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?

@RoyalFamilyFan

Or this. It is incredibly ugly. How can anyone see this and decide to buy it?

Oh my God that one is indeed a stinker!!!

I like a shapeless cult smock as much as the next 50-something hippy but eeeeeeeek you have a point OP

@CaliforniaDrumming

This is the Woolovers shirt I bought for the summer. Is it very dull? Def v middle class:) www.woolovers.com/womens/shirts/loose-fit-linen-shirt-pink-18021

I don;t mind anyone saying it is. I have already bought it and will wear it with some slightly more exciting jewellery.

I do have a couple of Woolovers jumpers but I find most of it very dowdy and ageing.

[quote RoyalFamilyFan]@Bitofachinwag 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.[/quote]
Hs ha ha do you think I am a fat woman in my late fifties? ;)

I’ve literally spent the last 10 mins trying to think what kind of architectural material symbolises these clothes? Wet concrete is the answer.

I think I’m structurally unsound too 😂 hence why I wear dungarees.

@UserBot989

Some toast clothes are so shapeless I think that the 'aspiration' is ''I already have everything I need, I don't need to play this game of fashion like the rest of you mere mortals trying to disguise your tummies. I'm going to wear this bag and let my long legs and my great teeth and my impossibly gorgeous curly hair (either red or blonde) do the talking for me, and I'll be heard. Lesser mortals, try your best, go on, play fashion, you won't ever be me.''

Lesser mortals who need to play fashion to try and look good, I sympathise, it must be so tiring looking for styles and colours to flatter the ordinary body. I'm so glad I look good in a tent made out of linen woven by peruvian peasants.

I think you might have hit the nail on the head there.

I think that's exactly it.

I know someone who would wear that denim dress and look stunning in it. She has flowing Pre-Raphaelite hair and she'd layer it with knitwear and scarf, lace up boots, maybe a Victorian petticoat and long duster coat. She would look amazing in it. I would look like fat nan who was about to come at you with a bible.

YANBU. The lower classes are so lucky with their colourful track suits and football shirts.

I’m tall and skinny and would never wear shapeless sacks like that. You can wear loose and flowing and it still be somewhat flattering. Veronica Beard, say, is conservative, but with some interest to the clothes.

I wear a lot of Toast. It's comfortable, well cut, with lovely fabrics. It lasts for donkey's years. I agree they drop some clangers every season, and they are expensive, but overall I love it. I would wear the dress you've linked to, OP, and would make it look great imo . But I like my clothes to be good quality, simple, functional, comfortable and unshowy. I don't mind looking like an art teacher or a gardener!

On the other hand, the website you cited looks pretty awful to me, with garish, badly cut clothes in man-made fibres. Not for me at all.

@thepeopleversuswork

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.

Thanks that is really interesting. I started this thread as a bit of fun and I am glad it has cheered some people up or made them laugh. I wasn't expecting such interesting comments though, so thanks it is really making me think more about this.

@FeelingBlu92

I wear FatFace, Mistral, and some brightly coloured grown up versions of Frugi and Kite tops - what class are they please?

I would say middle class.

I'm definitely working class and completely agree with OP. For those asking I wfh and generally wear a top like the one attached with mom jeans. If going into the office I'd generally wear a dress similar to attached. Id wear these items on weekends too, depending on what we're up to.I'm in my early 30s and my office has no dress code if that's relevant. Footwear wise I always wear my dr martens Chelsea boots or converse/vans.

@Bitofachinwag I was talking about myself! I am a fat woman in her late fifties.

@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.

It’s awful. It looks like something from Desigual stuck in a small, European mall shop window.

@thepeopleversuswork

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.

Yes, and I'm going to say once again that it's easy to achieve this if you don't have curves in the first place.

@RedHot22

I have to be careful I don’t look overtly sexy because of my body shape, how I walk and my general persona/look.

The shops you’ve listed are great for me.
I don’t like Boden or White stuff but love Toast, Hush. Mint Velvet, Jigsaw, Reiss & Poetry

It's sad when we have to think about inflaming men's passions.

I'm well endowed OH never liked my cleavage seen in public when I was older, neither did my son.

Society is odd

It’s all so subjective to an individual though, which is what makes everyone interesting. I don’t like Toast clothes, I think they are aimed at older women. Equally I wouldn’t be seen in the Isabelle Roth clothes OP has suggested.

I only wear dresses and mainly floral ones at that. I have some beautiful dress from Laura Ashley, Ghost and Somerset by Temperley that look like old curtains. I am fully aware they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but also couldn’t care less. I imagine the same of people that wear Toast clothes.

@Mysterian

YANBU. The lower classes are so lucky with their colourful track suits and football shirts.

But if you're skint its understandable that you might wear hideous sportswear and shellsuits.

These people have plenty of money and choose to spend it on ill-designed, shapeless clothes which downplay their attractiveness and just make them look weird.

These clothes are all designed to say "I'm too quirky and bright to follow mainstream fashion". That's all there is too it really, there's very little aesthetic consistency about it. The goal is simply to look a bit "wrong".

I totally get you OP.

The Boden and Joules style that to me is very MC

It’s not a look I would wear (not a wannabe)
And of course the children have hand me downs

Ds is always very smart, polished shoes and has new uniform at school that’s a give away what class his parents are at his school (it’s very MC)

I know what you mean op. I am in a FB group that is mostly frequented by middle class women due to being linked to a very luxurious product (I worked my ass off to afford the product, many in the group have more than one and thought nothing of buying it!).

Anyway one day I was in House of Fraser and my dd and I were laughing at this ridiculous boilersuit and saying it reminded us of Slipknot. The next day, someone in that group posts a link of a celebrity wearing said boilersuit and demanding to know where she can purchase such an item (she called it a 'jumpsuit'). I still giggle when I think about it! People can be convinced into buying anything if a celebrity wears it. It was about £400 too.

That is one example of many but yeh lots of the clothes posted in the group are imo hideous.

I feel the same OP. I do occasionally look on the ‘style and beauty’ threads it most the things people link too isn’t my style. I have never bought anything from Boden, toast etc.., I did buy some loungewear from hush and a boiler suit but they were not worth the price.

I buy a lot of my clothes 2nd hand and have bought some bits from Etsy (handmade), I dress kind of hippy and sometimes a bit punk, I love run and fly and own way too many pairs of their dungarees. I find it hard to find things I like in high street shops, shopping is no longer enjoyable unless it’s online.

I know what you're trying to say OP. I do think a lot of Cos, Me + Em etc. clothes are ugly but also I think it depends on your body shape. Some of these clothes can look amazing on someone tall and slim but look clownlike on others.

I'm 5ft 3 and just can't get away with any of them - but I'm not sure I'd want to either.

I think Plumo clothes are pretty dire though - even on someone tall!

@MoniJitchell I think that is a normal way for a woman your age to dress who is slim. But I don't mix with people who think a wage of over £100,000 is normal.

[quote RoyalFamilyFan]@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.[/quote]
It’s not that they (we) don’t care. Typically (I can’t speak for everyone, obviously) it’s that they don’t care what you (or particularly men) think. They dress to please themselves and their aesthetic which is driven by the tribe they exist within.

Everyone with any fashion sense cares, they just care about different things.

@Cornisharchitect

I’ve literally spent the last 10 mins trying to think what kind of architectural material symbolises these clothes? Wet concrete is the answer.

I think I’m structurally unsound too 😂 hence why I wear dungarees.

It's more about finding you need an extension post-childbirth, in my experience. Or some underpinning.