To think so many middle-class clothes are ugly?

[RoyalFamilyFan]

I admit I am hardly a style guru. But when I joined Mumsnet people talked about lots of companies I had never heard of like Toast. So I followed links of clothes posted and looked at the websites mentioned. And was shocked at how ugly so much of the clothing was.
Shapeless grey dresses. Black loose trousers teamed with black tunics which make the model look like she is a member of a cult. Shapeless brown t-shirts.
They are just so ugly. AIBU?

Just look at the over paid influencers on Instagram eg Emma Hampton (previously Finlay Fox). She often dons a shapeless dress with a flowery padded gilet & gets paid £000s to do it... sigh.

@Cam22 those shops are definitely only in affluent cities.

Hobbs, whistles, sea salt etc do not exist in most northern cities (I say that as I’m from the north and know what’s here!) and definitely not smaller towns.

New look, peacocks, Matalan do.

[quote RoyalFamilyFan]@JaneJeffer Would you really wear that cult look? All she needs is a shaved head.[/quote]
It's just old fashioned. But probably not in the right "retro" way ! ( In your opinion)

I think lots of clothing is ugly, full stop. I've see awful clothes at all price points! And even worse it looks uncomfortable, and I will never understand why people care so much more about how clothes look than they feel.

But shockingly different people have different tastes, different body shapes etc, different lifestyles and practicalities, and people must have a use for this stuff or it wouldn't sell.

Cornisharchitect

Wait what’s architecturally structured clothes? I’m an architect so I need to know

It means oversized expensive grey and sludge brown clothes

It doesn't actually OP. Issey Miyake for example is expensive and beautiful.

OP your original post was quite light- hearted but later posts are rather nasty and you've just been dishing out insults.

Isn’t there a dolly Parton quiet somewhere where she’s told The town tram was called trash but to me she was absolutely beautiful when everyone would say oh she’s just trash she’d say will trash is what I’m gonna be when I grow up 🤣
I bloody love that. I have a hilarious story that when I got hair extensions in a boob job when my youngest started school & claim in my life again. I was still all Brenton tops and Boden Richmond trousers but because I’d sort of made some improvements in my life somebody sent random rumour that I was an escort and my husband was a drug dealer. I drove a ford C max ffs.

@Bideshi

This thread made me cry. I was really looking forward to wearing my new Toast dress. I thought I looked really nice and so did DH. I'm 5'4 with a bosom and not thin. So I seen now that I must have been mistaken.

Oh no, no, no. Has your dress even been posted? This thread is about 1% fashion and style and 99% class obsession and posturing. Enjoy your dress, if you and your husband both like it, who else do you need to impress? I bet you look lovely.

MNers would be horrified at how I dress. I don't wear jeans, button shirts or blazers, or an "understated" necklace. It doesn't matter. To think own self be true. You're not trying to make these posters happy. Please yourself.

@Bideshi

This thread made me cry. I was really looking forward to wearing my new Toast dress. I thought I looked really nice and so did DH. I'm 5'4 with a bosom and not thin. So I seen now that I must have been mistaken.

Don't take MN so seriously:) I am sure you look fine.

I am posting too much on here because I am trying to avoid some housework. But I agree with PP that ALL fashions these days are oversized and baggy whether New Look or Toast. Am waiting for fashions to be less oversized, but not bodycon. Something in between. These days I just wear jeans and a nice jumper or shirt. Saves thinking too much. I recently bought a couple of nice classic shirts from Woolovers. Just plain cotton and linen which are not in fashion but also not out of it!

Sat here in a shapeless grey dress feeling all deflated.

The toddler's clothes on adult women is an interesting look. I remember a training session at work. Lots of ordinary people for the training and the training was delivered by two women from London who looked like they had wandered off the set of Playschool. I mean wear what you want in your own time, but I really don't think it was suitable for work.

@Bideshi

This thread made me cry. I was really looking forward to wearing my new Toast dress. I thought I looked really nice and so did DH. I'm 5'4 with a bosom and not thin. So I seen now that I must have been mistaken.

Why would you cry about some random internet person's judgement of your dress? Wear it and enjoy it. The OP has proved she has terrible taste in clothes anyway.

It’s an anti-fashion look as others have suggested, but also a rejection of the idea that revealing or form-fitting clothes are necessarily what women should feel is ‘feminine’. Comfort and feel versus ‘look’.

@ArabellaScott Why? Why do you think my opinions hold any more weight than yours?

I love shapeless dresses. Super comfy. I’m wearing a grey shapeless woolen dress today with a bright blue coat and yellow boots. I’m not sorry that my style hurts your eyes.
I hate anything tight and find bodycon atrocious.

Oh god you are right! I last bought something from there two years ago. It is a lovely slightly quirky dress. Nothing like these horrors. No idea where I will shop next. Why do they do this? You find somewhere you like and then they start churning out horrors.

I think you can like anything from anywhere, don't have loyalty to any one brand and look for the gems where you can find them.

@Hellolittlestar the bright blue coat sounds nice.

Yep agree. Their clothes are ugly. I wonder if the people on here who keep suggesting them work for them. Christ knows how they are still in business.

Don't get me wrong some people can wear these types of clothes and look very stylish.

But, I'm with you I look at the clothes on Boden, toast, cos etc and think no thanks, I'd look ridiculous and feel dowdy in any of that.

@Cam22

Definitely not. Heels are too high, cleavage is on permanent show, dresses are short and cheap.

I'm working class & do not wear the clothes you've described here!

If I had more money I'd wear better quality versions of the clothes I wear now - staple uniform of jeans/trousers, blouse/top & cardigan with flat shoes/boots.

For more formal events like a wedding I'd wear a dress below the knee, with minimal cleavage on display & heels no more than 3 inches high - some of the dresses linked on here as suitable for a wedding are so ugly I wouldn't wear them to clean the toilets never mind have photos taken for posterity wearing them!

I have noticed there's a definite Amish/little house on the prairie vibe in tops/dresses just now though - no good for people like me who are large of boob.

@phishy I know but it takes so much time ploughing through loads of retailers to find one thing you like.

White company. Incredibly expensive and in my experience, can be v vanilla and so not worth it but My sister would pay for anything with a WC label on it.

You're not wrong OP, lots of Toast and Cos stuff does look like they are going out of their way to make the model look like she is in a cult, one where they don't have mirrors.
I don't need clothes to be sexy (I wear a lot of dungarees!) but the grey shapeless sack type of thing with mad balloon sleeves makes me look like I have just escaped from somewhere.
If I liked it I would wear it though-really couldn't care what other people think of my clothes, I'm not 14!

I also remember a mumsnet discussion about Sharon from Catastrophe's wardrobe. Lots of people raving about her "teaching clothes" which I thought were ghastly - voluminous blouses stuffed into waistband of voluminous pleated skirts- she had a gorgeous figure and those outfits made her look a stone and a half heavier. I liked her sexy, fitted evening outfits though.

@honeylulu Yes, because women who wear flattering clothes for work will often be accused of dressing inappropriately for the workplace, and are more likely to be blamed if someone sexually harasses them.

Women with curves generally have a choice between (a) wearing flattering clothes that fit our curves properly, and being judged as being "deliberately sexy" and being blamed for harassment, and dressing inappropriately for work, and (b) wearing shapeless clothes that almost hide our curves, but make us look two stone heavier instead, and being judged as messy and, surprise surprise, not dressing smartly enough for work. We can't win.

[quote Cornisharchitect]@KimikosNightmare oh wow! I had no idea! I am actually intrigued now. But I fear I would get stuck / trapped in my clothes. (I’m a little clumsy and always in a rush!)[/quote]
Check out Issey Miyake.

The Dutch designer was Pauw.

My one and only Vivienne Westwood dress- her classic " figure of eight dress" took 2 shop assistants to put back together when I stepped through the wrong fold !

[quote RoyalFamilyFan]@JaneJeffer Would you really wear that cult look? All she needs is a shaved head.[/quote]
Many of the models have an androgynous look, currently, and every possible box has been ticked.