To hate all clothes... too young or too mumsy

[gwincath]

Having a mare picking clothes for a few special occasions coming up over the next few months... I'm late 40s and clothes just either seem too young or too mumsy, I just wanna look nice
Any store/brand suggestion appreciated

Britnay, I am sure you can get anti-fashion, but maybe easier online.

Places like Boden, Joules etc

If you're only 5ft 3 anything floaty and drapey just looks as if you're wearing clothes belonging to a woman 6inches taller than you.

If you're apple shaped to boot, leggings simply accentuate your stomach. You end up having to wear them because they're now the "uniform".

Fashion is your friend if you are young, healthy and rich.

I just find that trying to get the right sizing can be so difficult, which is why I hate online clothes shopping. In places like White Stuff I wear a 6 and they are still fairly loose, yet I can be a size 10 with other brands. Even when they have size guides online, when you try things on they just don't look right. I used to love TK Maxx as they always used to have a wide variety of styles, but even their stock is so dull right now.

I guess I'm at that stage where I'm finally out of the murky depths of toddlerdom (youngest is 3 and just started nursery), I'm trying to get back to being ME, I have money to buy clothes but everything is so frumpy and mumsy that I end up disheartened and don't buy anything. I perhaps also blame Marie Kondo for this - nothing sparks joy! ;)

I think what Britnayis looking for Peanut is clothes that are actually shaped rather than fitted/figure hugging, same as me really, I want a nice long length white shirt to wear with skinny jeans but trying to find one that is either long enough and shaped at the waist is impossible from the shops in my town, any white shirt I have found I look like I have borrowed my dads shirt to do an art class at primary school. I do think it’s cost and not fashion, it’s much easier and cheaper to cut a square than an actual shape that vaguely follows the female form.

I know I know, I am a sucker for a fitted shirt or a fitted dress

But they are hard to get now. Fashion is wide and boxy

I just bought a fitted Laura Ashley dress on ebay. I am clearly not in love with the current fashion either

But it is hard to go against fashion, as shopping becomes so frustrating. So have also bought myself some shapeles baggy tops and baggy trousers to match...

Go me

Uniqlo for great neutral basics, lovely flowy shirts, nice trousers. I think there's something for everyone and if you're not in London you can buy online. Sizing is accurate, I feel.

Nooki - nice indie label, cool but unfussy

clothes are not only wide and boxy they are short as well! Tripple whammy! You are right it does make shopping so frustrating, exactly how I feel everytime I hit the shops lately, I desperately need some new clothes for work but can’t face the emotional trauma of yet another fruitless trip into town! Congratulations on embracing your inner fashionista Peanut the pavement is your catwalk!

Move out of the high st and into the smaller shops where the range is chosen by a good stylist. Find the labels you like then eBay like crazy. So much more fun than high street sameness.

@Britnay - if you shop online go for those that offer free returns and buy several sizes of each item eg one either side of your usual size. Once you have figured out your size in each brand then you won’t need to order so much stuff in future. I love online shopping because you get to try everything on in the comfort of the bedroom and can try things with different shoes and accessories etc

Mumsnet is obsessed with Cos (and Hush). When I opened this thread I made a little bet with myself about how long it would take for someone to mention it. It didn't take long. I loathe it personally

Add Boden and joules to that.

Cos is shapeless sacks. I want to like it, but everything is like a sack on me. Boden is largely mumsy, frumpy and viscose-tastic and joules is the mumsy version of the faded Cornwall look.

OP since you’re after clothes for special occasions, I think the John Lewis personal shopper might be a good idea.

I don't know anybody in RL who dresses in that Cos style

Some of us have reconciled ourselves to shapeless sacks because fitted clothes make us look like the Michelin man. At least Cos sell stylish sacks.

Well I'm glad you've found it suits you Bluelady but personally I find that these shapeless Cos-style clothes make me look bigger. Plus I don't want to be "resigned" to my clothes. I want them to make me feel great

I'm not resigned. I like Cos. I am resigned to my shit, shapeless post menopausal body because I don't have any choice. Like I said upthread, you have to work with what you've got. I'd sell my soul to have the body back that I had a few years ago.

Amen to that Blue!

I think the holy grail is something that skims but doesn't cling. Fitted but not tight. That's what I'm looking for anyway

Someone mentioned it upthread but Bennetton is great atm. Lots of classics, modern classics, clean lines and bright colours.

I am ex-joules staff and not all of us looked mumsy or twee! It can be done! I never wear trousers and used to get compliments on my outfits and dresses. I am 5'2 and curvy but have the classic low-thyroid doughnut round my middle which makes it harder. Gant shift dresses from their sale are my go to with jackets. I have an almost cartoon feminine figure which looks best in very classic feminine styles. I've leant to embrace it and accentuate it.

God I’m the same and only 26 but add I too that I need something I can breast feed in and run around after a toddler. Also I think I have a longer body ( we’ll definitely a high waist ) so dresses always seem to come up short. Oh yeah and cheap aswell 😂

Someone mentioned it upthread but Bennetton is great atm. Lots of classics, modern classics, clean lines and bright colours. OK, I've just looked at their "new in" dresses, they all look the same with flared skirts and tied in at the waist like a sack of potatoes. And some of them have got that same droopy-at-the-back hemline which those of us with stomachs achieve effortlessly, so I really don't know why it seems to be a fashion feature at the moment.

or to put it another way, I realise I don't have a clue what is stylish or what is frumpy, and I'm totally a lost cause.

I love Apricot. I rarely buy from anywhere else

MereDint. Sorry! Bennetton has nice classic separates and some good work wear and when I was in the Oxford St branch last month I tried on some lovely pretty shift type dresses and a nice red wool one that had way more shape when on. I have the a-line jacket in ice blue and I'm buying it in navy and pink to go over dresses, too. And given my shape I do NOT buy spud sack dresses.

I've just been browsing the benetton web site. Blimey they do like a ruffled / flared / tie up / otherwise embellished sleeve don't they? Like this one. I really really hoped they had gone away

"clothes for fat au pairs…"