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?

As for "done" nails, they make me shudder, what on earth is going on underneath ? However well kept natural nails say far more about you.

Indeed, but not just any jeans...

I definitely notice this whenever I am down in the North. I don’t notice it in Scotland where I live. From what I’ve seen here some people really dress up to go out, but a lot don’t. And bringing a coat seems more common here, which makes sense as the weather is worse. Each to their own I guess. As long as they’re happy that’s what matters.

Sorry, Liverpool night out goer here 🙋🏻‍♀️ 6 hours are booked out for getting ready on weekends. False tan gets done on Thursday night to be slept in and ready for Friday. Mini dresses are a must! We are used to the cold so it doesn’t really affect us anymore. Getting ready doing my makeup, putting in and curling all my extensions etc is the best part of my week. I enjoy the getting ready process so much

They really don't. Natural nails are not a 'signifier' of anything except choice.

You can cover anything up with a bunch of gel nails. The condition of one's hands and nails speaks to your state of health, level of self care and yes occupation.

Why?

You change what you're wearing because other people wear different things to you? How odd.

Not so much now due to more wfh but pre covid we would always see girls very dressed up out in the city of London in bars on a Thursday night after work

Was affectionately known as “bag a banker” night and was very funny to watch.

Oh, I see. We northern women wear false nails because we've ruined our real ones down't pit scrapping out t'coil.

Or our real nails look shit because we live on spam, chips and gravy?

I've heard it all now.

Yeah normal for Scottish girls where I'm from too. I've also noticed that women guests at weddings up here are far more glammed up than weddings down south. Seen a few weddings recently on my fb and was shocked at how plain they all were compared to weddings here and think this must be why there's such a mix of answers on the style boards about appropriate wedding guest dresses.

Northern girls don't have a monopoly on horrible false nails. But I think they are grim whether North or South. I do not think they are glamorous, quite the opposite.

I remember going out for a nights in Liverpool and Newcastle a few years ago and my jaw dropping at the skimpy outfits and lack of coats worn by many women revellers. A friend who was with me from Australia quiety asked me if they were prostitutes. After his his initial shock he soon was happily oggling away.

I can see that in a room full of attractive, scantily clad women you need to join them or lose out on the attention. Although, the more conservative dressers, though still glamorous, did seem to command more respect from men.

They seem to be having fun. Unlike in York, where agressiveness, puke and peeing on the street was prevalent.

I was in Leeds a few months ago and noticed this. A real party vibe by 5pm and the bars and restaurants all seemed to be doing a brisk trade. I'm used to a more informal culture and don't remember getting dressed up like this to hit the tiles since my late teens/early twenties.

Same thing with a graduation ceremony I saw in Sheffield last year. All very, very glamorous from the shoes to the coiffed hair. Back in my day you just wore a dark skirt or trousers with a shirt!

Good hands do not signify status or wealth.
You may be able to tell whether someone works in and office or outside etc... but you can't really tell their occupation. A scientific researcher could have very similar hands to someone who cleans toilets.
A plumber will have worse hands than a receptionist but probably is significantly better off.

What’s this nonsense about middle class southerners not spending money on beauty treatments and looking good?

You can’t move for beauty salons across London. And there are long waitlists for some hairdressers and facialists - usually the high end ones - so someone must be spending a lot of money, and I highly doubt it’s all ‘tourists’.

It's true middle class Southerners just spend money on other, perhaps less obvious er enchancments.

I work in Newcastle and we (ages 20s-60s) pile out of my place on Friday for drinks all still wearing "office formal" attire. (I know that's old-fashioned.) Admittedly some of the young 'uns probably then go home to change before clubbing but I wouldn't know!

Yes, it’s a thing. Leeds, though? You want to visit Newcastle. Now, they’re hardcore 🤣

Dress up and definitely no coats!

I remember a memorable new year in Carlisle. There was a literal blizzard but the lads were in short sleeved shirts and the lasses in skimpy dresses.

Don't let a bit of snow cramp your style I say.

What used to get me in London was you'd see couples at the bus stop on Saturday evenings. The women: dressed up to the nines, slinky little cocktail frocks, high heels, freshly done nails, plenty of slap. The men: jeans, t-shirt and trainers. It made me want to weep for the women who'd obviously spent a couple of hours getting ready, only to go out with a guy who'd not bothered.

women guests at weddings up here are far more glammed up than weddings down south

Ah this rings a bell. The first time I went to a London wedding I was talking to a woman who was lovely to talk to but I spent the whole time wondering, "Does she hate the happy couple? She hasn't made any effort. Would it have killed her to brush her hair?" Now I know it's a cultural difference 😂

I’m northern and clean but scruffy. It depends who you are.

Don’t they dress up a lot to go out in places like Essex?

Thank God for the anonymity of the internet. My clubbing and pulling days are well behind me, but aren't skimpy dresses and heels just a bit obvious ? What ever happened to tits or legs but not both ? My clubbing gear around 1996-2006 was low slung jeans or combats with a flash of toned midriff and "titty top" as we used to call them or a vest top. Probably with a hoodie, which could be tied round the trousers for dancing. Always trainers, never heels, I mean you wanted to be able to dance. Please explain how or why a skimpy dress AND heels is a better or more attractive choice.

Yes and the men were warm and comfortably dressed by contrast.

Do women just dress for other women though, as a couple of posts have mentioned that now? I only ever dressed for myself, not other women, or men (this thread differs from others at least where women have been accused of dressing for the male gaze) what suited me, the venue, the occasion, and my own individual sense of style.

"Please explain how or why a skimpy dress AND heels is a better or more attractive choice."

I'm not sure anyone has to justify their sartorial choices to you.