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?

As I've got older and willing to pay more for clothes, I tend to go to & other stories mostly. I love their stuff.

Can't beat a nice flying buttress, especially paired with chunky steel capped boots and a debra netting scarf.

@pansiesareyellow

And another corker from Plumo

Well yes but imagine the number of thermal tops and bloomers you could fit underneath without them showing!you'd be lovely and warm, and you,'d look trendy too!

[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]
UK readers need to know that Target is one tiny step up from Walmart! who own Asda. Looks like the wardrobe from 7 Brides for 7 Brothers

I haven't had time to RTFT but I totally agree with your opening post OP!

Toast, Cos, Poetry, even Whistles now, are all muted, baggy and almost desexualised.

I tend to only buy now from The White Company, M&S or Baukjen, which is my favourite (it's similar in price to The White Company but much better quality). It used to be online only but John Lewis stocks it now I think:

www.baukjen.com/

There is nothing that could ever persuade me to wear a corduroy tent.

But it could come in handy on a camp site?

Such a fascinating thread. OP is being a good sport about all of us giggling at her fashion choices!

I just went on Cos- not been on the site for months- and I love this dress. Might buy it even if I have no place to wear it. I am 5"7 and a size 12. www.cosstores.com/en_gbp/women/womenswear/dresses/product.long-sleeve-pleated-maxi-dress-red.1034382001.html

Yes but the Target dresses have been widely ridiculed on social media. The Toast and Plumo clothes are not.
I don't believe the Target dresses would have been widely ridiculed if they had been expensive and sold by Boden for example.

I'm with you. Toast clothes look like they've been designed by a purity cult. As for the thing to the left, it resembles an eco-burial shroud. It's £195!!!!!!

I just googled Lucy and Yak for the first time - WTF? Theatrical costumes possibly but not everyday stuff.

Have not read the whole thread.
But I think clothes from Toast and similar websites are not aiming to be "fashionable" in the popular sense of that word, nor are they particularly aiming to be flattering (or certainly not flattering to the average figure).

To me they are statement items in a similar but distinct way that other type of high fashion often includes statement items.

In the case of Toast the statement is as much about wealth as anything - if you have the money to drop £00's on single items which items are basically extremely good quality (in terms of fabric, cut and tailoring etc) notwithstanding that those items do not emphasise your figure or enhance your body in any way, they make a statement about wealth, confidence and valuing quality as opposed to the thro away culture of low fashion.

The emperor new clothes element to Toast is not just that the clothes are "ugly" as such but the fact that people who buy them are not saving the planet by buying quality because fashion is still at the price point where many more people will prefer to buy 10 much cheaper items rather than one item from Toast.

Totally agree OP! Boden, Toast, Seasalt, Me+Em etc, just hideous - I could never afford any of them anyway, but I wouldn't wear them even if I could! And the prices of the clothes are just unbelievable.

Women with small breasts have no idea of the levels of stress and disappointment we have to go through just finding something suitable for work.

It’s not that great growing up being told you’re unwomanly. Nobody escapes.

I quite like the Target dresses. Some nice colours.

I work at a regional university. This Toast look is definitely one embraced by a lot of my female academic colleagues. I must say they make it work - the clothes look interesting and they look serious in a "don't think i am not intelligent" way. In my experience these types of clothes are often paired with the super short fringe.

The Boden look if cute patterned wellies with a cute flowery/layered skirt is cute on little girls it’s not cute on adult women

And the horror of dresses over jeans is probably due for a come back soon

@CaliforniaDrumming I think that is a nice design. Bit concerned though about the way the pleats are hanging how well made it actually is. Hopefully will be good for you.

Does anyone remember Clothkits?

www.clothkits.co.uk/collections/sewing-patterns

Peak middle class.

It was a badge of shame among my peer group to have ever had to wear anything like this. Hideous.

I agree OP. Both that these clothes are ugly and that the stores that sell them are favoured by MC people. Anyone pretending not to get the concept if MC clothes is being disingenuous. The price alone is a constraint for many people of lower income, even if they liked the clothes. As for the styles, when everyone starts raving about some plain shapeless sack just because it comes from a particular shop, the Emperors New Clothes always springs to mind. But I'm very WC, so I suppose I would say that.

I recently bought a Seasalt dress online. I was not sure about the size. I have a big bust but am smaller elsewhere. If I buy a two piece anything it is always either a 14 or 16 at the top and a 12 for trousers and skirts. It's always difficult finding dresses that fit.
I ordered a 14 in the hope it would not be too small. It was like a tent on me. I sent it back and got the 12. It fits at the top but from the waist down it is huge on me. I get the feeling they pinned it at the back in the photo.
Yes I have worn it but when I do my daughter smiles at me as if to say 'wtf mum' It is a 'Grandma' dress
Needless to say I won't be buying any more.

I think I saw those trousers being worn by someone on Hampstead Heath last week- do they come in red?

Everywhere has pretty hideous clothes now and then. Primark, H&M, Zara, M&S have all had some howlers. I went into Burberry pre-covid (not to buy, we were just going in all the shops on Bond Street for a nosey to kill time) and most of the things in there were awful.

Just buy what makes you happy and bugger what anyone else thinks.

at eco-burial shroud!

@TedMullins

Not everyone thinks those kind of clothes ARE ugly though. Some people like the look of them. I don't particularly like the examples you posted or the brands mentioned, but I don't like that chequered abomination you posted either saying you did like it –it's even worse than the shapeless sacks!

I personally think 'classic' tailored dresses, of the sort you might find in the M&S workwear department, are ugly, because they're really not to my taste. Ditto the 'nice top and jeans' look – to me, it's frumpy and outdated. But to others it's classy and attractive. There's no right or wrong really when it comes to fashion, someone's ugly will always be someone else's pretty.

I love patterned Lucy & Yak dungarees and I do wear patterned socks with ankle-grazer jeans and Vans I've also shaved my head in the past and have a couple of shapeless dresses and jazzy patterns in my wardrobe, so you'd think I was one of the annoying try-hard quirky arty London types (which does describe me quite well tbf)

I haven't found a classic tailored dress in M&S for around 4 years. They're all puff sleeve, animal print, polyester florals and ruffles.

They've also only just reintroduced the 'workwear' option on the dropdown filters - only for dresses, though - the separate section you used to be able to find at the top disappeared and I'm currently ploughing my way through the saggy jersey stuff in search of trousers suitable for work that won't flap around halfway up the shins, trail on the floor or is unacceptable to my employer in other ways. The filter for types doesn't work.

@Isababybel

Yanbu Who would wear this: www.toa.st/products/swingy-denim-dress-indigo?gclid=CjwKCAiA5t-OBhByEiwAhR-hm9Z9CnmiBr1nrrS2MNp-kyYcULaAk0CASlJi0O8xpLPAXyBV7NlIZhoC7J4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds An art teacher??

What's wrong with it?

If you have a bit of a menopausal tummy to hide that style is very appealing.

I can't afford Toast and their clothes are made for giants but there's nothing wrong with them.