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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think so many middle-class clothes are ugly?

998 replies

RoyalFamilyFan · 07/01/2022 11:07

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
44
neveradullmoment99 · 07/01/2022 13:17

@FrancescaContini

Slightly not the point but why is there a thread dedicated to Toast on S&B? Do they plant their staff amongst MN users to promote their stuff? Do they pay MN to have this so obviously promoted?

FWIW, I agree their stuff is overpriced and really dull. I have enjoyed looking at all the awful clothes posted here, especially the dresses for toddlers.

Yawn

FFS people like the clothes. Move on.

RoyalFamilyFan · 07/01/2022 13:17

@Bitofachinwag Grin No. Although I don't think for a minute it would suit a fat woman in her late fifties. But I like the punk vibe from it.

OP posts:
PickAChew · 07/01/2022 13:17

@Thatsplentyjack

I was just coming on to say this! If a women wants to wear a sack dress why not? It’s not our job to look pretty. If you want to then crack on and enjoy it. But some people don’t give a crap.

The people that wear the type of clothes the OP posted don't wear it because they don't care how they look. Quite the opposite.

More that they do care how they look but what men think doesn't come into it.
maddening · 07/01/2022 13:17

I voted yabu as although I do not like the style that you have picked to show as ugly expensive clothes I definitely consider that there is room in the world for any style and what a person finds attractive is very subjective, furthermore, there will be examples of most styles for most clothing budgets ime (see the metal and dress from a pp above). So the reverse snobbery is bu imo, just as any snobbery is, whichever way it is directed.

ArabellaScott · 07/01/2022 13:17

@Cornisharchitect

Can we stop describing clothes as architectural? Please and thank you! Grin
Some of my clothing is structurally unsound. Smile
LeQuern · 07/01/2022 13:18

@RoyalFamilyFan

Okay this is a middle-class site and this dress is lovely. You don't have to dress in shapeless grey or sludge colours.
Bar the dungarees shown up thread, that is genuinely the ugliest picture uploaded. It surpasses even your black and white thing.

I recoiled at that awful baby shit brown and pink dress! It’s the kind of thing I usually see on Boden!

JaneJeffer · 07/01/2022 13:18

Some of my clothing is structurally unsound. Grin

KimikosNightmare · 07/01/2022 13:18

@RoyalFamilyFan

Okay this is a middle-class site and this dress is lovely. You don't have to dress in shapeless grey or sludge colours.
Each to their own. Mustard is a horrible colour and the print is hideous. .
kittensinthekitchen · 07/01/2022 13:18

[quote steff13]Here's an example of stuff Target had last year:
www.boredpanda.com/target-dress-challenge/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic[/quote]
That article is amazing 🤣

#mormonsneedclothestoo

maddening · 07/01/2022 13:18

See the metal and dress = see the matalan dress

RoyalFamilyFan · 07/01/2022 13:18

@OnwardsAndSideways1 yes taste is personal. People like different colours, etc. It is the shapeless grey stuff or clothes that look like you should be 2 years old that I really don't understand.

OP posts:
Foxglovesandlilacs86 · 07/01/2022 13:19

Toast isn’t for me but I don’t think it’s necessarily ugly, I would say it’s more suited to skinny flat/small chested professional women over a certain age. Same with boden and hush!

Each to their own!

CrimbleCrumble1 · 07/01/2022 13:19

I think I’m structurally unsound.

Cam22 · 07/01/2022 13:19

👏🏻

Catastrophejane · 07/01/2022 13:19

@RoyalFamilyFan this post has made me chuckle. Thanks for cheering me up during isolation! Grin

YANBU - I love a boiler suit ( sometimes in pastel colours! Shock) but even I balk at the floral dungarees and frilly shirt- wtaf?!

I also hate this trend for shapeless sacks- I think that it’s an anti-fashion fashion statement…kind of ‘I’m too cool to be concerned about fashion/sexiness/male gaze.

I am, however, a middle class slut. So currently finding it very difficult to find sexy, but well made clothes.

Bring back body con!!

PickAChew · 07/01/2022 13:19

@phishy

I'm wondering if & daughter pay their hand knitters a living wage, rather than exploitative piecework rates.

Who are 'If & daughter'?

www.and-daughter.com/
LeQuern · 07/01/2022 13:19

@RoyalFamilyFan seriously - that dress! Shock. You’re trolling us, surely?!

RoyalFamilyFan · 07/01/2022 13:19

@LeQuern Grin I like it.

OP posts:
Crowdfundingforcake · 07/01/2022 13:19

RoyalFamilyFan I like the style of that dress but could never imagine wanting to wear a dress pattered with palm trees.

BigButtons · 07/01/2022 13:20

@RoyalFamilyFan I completely agree with you. Those shops aimed at the middle classes ( and they are aimed at the middle classes. The working class don't use them) are stupidly over priced and full of fugly clothes. They are all round my town these shops- and people wearing their clothes. It's like a load of clones walking around.

LadyinRead · 07/01/2022 13:21

Clothes to hide inside?
These dresses cost in the region of £225… I think the seond one looks like a judge's robe.

To think so many middle-class clothes are ugly?
To think so many middle-class clothes are ugly?
thepeopleversuswork · 07/01/2022 13:21

I know what you mean OP: there's a sort of Puritanism about some of these clothes -- sort of anti-sex, anti-glamour.

I grew up in an incredibly middle class town and there was a weird competitiveness among people of my parents' generation -- affluent, if not wealthy people who could have afforded to dress much much better, to look as dowdy and asexual as possible.

I think its partly that labels are thought to be a bit common and certainly if you're spending a lot of your disposable income on them there's a moral judgement.

Also subconsciously I think these people want to send a message that they are too clever to think in great depth about what they are wearing.

I also think its a hangover from the Victorian era with its sex phobia. There's some thought process that goes: showing leg or cleavage makes you look poor. And anti-feminist.

It's all bollocks but I've lived among and around these people long enough to have some insight into the way their minds work.

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of knock of Louis Vuitton either, not really my thing. But I do think there's no shame in wanting to look attractive and well-groomed and its very odd that people want to go out of their way to avoid these things.

KimikosNightmare · 07/01/2022 13:22

@RoyalFamilyFan

People keep asking what I like. I cant imagine I would go somewhere where I would ever wear this, but I like this.
That's horrible. It looks cheap. The asymmetric hem shows up the poor quality inside finishing on the seam and hem.

It looks like a try too hard cheap copy of one of the weird and wonderful Belgian or Japanese designers.

RoyalFamilyFan · 07/01/2022 13:23

@Crowdfundingforcake it is not my style. I prefer a bit of a punky vibe. But I can see why someone would buy that dress and like it.

@BigButtons yes I do find it hilarious all the posters saying they buy stuff like this because they don't care what they look like and are anti-fashion. Aye sure you are.
There is a clear fashion look amongst some middle-class women.

OP posts:
Cam22 · 07/01/2022 13:23

@JaneJeffer

That's perfect for wearing to the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel *@RoyalFamilyFan*
If you’re Miriam.