People who criticise how we dress in the UK

[LadyHenryofRawlinsonEnd]

I think it is due to the weather!

Today, quite mild here if you step out of the wind. If you step into it (as you will) and walk for any distance it cuts right through to your bones, intolerable.
So we went out for an hour's walk, padded jackets and wool hats. A bit depressing in April, but nothing new. I came home with something like a splitting ear migraine, it had cut right through my rather fetching little cashmere bonnet like a scythe

I don't run a vehicle at the moment, so it's good fun trying to determine how to clothe oneself when the bright, warming sun might topple out of existence 5 mins after you've rummaged around for an hour in the wardrobe, finally settling on a decent dress and light jacket.
Birkenstock sandals? But what if it rains!?
The care instructions advise you not to get them wet, perhaps they are volatile, like gremlins..

To carry an umbrella or not? Mmmm, decisions. Sometimes I might need to employ a well sized sack for all of those weather associated accoutrements I shall require - brolly, hat, gloves, mac, small tent

During the early springtime of 2013 I noticed more than one individual wearing plastic bags between their socks and shoes. This was the Lake District though.

So maybe this is why we dress as we do, we don't have the most laid back weather, it's so insanely changeable. Any decent combination of clothing can turn out to be wholly inappropriate in a heartbeat.

I wonder if that changeability affects our sense of style, our moods and expectations. People often seem more impatient and agitated on windy days. Aggressive even.
So it usually ends up being some sort of trouser/top/coat - men and women.
It's just safer isn't it?
I am a dress wearer myself, so today's swingy number tried blowing up my back for most of my time outdoors, thank heavens for thick tights!

I love living in a country with seasons, but they rarely behave as we expect them to, do they? I also love clothes, and I have come to the conclusion that we either obsess over our wardrobes to a shocking degree (and who could blame us?) or just give up entirely.

I am NOT being unreasonable!

I think different bits of the uk dress quite differently to each other anyway.

@bellac11

To be honest,, most people in the Uk dress badly, look bad. Its about the availability of our clothing though, nothing is shaped right or has a nice cut about it. We are also overly keen on the 'leisure casual' side of things, me included

I do feel embarrassed when we're around europeans, we just look slobby and slouchy and they rarely do.

Speak for yourself

Even in leisure clothes, the Spanish Italians and French dont look like us in leisure clothes

ive never been to the NL or Germany

People dress more elegantly on the whole in a lot of Europe, but IMO also more boringly and uniformly. Don't get me wrong, I admire good 'chic' dressing but it's not for me. TBH, the comment I hear from other nationals most often about British dressing is that compared to where they live, people can express themselves and are much more individual here.

@MichaelAndEagle

Not just clothing, but hair too. Any kind of moisture or humidity and I look ridiculous.

The weather is cruel to my hair, but I have learned to embrace it in a more frizzy-than-Helena Bonham Carter kind of way

WalltoWallBtards
Who criticises the way U.K. people dress?? No-one.
They really do!

I was going to say it’s more giggling/laughing at than criticism but remember walking behind a group of English/Irish people who were holidaying in Spain whilst listening to the people I was with criticising every item every one of them wore.

But to be fair we don’t get good weather and we certainly don’t buy expensive stylish summer weather clothes and shoes as we’d rarely wear them. Also spending a couple of weeks sightseeing in high temperature that we haven’t acclimatised to whilst slapping on factor 50 on extra white skin is never going to be a pretty sight.

To be honest I don't like the tracksuit, jersey based way many of us dress in the UK, but I'm not particularly in rapture over the MN wet dream version of a stereotypical European either...a bit too brand focused and trussed up for my preference.

I do like the soft elegance of a traditional British dress style though (not conservative or designer), more..... bohemian elegance :)

Oh I think there are v well dressed people in the UK, we have a real individually and style, and I think most fashion conscious French/Italians would acknowledge that - I mean they think it’s wacky, but they recognise it as style.

I think it’s true A BIT that having smart clothes is more standard in France or Italy, but only among certain groups.. and it can be a bit dull. But go outside the smart areas and you see plenty of fashion misfires, and that’s in the cities, never mind outside.

Plus the fact every American I know is gobsmacked by the formality of dress in the UK (but why do you people wear dresses?? Etc) so it’s all relative.

Overall I think we in the UK think the rest of the world thinks about us a great deal more than they actually do… but that’s another thread, of course.

I've thought about this a lot. I think the following factors come into play:

-body shape: typical English pear shape vs the more slender/narrow European frame
-skin tone: Anglo-Saxon blue skin doesn't always look as chic as olive skin, especially if it's sunburned or blotchy

• weather: as mentioned above, we're all used to dressing for wet and cold weather. If we had all year to get used to the sun, we could experiment better and invest in summer stuff

I sort of hate dressing for hot days. I get sweaty and chub-rubby and I don't like baring my arms. I always plan to wear nice jewelry and sandals but the former make me irritable and the latter give blisters. So my summer city break outfit is typically the sort being criticized on here: leggings/trainers/something with sleeves.

I always look better in winter 😂

Do people really wear tracksuits a lot in the UK? I can't think of a way to say it without using the word chav which is hated on MN, but in other circles tracksuits surely aren't worn at all. I'm 30s, bog standard job in a bog standard town, none of my friends owns a tracksuit!

@bellac11

Even in leisure clothes, the Spanish Italians and French dont look like us in leisure clothes

ive never been to the NL or Germany

Really not been my experience at all. I’ve found in all those countries that there’s a mix of the stylish and the slobby, with the majority falling somewhere in between - so ‘decent’ for everyday life.

Of course if you’re talking about visiting Lake Como or going to theatres you’ll see people dressed smartly, same as if you went to an expensive night in London you’d see people dressed smartly. But wandering the supermarket, local streets etc people tend to be dressed normally.

You only have to look at a group of UK males, in the summer wearing those god awful half length trousers, trainers and shirts hanging out, usually overweight, usually with bad hair cuts. They look like overgrown 2 year olds

@WlNDMlLL

Do people really wear tracksuits a lot in the UK? I can't think of a way to say it without using the word chav which is hated on MN, but in other circles tracksuits surely aren't worn at all. I'm 30s, bog standard job in a bog standard town, none of my friends owns a tracksuit!

They really do. Mainly teenagers, but plenty of adults too. I don't, neither does my friends but I see them all the time. It's teenage girls with tracksuit bottoms, cropped tops and unzipped hoodies, teenage boys and men in whole tracksuits. It doesn't seem to matter how much money you have either. Just today I saw a man in his mid to late 30's in a full blown grey tracksuit jump into his new Range Rover and drive off. It's those tight tracksuits too, that sort of look like leggings that the men wear, whereas as the girls/women wear baggier ones.

[quote FangsForTheMemory]@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I used to know someone who had Italian cousins. She said more or less the same. Everything you wore had to be perfect, you couldn't go out with a hair out of place.[/quote]
My best friends sister lives in Barcelona. The judgement of clothes is insane. She obsesses to a ridiculous level over what to wear to simply meet friends for a drink. They have a date for the changeover of seasonal clothes. Once you have changed over to Spring clothes it can snow but those are the clothes you must wear. No big coats. That season is finished.Absolute twattery.

Whenever I go to London I like to people watch. At the moment every tourist, regardless of where they are from, seems to be wearing trainers, jeans black puffa coat, crossbody bag or back pack. Could be American, Italian, Spanish. , British.

@bellac11

You only have to look at a group of UK males, in the summer wearing those god awful half length trousers, trainers and shirts hanging out, usually overweight, usually with bad hair cuts. They look like overgrown 2 year olds

Are ageing, hairy backed, Italian grandads in teeny tiny speedos a better look ?

I did read some Italians spend as much in a month as UK spend on rent but the Italians might live with parents for life and spend more time walking around with others looking at them (much better weather) so the clothes matter much more than in the UK where we probably judge people based on if they rent or buy and their house rather than how expensive their clothes are.

I remember being in Northern Spain for work with a clothing company and that was just so different from the UK. Even the afternoon office birthday treat was a delicious cold omlet- not the UK pile them high chocolate cake junk.

Ive never seen grandads in speedos down the shops or down the pub. They tend to be on the beach where its appropriate

I look like a bag lady most of the time. I have a decent, professional, senior job and will go to work tomorrow in Ron Hills, a tshirt and trainers. My boss frequently does as well though so I’m not alone! 😀

Overall I think we in the UK think the rest of the world thinks about us a great deal more than they actually do

I agree. I find all the national stereotyping a bit cringey TBH. Weird thread.

There isn’t one way in which Italians dress, though. Very well-dressed people are a notable feature of Italian life, and I would say there is both a distinctive style and a much higher number of people who care about how they dress than in the UK. It’s also something many people spend on over there than here - my dh grew up in a home that didn’t have much in the way of luxuries, but his parents totally spoilt him with clothes. I always got the impression that we in the uk prioritise spending on on our homes (very common in Italy to see kitchens and bathrooms unchanged for decades) while they prioritise clothes and accessories (many a designer bag will be going home to one of those flats that hasn’t had a major redecoration since it was built).

BUT there are loads of Italians who aren’t that bothered about clothes (SIL’s family seem to purchase all their clothes at decathlon) and the athleisure trend is definitely growing there too. There is also a deep, deep love of diamanté for many that doesn’t quite fit into the stereotype of tastefully well-dressed Italians!

I travel to different cities for work. Most people wear black or grey trousers in winter with a coat. Very few seem to wear colours. From April you get a sudden burst of colour for a few months then by autumn it’s back to brown/mustard/orange. In fact people look like trees if you think about it. We have the fashion sense of trees!

But why is an 'anglo saxon' skin tone and 'pear shape' somehow bad?

Who makes these decisions?

I call bullshit.

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

Overall I think we in the UK think the rest of the world thinks about us a great deal more than they actually do

I agree. I find all the national stereotyping a bit cringey TBH. Weird thread.

my thread is in opposition to this, thanks.

@LadyHenryofRawlinsonEnd

But why is an 'anglo saxon' skin tone and 'pear shape' somehow bad?

Who makes these decisions?

I call bullshit.

Nobody said they are bad did they? They are different. We don't/can't in many cases wear sleeveless tops and slim trousers. Our legs are thicker, our chests are bigger.
We see sun and we take out garish colourful clothes in delight because we have a very small window before the boots come back out because it is raining and the jumpers come out again because there is a chill in the air. We live with grey skies and we like colour when we see the sunshine.

The Spanish dress according to their skintone and wear muted colours that suit them and lots of white in summer. They can do this because, in many parts of Spain, sun is present for three quarters of the year or more.