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?

Getting Toast adverts now...

I didn't look hard for those photos. They are taken from the home page of Toast and Boden.
I am wearing a fairly ordinary blue jumper. As I said I am not a style guru, but my clothes are pretty ordinary. Cheap, not ugly and not amazing.

@Bitofachinwag

What do you wear OP? Please post links to your favourite outfit .

Oooh yes, this would be interesting! 😃

Pretty much everything you've linked in here is fucking awful.

However I very rarely see anyone dressed like that and I live in one of the wankiest places known to man.

@custardcreme

I’d wear that dress. I’m always drawn to a whiff of the Amish though.

Where would you wear a dress like that?🙄

That dungaree and big collar thing is hideous! But then again I never actually see anyone dressed like that IRL.

@WorraLiberty

One person's ugly is another person's pretty.

Love the thought of clothes being middle class though. Who knew? 🤣

It was chocolates the other day. I'm starting to think there's something a bit contrived about all this. MN doesn't need any assistance in maintaining its class obsession, but I'm wondering if someone's deliberately poking the Boden-clad, Godiva chocolates-eating bear.

Interestingly, the threads about Louis Vuitton handbags or equivalent are full of sneering outrage at how tacky and tasteless they are.

The only thing above I don't like is the flowery dungarees with the blue big collared blouse. I like the other stuff.

Heavens! I had no idea clothes had a class system.

Surely the only criteria are

Personal preference

and

Access - in terms of affordability, skill, bartering, gifts, sharing, swapping?

Each adult chooses for themselves - and for many of us getting dressed is a form of self expression. Even if we all chose our clothes from one pre-determined shop we’d manage to make ourselves look like individuals. It’s not the clothes themselves that create a look, it’s the wearer, and the context in which they’re worn.

I’d never heard of Boden till I joined mumsnet. It’s always recommended here and their clothes are so awful!!

Or these dungarees, suitable only if you have a career as a children's TV presenter. Very Timothy Mallett vibe.

YANBU there us most definitely a middle class uniform. A popular one here is wearing little plimsoll type trainers with jeans and colourful/patterned/character socks poking out the gap between the trainers and jeans. It just looks ridiculous on an adult. No idea where they fashion came from.

Some people have an innate sense of style and can wear accessories in a way that makes an ugly outfit look nice. That doesn't change the fact that the clothes themselves are inherently ugly - everything shown on this thread is hideous.

I guess the middle class thing comes from the price - few working class women are going to drop £160 on a fugly tent dress for everyday - that sort of money would be reserved for special occasion wear.

I agree OP I am shocked at the amount of money the middle class pay for ugly footwear and clothes. I don’t know anyone in real life who dress so frumpily and I’m 50 with friends up to the age of 70. We are all working class mind you.

I sort of know what you mean OP.

Toast and also (especially) Plumo have some stuff that you would have to be VERY confident to wear without looking completely deranged. I meant to start a thread about these trousers when I saw them a few months ago but didn't get round to it. Now they're ugly! (/ludicrous/what possessed them) If I wore them I'd look like a baby oompa loompa. I can't imagine who would look good in them or has the guts to wear them.

But, I don't think that's middle-class clothes in general, just one style. With Toast, a lot of the clothes are very sack-like or amish-like but for some women, that's what they want, a lot of older women (not all of course) are done with trying to look sexy and prefer comfort, nice fabrics or an arty look.

I find the Boden "little girl" style less appealing, as it's not really stylish or sexy, just kind of repressed. That said I've had some nice things from Boden, it's not all like that.

Then you have the printed white stuff tunic that can make any woman look like a sack of potatoes – but again they have some better things.

And there are other middle-class looks that aren't like this, like nicely cut suits, silk shirts, classy dresses. Brands like Hobbs and Reiss, Vivienne Westwood, and boutiques like Iris have more of this kind of thing.

@OGenkiDesuKa

I’d never heard of Boden till I joined mumsnet. It’s always recommended here and their clothes are so awful!!

Lots of them are definitely awful, but every now and then they have few gems for workwear that are in nice colours and not the hideous prints they usually do. I have a couple of plain silk tops that have been worn to death, washed in the machine and still look fine.

I don't know if it has to do with class (although it seems like y'all think everything does). I just think frumpier clothes are in now. That's what I'm seeing here at places like Target and Walmart. Not just pricier stores.

I share OP's opinion that those items are smugly. Is that a giant uncooked bread roll she holds above her head?

I set myself the challenge of finding something on Toa.st I'd wear... Tedious task. Maybe these jeans. But the prices. £60 for a shapeless t-shirt??

Or this shapeless dress. It doesn't look good on a model, it isn't going to look on good on someone without model proportions.

@Thatsplentyjack

YANBU there us most definitely a middle class uniform. A popular one here is wearing little plimsoll type trainers with jeans and colourful/patterned/character socks poking out the gap between the trainers and jeans. It just looks ridiculous on an adult. No idea where they fashion came from.

I agree it looks ridiculous.

@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??

That is awful, shapeless, unflattering even in the model in my opinion. I’d wear it if I wanted to resemble a sack of spuds.

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

Would love it if someone could actually tell me what class I am. Is it based on:

1. What job I do?
2. How much I earn?
3. What job my parents did?
4. What chocolate I eat?
5. Where I buy my clothes from?

Absolutely agree.
Boden & Joules are particularly middle class, frumpy and ugly.

That dress is shocking!