is this a Northern thing - Saturday nights out

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

We're staying in Leeds for the weekend, visiting DS who recently moved here. Fabulous city, loads going on.

We went out for a meal last night and I was amazed at what people were (or weren't!) wearing. The women were all amazingly made up and wearing incredibly skimpy outfits. I'm not criticising, but I was amazed that they weren't frozen (no jackets). They all looked incredibly glamorous.

The cities I'm used to are Cambridge, Nottingham, Bristol and London. My dc, now in their 20s, and their friends are in jeans, t-shirts, maybe a pretty top on a Saturday night. These women looked like they were going to a cocktail party but were only going to the pub.

The men also looked a lot smarter than I'm used to - they were in shirts rather than t shirts - but not as dressed up as the women.

I've got a friend who lives in Liverpool who is always talking about her daughters taking 4 hours to get ready for a Saturday night out, but I thought that was just confined to Liverpool. However, the women in Leeds look like they have spent hours getting ready. Lots of them also had a fake tan and their nails done beautifully.

So are northern lasses much more glamorous than us scruffy southerners? And if so, why?

Yes, pretty much but not as much as it used to be. In the 90s coats or jackets were rarely worn, I was in Newcastle on Friday night and saw both. Young women often wear what I consider clubwear as day wear. I always find London super casual on an evening.

Kaiser Chiefs are from Leeds. One of their lyrics:

"Girls scrabble round with no clothes on
To borrow a pound for a condom
If it wasn't for chip fat they'd be frozen
They're not very sensible"

Yes. I'm northern and live down south. Huge difference! As you say the Saturday night us a huge dress up event and a 'proper' night out. In the south its just jeans and top.... different lifestyle.

Yes, it is normal for a Northern girl to glam up.
I despair at my girls for not wearing a coat though.

Yep, normal! I live in Sheffield and Saturday nights are something else! People dress up a lot more.

Oh I think why goes back generations to the working class,work hard play hard link and keep up appearances so show your finest on a weekend night out. Southerns are a different breed and more likely to come from money and not need to show off.

Yes, been a thing for years, I remember people talking about it in the 90s. My sister in law was at uni in Liverpool then and said the girls looked amazing at weekends and went around with no coats in the most freezing weather.

I’m from the Welsh Valley’s and we have a lot in common with Northern working class areas and nights out are the same too.

One person’s “looking glamorous” may be another person’s “dressed up like tarts” (very bluntly(. Yes there is a lot of pressure to look and dress a certain way in the north, which is associated with very sexist behaviour and cultures. I have also noticed the difference between midlander and northern expectations of female appearance on many occasions.

Not all northerners.
My DD and her mates consider themselves "London cool" and to me they look like they are dressed for popping to Tesco. Very chilled.

I live in Manchester and recognise this, although I’m always in jeans myself. It’s actually nice to be in London for a weekend where that’s the norm! I’m also of an age now where, thankfully, I prioritise wearing what I like.

I will say that Liverpool is on another level. I worked there for a brief period and the stories of preparations for going out were mind-blowing.

I'm very low maintenance, always have been, so am thankful I grew up in East Anglia! But they did all look amazing.

When my dc lived at home, they and their friends - male and female - might wear a slightly nicer/cleaner t shirt and jeans on a Saturday night, but that was about it. I remember DS and his (then) girlfriend being amazed when I told them that, back in my day, the "posher" clubs wouldn't let you in if you were wearing trainers. They couldn't get their heads round that as they didn't own any other footwear!

Yes. I was a casual Londoner for years, dressed for walking and public transport even when headed on my fanciest night out, and when DH’s job involved him spending weekends in Newcastle and Liverpool and I went along, my mind was blown. Especially at the numbers of women going about their business in central Liverpool at lunchtime on Saturdays with giant rollers in their hair and a brand-new manicure, and the entire city centre’s air of gearing up for a party…

Yeah, no cognitive dissonance there, describing women as tarts and chastising a sexist culture in the same paragraph.

@RosaGallica yes, I can see that could be the case!

Yes it’s a widely observed phenomenon.

I’m so glad I’m a Londoner 😆

Well I'm from Leeds and have never felt any pressure to dress up for a night out. Some people dress up, presumably because they enjoy it. But I don't so I don't, likewise amongst friends, colleagues etc. We go out and some are very glam, others in jeans and trainers, and everything in between.

This has always been a thing in my adult lifetime. There’s less pathological fear of being “too done up” or looking “try hard” than there is in London etc.

It was the same back in the early/mid 80’s. Less money around so hair and nails were done ourselves, but dressed up and not a coat in sight 😂

Where did you go? When I was a student in Leeds we didn’t go it at the weekends in town as it was full of ‘real adults’ who we thought were a different breed! I think it depends which restaurant/pub/bar you were at as well as to what type of person they attract.

Yep. They often have curlers in during the day too.

Dont be so naive. Who decides that appearances that stress sexuality in appearance for women - not men - is a good thing? Of course female clothing is sexualised, more so where they are viewed as nothing more than sex objects and where female bodies are for public consumption.

Have you tried living in a few of these different cultural areas and living under the impact of how women’s lives, expectations and their opportunities differ?

(That was aimed at desecratedcoconut btw).

Oooh, those nasty common northerners - they've got no taste or sophistication at all, have they? Not like those clever Londoners with their effortlessly casual chic 😂

We were right in the centre. We went to a place called the Indian Tiffin Room, which was on a street with loads of bars and pubs. It wasn't so much the restaurant we were in, it was all the others. We walked through a square near the station where there were two restaurants with outside seating (one possibly called something like Bantams?) and the level of dress was incredible. In Cambridge and London, people would be in jeans in those scenarios.