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?

@Wolfricbriandumbledore

Just my opinion. I live very centrally so when we used to decide on nights out the distance was the same if we went up north or down south. I’ve partied everywhere and that was my experience. We had much more fun up North. They were proper nights out, and cheaper.

I think it does refer to a look favoured by some working class women, reading these posts.

You say that like it's a justification for snobbery, though...

Now as an auld Glesga bird I don't recognise this at all. Glasgow has always been a very cool city where I've never dressed up for nights out. Back in my day I was a serious clubber & never out of trainers & combats (Sub club/ Arches/ Tunnel). There, of course, has always been an element of different places attracting the high-heeled, glam groups, but there's plenty variety to go round.

I was out last Sat & didn't see one pair of heels.

Don’t know about the south but in Liverpool dressing up for Saturday night out has been a thing for generations. Not as glamorous and Insta-ready obviously but my aunt used to tell me that Friday night ( after working all week in a factory, shop or office) was hair washing night. They’d wash and set each others hair and then Saturday night was out dancing. They’d dress in their best dresses. A weird thing I remember was if they couldn’t afford new stockings they’d use gravy browning to colour their legs and the draw a line with an eye liner pencil to imitate a seam. This would have been post war up to mid 50s I suppose.
I think the Saturday night blow out has been passed down in the genes and long may it continue. Have fun while you’re young and able to.

Yet more tedious anti-Northern stereotypes.

I will say, though, that the “no coats in the depths of winter” thing is rooted in misogyny- it’s men refusing to cut into their drinking time by queuing for cloakrooms, and women making themselves uncomfortable to accommodate the men.

West coast of Scotland - ds(19)'s dressing up for a night out consists of showering and changing from joggers to un-ironed cargo trousers and one of his better t-shirts (he says it is dark anyway so doesn't need to iron 🤦‍♀️)

If I drop him off most of the men seems to be dressed fairly casual and the girls are very mixed from casual to smart to lots of oomph loompa flesh on display. It's good they have the choice.

I’m just being honest. It’s not a look I like. I don’t think it makes women look particularly nice and it’s never occurred to me to think of it as “glamorous”. But like I said, interpretation of glamour differs.

Definitely not my intention, or an attempt to justify. I realised, and agreed, that’s what some of the posts were referring to, that many posts were talking about the working classes.

Leeds is like anywhere, some will really go all out and dress up, others are more casual, it depends on your group.
I was in Liverpool a few weeks ago, in a very casual restaurant and some of the girls were so glammed up, much more than I’ve ever seen before and it wasn’t a Friday or Saturday. I admire their dedication!

@Bearpawk

I'm originally from the NE and now live in the SE. The difference is huge. I think it barks back to women needing to impress the breadwinners/ men. Women who love the big cities up north with good careers aren't necessarily like that (I have friends in Newcastle who are a lot more casual) but a lot of the women on nights out are from the satellite villages and towns and still very 'traditional'.

I am sure we will be accused of snobbery but I think this is true. It’s a bit simplistic to say wealthy people don’t need to dress up but there’s definitely an inverse correlation between wealth and the importance placed on how well you dress and the proportion of your income and time spent on it: it’s a well established phenomenon.

I think also in a more traditional environment where fewer women are breadwinners the impetus on dressing to attract a man who can support you is greater,

Just to be clear me and my northern friends never once never took a coat because of a man! How judgemental and patronising!

In my experience, women dress for other women.

Agreeing with you here, as far as I recall a matter of personal pride that you didn’t need one!

Yes, definitely a thing! My SILs in the north really dress up, I had to up my game for family events as I'm from London so always thought jeans and a top were fine for almost anything.

For other women yes but primarily for status

I don’t agree with these. My choice to not wear coats on a night out was never to do with men, more because I cba with the extra faff and tbh I didn’t really feel the cold back then. I definitely couldn’t do it now, as I’d freeze.

I agree with both of these comments. Also to add part of it was that if you’d spent money/made an effort with your outfit you didn’t want to go and cover it up with a coat, where’s the fun in that!

I'm Essex born and bred! Well, I was actually born in North London but lived in Essex from 6 months old.

Yes, I'm aware of the Essex Girl stereotypes but when I was in my teens (early 80s) we only dressed up big time if we were going clubbing. Not for pubs/bars.

I find your interpretation rather bizarre. How do you know its not the women who don't want to cut short their drinking time?! Most Leeds women I know who don't take a coat give that very reason.
Also, if it was because their boyfriend wanted to carry on drinking then a woman could queue for her coat on her own. She doesn't need a male escort to go to the cloakroom!

I’m from Derbyshire and our local night out is in Derby and I don’t find it like either the northern or southern stereotype your describing.

As we are midlanders we are like more like middle earthers from Lord of Rings 🫣

We have a shower, wash and brush our hair and a touch of makeup and nice clothes but I mainly think we don’t want to resemble either Jessica Rabbit or Radagast the Brown 😆

I’d call it just normal night out clothing 🤷‍♀️

Astonishing assumption! You clearly have no idea about the lives of many real women.

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.

I think it's more of a class thing than it is a North/South thing, hence the TOWIE aesthetic and so on. I think it's mostly about what you wear for work. If you have to wear an un-glam uniform for your un-glam job (factory, retail, caring, nursing etc) it stands to reason you'd want to dress up and feel special when you get the chance. If you have to dress up for work or have a lot of responsibility when you're there (yes I know in recent times dress codes have relaxed a bit) then dressing down signifies you're now in holiday mode.

Then there's the nuances of cashmere hoodie vs Shein sequins and so on.

I grew up in Newcastle and we glammed up at 16 to go clubbing. By the time we were 18-19 we were going out in scruffy trainers and mucky t shirts, almost having a competition to see who could make the least effort and still get in the clubs. Really it was about differentiating ourselves from the glam crowd, because we were the most godawful snobs.

As a young professional in London in the early noughties I spent a huge amount of my disposal income on looking my best. But that meant designer jeans, interesting trainers, facials and subtle make up. TBH LBDs or similar looked cheap to me as in you could pick up skimpy stuff like that in Portebello Road or East Street Market for a few quid. Whereas an fcuk or ted baker t- shirt, people knew you'd spent money on that....

Nonsense
I neither feel pressure to look glam or effortlessly cool
I am very much neither
I am completely comfortable to stick a dress on and go out with messy hair and no make up.