To think current fashion is f*cking hideous?

[321Emanresu]

Probably BU but I went shopping the other week as I needed a few tops. I saw:
Bright yellow playsuits
Hideous tops with the shoulders cut out
Skirts that look more like belts
Jeans with so many rips that they are indecent
Tops that aren't even decent (too short)
Cardigans with no sleeves (why, you wear a cardigan if it's cold surely)
AIBU to think that it's hideous and nobody would want to be seen dead in it?

"Simple shift dresses"

Oh yes. Does anyone know where I could get a nice shift dress which is just straight up and down finishing just above the knee?

Browsed h&m the other day, and there was so little in the shop that was actually wearable by anyone other than a very slim teenager! I'm a size 8 and lucky in that previously, I could mostly wear anything off the peg - only limited by my own taste / style. But there was so much that I thought was just, I don't know, just not 'real world' clothes! Thought, ok maybe early 30s and the shop is too young for me now - but no, next / tesco / new look / Zara were the same - shit styles, shit colours, shit fabric, just shit! I wanted a dress - just something smart casual. I'd have struggled to buy a t-shirt!

One of the things which is exercising me this year is palette. It's all filled nappy yellow and poo chart browns. These are not colours I want to wear or suit me. I've decided to sit this year out. I bought some new sandals, but I reckon I can muddle through with last summer's stuff.

Thank God it's not just me!!! Totally agree OP! I went shopping this week and was thinking I hated everything I saw but I must just be really unfashionable or something. Clothes designers have clearly lost the plot and forgotten we don't all look like 6ft edgy models who can carry off these looks.

Agreed about the prolific use of filled nappy colours. Just vile.

I think I'll sit this year out too.

I love 90s fashion

Also a lot of shirts which button up right to the chin. Horrid. Patterns and styles which are very 'old lady chic'. I don't want to look like grandma!! I'm at that age where I'm very conciously approaching middle age and I don't want too look even older and frumpier than I am because some dickhead fashion designer thinks it looks edgy!

to - not too!

Yes, yes, yes!!!

It's all from some horrid 1978 time warp. Some of the stuff Sainsburys is selling is exactly what I was wearing then (which is a tad freaky as my clothes were vile homemade)/

None of it is suitable for anyone who is not a lissome teenager from a Timotei ad

" I'm at that age where I'm very conciously approaching middle age and I don't want too look even older and frumpier than I am"

Yes, I also think that about geek chic, on a stylish person it would be ironic, but on me I'd just look like a geek.

Oh crumbs you would all hate my wardrobe!

I love skinny jeans and wear them with cold shoulder tops / Bardot tops or huge hoodies depending on weather.

I've always gone for bodycon style dresses for special occasions. So love the fact they are everywhere.

70s boho look for summer again not because of fashion it's stuff I have always worn - love the dress pictured earlier and have one similar.

I'm 45 and shop in new look Topshop warehouse Zara and primark. I buy stuff I know suits me not because it's fashionable and for the first time in years I can walk into shops and find stuff I like.

I am very confused by the current nan fashion. Crimpolene long skirts in bathroom pink. Strange yellow tops.
The worst thing was Gemma Whelan on Graham Norton in an oversized dress like my primary school teacher used to wear.

What's with the frump?!

Thinking about it, you're completely right. What is it with all the jeans lately being cut off at the bottom or rolled up and sewn so they're too short? Also all full of holes?
I quite like some things though - there's a lot of denim with embroidery which I think is lovely and would buy myself some jeans like that if they weren't also too short and full of holes
I've also been really struggling to find a simple, plain-coloured jumper that isn't some funny shape or asymmetrical or anything. I'd also like a simple plain black dress but no luck. I swear things like that should be essentials and yet they don't seem to exist any more

I don't wear dresses but friends do and even the 20 somethings complain it's either body con or patterned and flowing.

Totally agree. My favourite ugly who the feck would wear this monstrosity is here:

http://www.marksandspencer.com/beaded-long-sleeve-jersey-top/p/p22493180?image=SD011T4190233KYXXEC90&color=IVORY&prevPage=plp&pdpredirect

Looks worse in real life!

I've just discovered what cigarette trousers are. Ugh my granny wore those and they looked awful then. In fact most fashion seems to be what my granny wore.

I actually like some of the more casual grunge fashions but am too pregnant to get away with wearing them,

Ha bet pp don't think maxi dresses are so bad now!

Cigarette pants are incredibly flattering on most people!

I am 40, slim and athletic - skinny jeans acceptable or not?

Just those silly waterfall ones that look like giant fannies

Waterfall anything is terrible.

Yep got a catalogue through the door all pale yellow and frills and weird floral designs, Really doesn't work for me.

I have decided to wait til the summer bits come in hopefully they are better.

I don't think cigarette trousers work on a pear shape
Even at size 8 my hip bones are where they are
Ive seen some easy fit trousers, like the ones I wear at work, described as cig pants but I think they're wrongly described
I also think that the terminology for fashion really isn't helpful but that's because I mostly shop online
About five years ago I bought several pairs of straight leg jeans and trousers, like eight pairs, because I suddenly found them! My sister thought I was nuts but I'm so glad I did that.

I read recently that next has not performed well last season and a company spokesperson was quoted as saying that they had over invested in trend pieces and ignored the core basics that customers always need.
I should be a great next customer, I often shop with them for children's basics/uniform but the range is full of boxy shapes that do nothing for the pear shaped person.
I wish empire line style would come back in- they are something that flatters almost anyone as they cinch in at everyone's slimmest point below the bust, yet skim over any tummy. I remember gok wan was all over them back in the day.
Skinny jeans have just got to end soon- I still have several pairs of really flattering comfortable boot cut jeans that I have been keeping for when they come back into fashion, they've been in the wardrobe now for more than 10 years!! So many people wear skinnies when they just don't suit them. A friend of mine tried to persuade me to buy some, 'you'll look great in them' she says. Eventually I agreed to try some on to show her- she never suggested them again!

I'm 60 and I'm used to having to rummage when I go shopping. There are always things I think are hideous and things I like and, in that respect, this season doesn't feel any different from any other.

I think the best thing at the moment is that, at long last, there's a choice of trouser/jeans shapes instead of death by skinnies. I don't understand the moaning about the cropped length. It draws the eye away from my thighs and down to my ankles, the thinnest part of my leg - what's not to like?

I get the impression a lot of you are in your 40s. If so then maybe this is the first time you're seeing all the clothes you wore in your teens back in the shops? I would get used to it as it's how fashion works. Perhaps you should take some advice from your much maligned nans - they'll have seen it all before many, many times

"poo chart browns"

I think it's because fashion is an industry now and not a "métier".

YANBU.

I had a clear out of clothes older than my daughters a little while ago and needed some new bits and couldn't really find anything I liked.

I've started making some clothes myself. Just simple tops and skirts at the moment but decent quality fabrics that fit me properly.

I did buy a lovely (so I thought) floaty top with drapey sleeves. I loved it - until I dragged them through my spaghetti bolognaise, they ended up in the washing up bowl, the dog got his foot caught in one, etc, etc

Half the problem is the effort it takes to filter through all the crappy stuff to find the one tolerable item that a store stocks. Maybe we need to have a thread where we can recommend / list key wardrobe essentials and where we found them ? Pool the effort, if you see what I mean ?
My contributions to start with =
I buy my jeans from Gap because they do a good range of shades and different cuts (yes including straight leg and boot cut !).
Last summer I got a pair of just above the knee navy shorts in a very durable thick cotton in Joules. Perfect for summer, practical and not exposing acres of thigh like every other pair of shorts I looked at.

I could do with recommendations for :
Cropped tailored black work trousers (smart fabric, not cheap polyester)
Silky loose tops in nice colours for work (to go with aforementioned trousers) - boat neck, scoop neck or v neck all fine. Elbow sleeve or short sleeve but not sleeveless.