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?

I grew up on the outskirts of Leeds and as a teen/twenties Saturday night was definitely dress up night. I could easily fill 4 hours getting ready, it was part of the fun with friends and some horrible cheap bottle of wine. It would of never crossed my mind to take a jacket - I wouldn't want to carry the thing all night!

I just can't do the heels never have, doubt I ever will. If I had even tried I imagine I'd of been one of them girls you see walking barefoot home or worse, falling over face first with my bum out 😅

All the cities you mention have quite a large student population, and a lot of students like to dress up and go clubbing. My daughter doesn't as she feels self conscious in "attention seeking" clothes and tend to hide in baggy, shapeless clothes (please don't flame me. I can't think of a better way of putting it).

The pp who said that these cities often attract hen dos is also on the money.

FFS, not everyone finds it "exhausting" and "under pressure" to get glammed up for a night out, some of us actually enjoy it?

Yes, I'm Northern (Leeds actually) and older (45) and I still love spending time getting ready for a big night out. Not everyone stays in and goes to bed at 9pm to get 'cosy' like some of MN would have you believe.

Yeah I remember that about London. No-one lived near enough to work to be able to go home after work to eat and shower and get dressed up and to then go off out again. And you were conscious of how you'd get home again if you were out until the early hours anyway so it made more sense to just go out straight from work. Some girls would get changed or glam up their makeup in the work toilets first but often people would just grab their bag and go off to the pub. I liked that the focus was just on going straight out to have fun and not much pressure to get all dolled up. It was how I remember it being as a student in the 90s. You could go "out out" from just being "out" and no-one cared. 😆

Agree with this. I actually think the pressure to look "cool" in places like London is way more judgemental for women.

I have boobs, hourglass figure, and when I went to Berlin I almost felt like I had to not be a women in order to not be judged for how I looked. They say it's "low effort" but really it's just a different pressure on how to look, and almost anti-women I'd say

Nights out up north are definitely more fun - you work hard all week and fri/sat night are a completely different ball game that you spend all week planning/looking forward to. Glad I spent my youth up north. A culture difference yes - I see it as a remnant of the 60s/70s cultures of dancehalls and discos - which was a big thing up north, northern soul and the like. Then in the 90s - club culture especially in Manchester - we just never grew up/out of partying!

Yep, there was that divide even in the 80s/90s.

It seemed to me in the early noughties the student southern cities got a little bit more glam but I think that’s retreated now.

Yes it’s normal in the North. I did it when I was young, it was part of the fun choosing an outfit and getting ready for hours with friends. I wouldn’t have changed it. I never wore a coat either, even when it was snowing!!

But with kindness this is your own insecurity.

Obviously lots of people will adapt a bit to where they are, but if you really imagine people are interested in what you wear, that’s on you. No one is really interested in anyone else.

Normal Sheffield and north in mainstream circles at least (I was seriously underdressed in Liverpool!) rock circles are more casual. I like it, though admit at home I wear whatever I'm already wearing (sw)

It's funny when you go somewhere like a nice but casual ish hotel in the lake district which is popular with a range of ages, with people from all over, for all sorts of reasons. There is one I went to last year and at dinner there was no overriding style. There were locals who came in casually dressed but had maybe put on a smarter shirt for the evening. Walkers who came in VERY casually dressed. Or gym type people in sports wear. Large groups who were staying there for a big family birthday - the teenagers included boys who were dressed as casually as they could get away with (sports wear and hoodie etc) and girls who were full on Insta glam in heels and skimpy dresses with very heavy makeup. Then there were elderly couples who had a "dress for dinner" style with the men in full blown suits, polished shoes etc, looking v dapper and ladies in twinset and pearls.

I loved how everyone was dressed so differently. Was a bit surprised at the couple who swanned into the bar in towelling robes though and plonked themselves down amidst all that, though. They sat and had a drink and looked very out of place but they didn't seem to care.

In Berlin when I was younger they turned women away from clubs and wouldn't let them in for either wearing makeup/having boobs on show. I believe they still do that - you have to look casual and very adronynous, which is much harder for curvy women than men

I've already said I think this fashion is the mid 20s- early 30s crowd, mainly (older and younger dress this way in Leeds but not so much). The younger crowd is more natural, though I wonder now, as a pp said, if as much effort has gone into the 'haven't tried' look, and it's possible that it has.

It reminds me of us when students, we would dress down a short dress or skirt with a cardigan or flat boots or shoes, or something else like how we did our hair, and make up took a while but was natural.

The 'alternative' popular look that I've seen for the 25+ range is tattoo sleeves (and legs) coloured hair; white, pink, blue or green are most popular and bright clothing.

It's fascinating and it's great people watching in these places.

Yes I saw this when I visited Manchester and Liverpool. Very glamorous. I also remember they smelled incredible.

The other thing I noticed is that curvy/fat women didn’t hide in baggy clothes, they were just as glam - so a lot of body-positive (is that the term?) dressing. Not something you see so much of in London.

Some people on here need to spend a night out in central London. It’s not the epitome of casual elegance they think it is. Nor will they find casual dressing in the town centres of Surrey and Essex on a Saturday night.

A lot of the casual dressing isn’t as uncontrived as people think it is. They just reflect the rules of a community and class.

I think a lot of them would call it glam rather than overdressed!

For me glam equals short tight dress, high heels, fake tan, fake eyelashes, gel/false nails etc.

I’m northern and I don’t go full glam to go out, usually just smart casual but im a minority definitely. Girls dress like they’re on love island to go for a drink in a bar and guys wear suits, smart chinos and shirts. A lot of bars round here won’t even let you in if you’re wearing trainers!

I’m a Londoner and in the 90s, post the rave scene (trainers & hot pants!) we all glammed up to go clubbing. There were always scenes where women dressed down / casually, but there were a lot of us in little dresses, heels and lots of hair!

Some time post about 2005 things got much, much more casual on a large scale in London. I rarely if ever see women dolled up to the nines in London now, and if I do they’re blatantly tourists.

We were also in Leeds last year and noticed the same thing. Scores of young women in bodycon mini dresses, towering heels, hair extensions, no coats. I remember how fun it was to get done up like that when you’re young - but I also felt a bit sorry for them having to navigate a whole night out in massive heels! Don’t know how I ever did it.

The No Coat thing is totally Northern, though. Never understood it .

@cartagenagina

My DS and his mates are early twenties and live in London. They often wear suits for a night out!!! Often vintage ones, which look so cute with their long curly hair/arty vibe.

I remember my dad, a Tottenham lad, would never have even gone to the local pub unless suited and booted. It’s lovely that look is being resurrected for men.

I totally agree, I think it's much nicer than the dull uniform of jeans and band t-shirts or hoodies. Not disparaging it in the slightest and I'm glad men feel able to dress in more glamorous or expressive ways.

Just saying it's very different to the Southern young male uniform when I was growing up (late 80s/early to mid 90s) and it came as a bit of a culture shock when I moved to a northern city as a student. In the town I grew up in that kind of dress would have been frowned upon as a bit "showy" and slightly effeminate.

@Wolfricbriandumbledore Bloody hell, don’t be so unpleasant and misogynistic

If the PP likes spending her money on getting dressed up and going out because it gives her pleasure, what’s wrong with that? It doesn’t mean she doesn’t also have savings and a pension and a house.

If she thinks heels and no coat are worth a bit of discomfort because she likes the look, what’s wrong with that? It’s no different from deciding it’s worth the discomfort of going to the gym because you want toned abs

Dressing up and going out at the weekend can only be a good thing. Northern people are WAY more friendly and sociable than Southerners. They'll talk to and dance with anyone who looks friendly. It's a much better quality of night out. If you're meeting new people, it's worth glamming up for.

No coat is better than someone stealing yours or losing it when you're tipsy.

Loosen up and be more Northern.

Yes it’s normal for Northeners to go all out for a night out. However, particularly in Liverpool and Manchester, there is now a more relaxed way of dressing when going out. Lots of younger adults/students do the jeans/shorts/casual dress with trainers and a jacket thing too. My younger sister is in this age bracket and dresses this way. Ten years ago when I was going out clubbing often, it wasn’t so much the done thing.

@LDNista

The No Coat thing is totally Northern, though. Never understood it.

I suppose if you've spent a third of your disposable cash for the year on a Dior dress or whatever, covering it with a puffa jacket seems a waste!

East Anglian by birth but went to uni at Northumbria in Newcastle in the early 00s and the whole point of pre-drinking for us (drinks were so cheap it wasn’t to save money) was so you already had a beer jacket and didn’t need to take a jacket. Wusses took a jacket on a night out!

Don’t northern clubs have a cloakroom? Or is that a soft, southern thing?