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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

middle class uniform

320 replies

southeastastra · 11/01/2014 23:57

st albans today was like a boden/joules catalogue

why do the middle classes have to follow such uniform? it's all very samey, those designer welly boots and colourful rainwear

don't get it myself, surely if you have ££ to spend on wear why pick fatface/white stuff boring brands

OP posts:
NearTheWindmill · 12/01/2014 21:23

I wear lots of stuff:- white stuff, boden, east, Jigsaw, phase 8, M&S, Basler, Gerard Darel, that nice Somerset range and I fancy a Moschino coat. DH and I generally are a scruffy pair of sods and very understated although he has a wig he rarely wears nowadays. The builders are generally very obliging.

3asAbird · 12/01/2014 21:27

actually just remembered few years ago husband brought me mary portas book and in it she discusses shops recognising the fashion tribes and catering for them.

just dug it out book case

she mentions classicist-shops at nicole farhi, maxmara, joseph, tods, hermes, john smedly, chanel, paul smith, margaret howell

forer 40-john lewis, hobbs, jaeger, wallis, debenhams, principles, gap. basler, jacques vert, viyella, country casuals and planet-go my 80 year old aunt loves planet!

fashionisa lodosn dovers market-never heard of it, superbrand section selfrides, martin margiela, helmut lan, issy miyake

miss vintage-top shop vintage section, oasis new vintage, oxfam origion,markets and 2nd hand shops.

bag hag-mstly designer bags all boutqiques and major department stores.

posh girl-boden, gap, tods, hacket, jack wilson, ralph lauren, crew clothing.

mr and mrs safe debehnams, jl gap and next.

label lover harve nicks. selfridges ,D&g , karen millen and says jane norman if not but I always think jne norman bit tarty.

originater -anywhere and looks good

barganista ebay, primarnie, matalan, supermarkets and tk max.

she does not mention class.
or joules.

does seem rather london centric with people who must have loads money .

so maybe not the squeezed middle.

im not some sad fecker who buys these books but also got trinny and sausannah what you can wear change your lives n mention of brand stsicks to styles, body shapes and colours.

goks how to dress-sections and events no mention age or class or brands.

GarlicReturns · 12/01/2014 21:36

:( Enian. We haven't always been this xenophobic. You can probably blame the past few years of government sponsored immigration hysteria in our esteemed media.

That said, we have always been a bunch of judgemental arseholes! Rise above it, my dear, rise above it. (You have to say that in the sonorous tone of an upper-class matriarch, by the way Wink)

EnianShelZman · 12/01/2014 21:49

Ha ha! Thank you Garlic. I find it funny now, it does not upset me anymore.

EnianShelZman · 12/01/2014 21:53

3asAbird, I don't trust Mary Portas judgement anymore after seeing that horrible clothes collection she had produced for Debenhams.

Belize · 12/01/2014 21:55

Hilarious re Boden being posh fgs

SirChenjin · 12/01/2014 22:01

God no - Mary Portas' judgement has been clouded by all the polyester fumes she inhaled during the making of the Debenhams collection

Fairylea · 12/01/2014 22:06

I know parts of boden are reasonably expensive / mid priced but some of its relatively cheap - I just brought two pairs of Jersey trousers for ds just now and with a discount code I found on this site (TYOU) it brought them down to £10 each with free delivery.... roughly the same as a tesco or next pair of trousers. Incidentally I wasn't buying them specifically for them being boden - they were the nicest shaped ones I could find, if primark had similar I would have bbrought them there :)

I think because nowadays the prices vary so much across boden and joules that's how they have become so popular. There is something for most people's pockets now.

When I used to work in the city a hundred years ago boden was very sought after and expensive. I had a boden wool coat and everyone used to comment on it etc. Now everything is more accessible. That's why it's everywhere.

NearTheWindmill · 12/01/2014 22:12

Deeaar garlic. As I've said before I know a scruffy old deeaar who shambles into Sainsbury's in her millets sandals, short black socks with a hole usually, a tiered skirt a la Laura Ashley circa 1976 and a bobbled, threadbare fleece gilet. She turns up in her D reg Golf with rusty bits. As she greets you you notice her twinkly eyes and lovely smile and the pearl and diamond drop earrings and ring that looks like it came out of a cracker and realise what she's decked out in is worth about a hundred k.

Her class and presence has nothing to do with either her wardrobe or her jewellery box. She'd look worth a million dollars naked. She's about 85 now btw.

NearTheWindmill · 12/01/2014 22:20

I have three Boden "Coatigans". They are my favourite things and I don't think any other retailer compares. I also think that their best things are the thins that aren't colourful and easily overlooked in the catalogue. My favourite thing is a black coatigan with glittery bottons and a very pretty collar and three quarter length sleeves. It was 39 in the sale about four years ago - I bought it because it was cheap and wpuld stretch a couple of skirts on their last legs for work for a bit longer. It looked nothing in the catalogue. It was delivered and my jaw dropped. It was divine - as good with jeans and boots as slung over your shoulders over a posh frock in spring or autumn. But then I think the same goes for Per Una. Stay away from the colours and hone in on the stuff that looks dreary on the hanger - it's often fab on and cut on the bias!

Bunbaker · 12/01/2014 22:26

"Hilarious re Boden being posh fgs"

Really? I think Boden is pricey and don't know anyone that spends that kind of money on clothes.

NearTheWindmill · 12/01/2014 22:33

It's all relative I think. I don't spend much on clothes compared to friends/neighbours and I think Boden's pretty middle of the road, safe and very reasonably priced. It lasts better than M&S. It was a uniform in my DC's primary playground

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 12/01/2014 22:35

I've never thought snorbens as being particularly mc. Harpenden on the other hand. I live somewhere that is horrendously middle class. St A is nothing like that

Belize · 12/01/2014 22:39

It sure isn't posh though Bunbaker. Bond Street stores are 'posh'.

GarlicReturns · 12/01/2014 22:40

She sounds great, Near! I hope to age as idiosyncratically :)

NearTheWindmill · 12/01/2014 22:57

Some Bond Street Stores are posh Belize. Don't forget A&F are just off it, arguably in a posher bit and that shop is certainly NOT posh. I think it was one of my most unpleasant shopping experiences. Petticoat Lane is/was classier imo.

Yumsnet · 13/01/2014 14:43

I'm amused Dromedary as I have green adjustable wellies (Seeland £40), and often holiday in St Ives/Cornwall. I wear them not because I want to be seen as 'rich' but because I can fit my chunky calves into them nicely Grin

ProfondoRosso · 13/01/2014 14:47

I'm wearing a Boden jumper right now. It is the only Boden thing I own. I got it for 20 quid off the Ebay shop (with a discount code). I have approx zero pounds and zero pence in my bank account right now (finishing my PhD, DH is paying the mortgage, thank God). Grin

legoplayingmumsunite · 13/01/2014 16:18

When I used to work in the city a hundred years ago boden was very sought after and expensive. I had a boden wool coat and everyone used to comment on it etc. Now everything is more accessible. That's why it's everywhere.

Pre ubiquitous internet I got my first Boden catalogue after reading about it on Annalisa Barbieri's fashion column in the Independent, I was so excited. I actually still have a skirt and merino jumper I bought out of that catalogue for work, the quality was so good back then.

legoplayingmumsunite · 13/01/2014 16:19

I do think Boden and Joules get picked on because they are such distinctive brands, no-one comments if you live in Gap or John Lewis and yet the clothes are a similar price range.

propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS · 13/01/2014 16:24

I have boil washed and hot tumbled my size 8 Boden fun skirts so that they have become sexually alluring. I am a maverick.

propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS · 13/01/2014 16:25

I also have a Per Una top I have cut peepholes into Blush

Ok, that one was a lie Grin

Viviennemary · 13/01/2014 16:35

What is this obsession with Bodens on MN. But I need a change from M & S so will have to read this thread. Don't think I'm a Boden's type of person though.

Sukebind · 13/01/2014 16:46

I don't get all this 'I have a xxxx from Boden/Joules/Fatface but it was almost free/in a sale/given to me/wouldn't normally wear it so I can fit in with the tone of this thread after all'... I agree with Jellyandcake upthread who pointed out there's a lot of sneering going on.
Who cares whether people like wearing Boden/Joules/etc.? I like some of their range for younger girls and get it second hand for free or using a deal every now and then but I am not definately going to apologise for buying it. If other people don't like it then that's up to them. I would buy more of it if it were cheaper but I can only afford a couple of bits and pieces. DD1 got a t-shirt from Boden in her stocking and thinks it has a picture of a 'Swan Queen from Swan Lake' on it and it makes her really happy and keeps her top-half warm. It makes me miserable to think she's going to be judged by opinionated people (or I am) for wearing it.

limitedperiodonly · 13/01/2014 16:59

I always thought a sweater slung over your shoulders and tied by the sleeves just under your neck was very middle class.

No. Eurotrash, especially if pink cashmere on a man and by Avon Celli.