool in the late 80s/early 90s and I definitely didn't dress up. I did wear make up but my standard outfit was jeans, DMs, a t-shirt and bikers jacket and I didn't feel out of place. Maybe it was because grunge was the thing then but it was normal for me and my friends. I then moved to SE for uni and went out a lot in London and wore the same thing there Grin

However my Gran was a Liverpool lass who grew up in a working class family and being well-turned out was very important to her.

Agree that Ladies Day at Aintree is a sight to behold. I got stuck in traffic jam outside the race course on Ladies Day one year and it was great people watching!

BoudicasBoudoir · 11/10/2020 13:01

@Kleptronic that was really interesting!

I wish I could feel comfortable glammed up. I can see it must be really good fun and confidence-boosting. I can also see that my upbringing was all about looking demure and respectable, i.e. pretty much invisible. I need to work on changing that!

inchyra · 11/10/2020 13:02

What do Scousers do on a duvet day, though? Do you just not go out?

I’m lucky enough to have good mental health but there are days where I’m just bone tired. Having to do my hair and make up to stand in line for a coffee would quite likely kill me.

Goldenbear · 11/10/2020 13:21

It's not really about money though is it, dressing down can cost a fortune! I certainly don't equate it with being depressed. I think every school Mum and Dad I see at the school gates of my DD's school dress down in comparison to this look but they have certainly spent money on trying to look that way.

gypsywater · 11/10/2020 13:29

I love how the women in Liverpool look, I think its fabulous! But I struggle to see how it shows a woman is a "strong woman". If anything I would say it shows a leaning towards being a little insecure and socially very conformist and focused on the male gaze. Nothing wrong with this per se, just dont see it as indicative of "stength" as per PP.

MrsWhites · 11/10/2020 13:31

@Goldenbear

It's not really about money though is it, dressing down can cost a fortune! I certainly don't equate it with being depressed. I think every school Mum and Dad I see at the school gates of my DD's school dress down in comparison to this look but they have certainly spent money on trying to look that way.
Absolutely this - it’s nothing to do with money, wealth or class. Some people like to get more dressed up than others and in some cities like Liverpool people have grown up with dressing up being ‘normal’.
CandleWick4 · 11/10/2020 13:37

@inchyra

What do Scousers do on a duvet day, though? Do you just not go out?

I’m lucky enough to have good mental health but there are days where I’m just bone tired. Having to do my hair and make up to stand in line for a coffee would quite likely kill me.

You do realise not all women from Liverpool dress up all day everyday?? I regularly don’t wear make up/throw my hair in a bun and throw joggers on to do the school run. But I’ll dress up for a night out. Scouse women don’t walk round Aldi in a black dress and heels Hmm
Potionqueen · 11/10/2020 13:50

I’ll bite. Liverpool women are strong. Liverpool is a very matriarchal society. It had to be when so many men where at sea.
Liverpool women dress up for themselves and no one else. They take a pride in their appearance.
Every Liverpool women is a queen in her house.

HeronLanyon · 11/10/2020 13:55

I lived in Newcastle for a few years. It was a huge thing there. Bigg market !!! It was also a class thing - not sure if it still is.

Lillysnotroses · 11/10/2020 14:07

@Thenose

Yes. People in Liverpool are generally more dressed up - day and night. It's a thing.
Hahahaha true. I’ve seen similar in the airport rollers still in and everything!
wizzywig · 11/10/2020 14:11

Now looking at heated rollers...

Rummikub · 11/10/2020 14:23

Although I love a Liverpool night out I’d avoid all the places where it’s too glam
It takes a lot of planning and effort and I neither had the skills nor inclination to be glam. Possibly Because when I Have made the effort I still look rubbish!
When I go out with friends outside Liverpool I never wear a coat though - much to their horror!

Lillysnotroses · 11/10/2020 14:29

@QueenOllie

I'm up north and wouldn't ever wear trainers for a night out (or a coat!) unless it was the local casual pub I can go out at 10pm and wear heels until 6am when the last club shuts so I'm fine in them. Remember being out one year around Christmas and it started snowing and I still hadn't got a coat on
From the North too! I think people get quite dressed up here too. Bars are popular and town is packed on a Saturday around the train station area during the day.
spacegirl86 · 11/10/2020 14:43

I'm from Cambridge too. I went on a night out when visiting a friend in Liverpool. Thought it was probably an over exaggeration the stereotype I had heard but even stepping off the train at midday I was waiting with a girl in curlers. So glamorous that night. No one wore coats either (another stereotype confirmed).

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