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 dare say it’s different in Paris and other big cities, but for around 10 years we’ve been regular visitors to a BiL’s place in a village half an hour from Dijon, where I can’t say I’ve noticed much stylishness among the locals. People in the nearby small town and in the supermarkets don’t look much different from the same around here (outer SW London). And (whisper it!) it’s not that rare to see French fatties!

I used to get my smart clothes for work from Italy as the shop I went to altered them for free so they fitted well from the start!
Otherwise it's comfortable joggers or my lovely pair of fleecy leggings at home plus loads of layers. I upgrade jeans if I'm going out even just to the supermarket but that's about as stylish as I get day to day...
I've seen shockingly awful clothes in small villages in France so I believe style is limited to the cities!

Do they say that!

Well brits on holiday have a bad rep yes but... londoners dress the best of anybody in the world. Im irish so not blowing my horn here. They're stylish, more fashionable than NY (or anwhere else in America) but but not slaves, always their own interpretations, less classic and less identikit than the Paris, more daring.
Spanish women do usually dress v well i think.

I've been around plenty of 'slobby and slouchy' Europeans. I've noticed very little difference in everyday wear in France, Spain, Italy. I lived in Spain for a while and my sisters DH is Italian. It must be the circles your moving in or what is personally important to you which is why your noticing certain things.

"most people in the Uk dress badly, look bad."

That's a subjective opinion. I like casual wear, so don't think that people look bad in it, if well chosen.

"I do feel embarrassed when we're around europeans, we just look slobby and slouchy and they rarely do."
I like to holiday in North Africa, I don't see these stylish Europeans that everyone bangs on about. Even at events with our royal family, the European royal families look awful. I have seen young french women doing the whole monochrome thing, it's just boring. It doesn't matter what the French and Spanish men wear, it's a struggle to get passed the whole Speedo thing.

I lived in Spain for five years. There was definitely a particular way of dressing and certain types of haircuts that I saw a lot among the mums at DD's school. No one would ever have done school drop off in their PJs. There was some athleisure wear but quite stylish and by people who actually worked out a lot, so they were in good shape and carried it well. There was also a tendency to wear clothes with a sparkly trim - jeans with rhinestones, t-shirts with glittery slogans, jumpers with sparkly thread, and designer logos on things. And a way of matching tops and bottoms with bags and shoes - sometimes to the extreme - eg - red leather jacket, bags and boots. It often wasn't more stylish, but did show that people spent time choosing their outfit. That said there were plenty of jeans and t-shirts, but usually with a bit of bling.

And it's true that when you rely on the sun you can invest in nice sandals, linen, dresses and you'll get the wear out of them. My summer wardrobe got a lot bigger while I was there.

Completely agree. I live in a permanent uniform of trousers, shirt, possibly jumper and gilet. With a couple of different coats and boots. Adaptable and warm! 😂

I'm surprised that anyone gives a fuck about whatever other nations think of the way we dress. Not only do I not care what French, German, Italian, Latvian, American, Somali etc etc people think of how I dress, I don't care what Liverpudlians, Glaswegians, people from Tyneside or Birmingham, and certainly not southerners, think of my style. How empty is your head if you have space for such nonsense? Thank you, OP. You've opened my eyes to a kind of life I never knew existed.

Although I'm at uni - I am a 38 year old, country mum. Obviously, I dress and look incredibly different from the 18 year olds and half the time I reckon they are bloody freezing!! 😂

Well you can be mildly interested without caring

I am in Brittany at the moment. Never seen so many wellies and woolly hats! They wear tatty old quilted anoraks even to some of the nicest restaurants and the word 'chic' has no meaning here. The only colour-coordinated outfits I have seen were being worn by people.speaking English. The Bretons are really lovely, though and being warm and dry is more important to them than fashion or elegance.

I am in Brittany at the moment. Never seen so many wellies and woolly hats! They wear tatty old quilted anoraks even to some of the nicest restaurants and the word 'chic' has no meaning here. The only colour-coordinated outfits I have seen were being worn by people.speaking English. The Bretons are really lovely, though and being warm and dry is more important to them than fashion or elegance.

[quote SquirrelG]@TomPinch

It's a small country.

Don't be so bloody ridiculous. It's not small enough for you to have seen every person in NZ. Like in most of the world people all dress differently - they don't wear a uniform.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

Oh do get over yourself dear. It's not "the truth" it's YOUR version of the truth. No doubt you wouldn't dress like I do, and I wouldn't dress Ilike you do - but apparently you would be in the right. Talk about having tickets on yourself.[/quote]
Absolutely. I have to include myself. After all, I live in NZ.

Dressing well simply isn't a priority here, and it's not easy. Good quality clothing is expensive for starters and the range is limited. And by and large people have got other things they'd rather be doing than thinking about their clothes like watching the cricket.

It's just not that big a deal and I don't think it matters that much myself tbh.

For anyone saying all Italians are stylish I suggest you watch the Italian series 'Gomorrah' which is set in Naples. I have never seen such blingy bad taste.

I'm not very well-travelled, so I was a bit wide-eyed when I first went to Switzerland alone having packed practical jeans, walking trainers and plain cotton tops for a walking holiday.

Imagine my slowly dawning horror as I walked through Zurich Station, not too far from the Bahnhoffstrasse (£3,000 Prada shoes anyone?).

I'm a bit overweight so not only did I look like I was dressed like a 14 year old going camping but I was an absolute heifer compared to the lithe, slender Swiss contingent. At a size 16 I was twice the size of everyone and I did draw some glances with my scruffy DofE couture.

It passed once I got away from the city though.

Most British people look like they've been dressed in the dark by Oxfam.

@JoyLurking9to5

Well you can be mildly interested without caring

Oh I'm VERY interested and quite happily own up to that fact. I love clothes and appreciate style even though I wear jeans everyday myself.

I live in the Uk
I criticise how we dress 😂

Many Italians are definitely stylish when they are outside the house. I think it’s a combination of things people have mentioned like skin tone, better-designed clothes for the typical body shape, and imo attention to detail. When I look at my Italian friends & relatives they have thought about every aspect of the outfit down to rings, necklaces etc, which gives a more put-together look than many of us in the U.K., myself included.

HOWEVER it’s a hugely different story at home! Most Italians have an ‘at-home’ wardrobe. This will be full of horrors: shiny tracksuits & shellsuits, shapeless house dresses in bizarre patterns, old vests for men. It’s such a shift from their outside presentation. And while my in-laws are perhaps extreme with it (think their house wardrobe consists mostly of their 80s leftovers) every Italian I’ve known dresses very differently at home. The same is true of the U.K. I think but perhaps the contrast is starker between the two images, and the line blurrier in the U.K. especially when just nipping out for things.

Whoever mentioned the Italian love of diamanté: YES!! And rhinestones. Tie dye occasionally too. And T-shirts with bizarre slogans, often picked out in diamanté…

And yes being slim pretty much always makes clothes look better. Also wearing athletic clothes while not doing more than going for a walk in a park isn't a good look for most of us.

Thinking back to other Spanish shops I liked, eg. Stradivarius
Stradivarius is aimed primarily at 18-25 year olds who buy fast and frequently. The bright colours suit young people with olive skin - unfortunately our very white skin can make these clothes look very trashy. I walk past one regularly and even the window displays are garish.

Being fat doesn’t help most people TBF

What have Australians done to be so offensive re what they wear?

I do like the OP's suggestion of wet Birkenstocks being like Gremlins!

@Youcansaythatagainandagain

And yes being slim pretty much always makes clothes look better. Also wearing athletic clothes while not doing more than going for a walk in a park isn't a good look for most of us.

Thinking back to other Spanish shops I liked, eg. Stradivarius
Stradivarius is aimed primarily at 18-25 year olds who buy fast and frequently. The bright colours suit young people with olive skin - unfortunately our very white skin can make these clothes look very trashy. I walk past one regularly and even the window displays are garish.

Well I lived there when I was 25-29, so I noticed what other people in their twenties wore (although a lot of the women with Desigual were middle aged). When I was in large cities like Madrid the fashionable young women I noticed seemed quite 'alternative' in their style, eg. tattoos, septum piercings.

I'm not denying that Spanish people on the whole are better-dressed, but evidently I didn't visit the areas populated with olive-skinned women wearing the neutral tones. They passed me by completely.

Funnily enough, I was only saying to Dh yesterday about my co-workers, they're majority from Eastern Europe. We work in an unglamorous job, long hours 6am-6pm weekends but the women and men are all so well groomed, the women all have their hair, makeup and nails done, the men have very regular haircuts, they all smell lovely, lots of fragrances and they are all immaculate.
I have a shower before and after work. No make up, hair brushed but tied up in a pony or bun, I feel very scruffy in comparison.

I think people dress differently in cities than the countryside regardless of nationality. My city living teenage DD sticks out noticeably in the lake District. She's more traditionally "stylish" but that's due to her environment and availability of decent shops.

I've lived and worked in France, in the bigger cities v stylish, out in the sticks it's still the same dowdy low quality stuff people were wearing when I first visited in the 70s!

Italy too, Milan very stylish, some other smaller towns really tacky and garish. I find northern Europe more interesting and individual style wise, France and Italy are a bit one trick pony. Amsterdam and Copenhagen more interesting.