To think where you live dominates how you dress?

[lolliwillowes]

Not just the climate/weather, I mean the styles of the locals.
I lived in a really outdoorsy place for a decade, never thought about it much but tended to wear outdoorsy stuff, most of the shops sold it, and to some extent, most others had some semblance of similarity.

Then I moved to an urban area, no weather related stuff at all, most people hardly bothered to wear raincoats or weatherproofs in winter, and sportswear /leisure was the most common style such as basic leggings, jeans and tee, guys in footy garb, etc.

When I visit friends in my closest city it is quite different there too, obviously, but tons of dresses everywhere! Lots more colour and variation.

I also think we now have much longer summer months than we used to, and less rain. This will also affect how we dress too. As a nation we are usually so tied up with 'bad' weather and buying the perfect coat, etc, but maybe this will change from now on. Last summer seemed to last from march to november here!

So we like to think we are original to some extent with what we like to wear, but I strongly suspect where we live has a bigger influence than we are aware of.

@ dry robe to Waitrose

I was on the way to Pilates last week [cliche] and a woman passed me wearing one whilst walking her dog. It was the ubiquitous green camo & neon pink one (robe, not dog). She seemed to be completely dry and wearing it as an outdoor coat .

I live in Cornwall too and indeed, I have a Seasalt coat.
But...
I also have a waterproof yard coat from Trago Mills! Beat that!!

Yanbu...i live in the SW near some very bohemian places where hippy clothes are the uniform.
Went to uni in Liverpool which was ultra glam footballer's wives territory. Felt very out of place.

It's true, dry robes are the new athleisure.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/feb/04/too-cool-for-the-pool-how-the-dryrobe-became-the-most-divisive-thing-you-can-wear

I live in a small rural town and work as a care worker, so tend to wear jeans, long sleeved t shirts with a hoodie or sweatshirt on top & trainers. Last week it was DH's birthday & we went to our nearest city for the day, ate at a nice restaurant there & went shopping, so I dressed up. Nothing really fancy: smart trousers, shirt, ankle boots with a bit of a heel & smart coat. I swear I felt overdressed! Everyone else seemed to be in their sportswear: lots of leggings & tracksuit tops. I also had never heard of dry robes before reading this thread.

Should have said, I live in East Anglia.

Dryrobes do seem to be a sign of the wild swimmer - not enough to tell everyone that you are a wild swimmer, even more important to show it by wearing your dryrobe to wander about in... (or perhaps a hangover from everyone trying to make the most of UK holidays last summer when the weather was shocking!)

Bags are another one that seems to change by area, not necessarily change due to need - round here all the 30/40-something mums carry either a small cross body bag or a large tote. Visiting a friend in a different part of the country, all mums at the park had a rucksack. (Generally the Fjallraven one.) Didn't seem to be carrying more than me, most looked half empty /light when picked up.

I visited a friend in her East Midlands town and went to see a band play in a local pub. Almost every woman in there was in skinny jeans, low heeled ankle boots and a silky blouse or top of some description. Even the hair styles were similar ( shoulder length). I actually found it fascinating that no-one wanted to try a different jean style or put a trainer on given they all have access to the same social media I do. When the variation is down to style and not practicality ( ie wellington boots) then I don’t really understand the regional variations

Ha ha I carry a rucksack and have never looked back since starting to do so. Began at dcs hobbies. Carried on with my job (school). Then it’s all I use for work, different job, walk to work. I see more and more of my work colleagues ditching their traditional style bags and converting to a rucksack.
I think most people subconsciously like to fit in.
As part of my job I use a file which needs to fit papers in which are then removed and shredded, at least 2 other colleagues have ordered the exact same one after seeing mine, now another colleague asked where I bought mine from and is going to use the same one. There isn’t a requirement to have this exact one but I think it’s an example of people fitting in.

Is that you, Jilly Cooper?

Surely it is. All the ingredients are there:

Nimbyism (new builds decimating the land in our beautiful village!)

Snobbery (people in the new build houses aping their betters!)

Sanctimony (and they are cruel to the dear little doggies, too!)

Sneering (those parvenus soon reverted to their natural uniform of track suits)

Claiming the perceived moral high ground (of course I, as a born and bred country girl, would never indulge in such foolishness!)

If you catch any commuter train into London you will see half the passengers carrying rucksacks.

Where's this magical place where summers are getting longer? I'm sick of the sight of my jumpers, but can't see any sign of warmth yet.

Surely people just wear what they like? I tend to favour Ramones via Marilyn Monroe and Katherine Hepburn as my go to look. More Ramones at the weekend.

When my dcs were at primary school, very rural, you could divide the mums into 3 groups:

1. Those in active wear- myself included, going straight to the gym/for a run/ back home.
2. Those in riding gear- going straight to the horse.
3. Those in suits- going to work .

Don't know about the midlands, but I did once read an explanation of why people in more traditionally "industrial" areas (Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow, etc) tended to get more dressed up for nights out.

As the work they did there tended to be more physically demanding, they needed to go home and shower and change more than someone who'd been sat at a desk all day. They also tended to do definitely "clock off" by a certain time, so a) more time to get ready, and b) less of a tendency to think, well, I may as as well work to 6.30, then go straight to the pub for 7. And finally, they tended to live closer to their place of work then most Londoners, for example, manage - no-one's going to be that keen to go home and get ready for a night out if it's an hour's commute each way.

It was also why there was more of a tendency to just go for drinks, rather than dinner and then drinks - if you've gone home first, you may as well have your tea there too, then head out. Of course because you ate quite early, you're then hungry again by 11pm, so going for a curry or kebab or whatever at the end of the night was more of a thing.

Of course, before northern Mumsnetters start shouting at me, I know it's very different now, my family in the NE seem to always be at lovely-looking restaurants, but growing up in 1980s Newcastle that's very much how I remember it being. And I think people still do tend to be dressier and more glam for nights out than their southern counterparts.

I’m obviously rural. I wear my waterproof, wind proof, warm long regatta coat for approximately 7 months of the year. Most of that time with a woollen hat and scarf. Soon I will swap to my short Regatta waterproof with a scarf, then gradually I will remove the scarf. After that I will wear a blazer/ jacket for around 4 weeks. Then it will be back to the long coat again 😆😆😆😆😆.

Also grew up in Newcastle in the 80s. It was definitely a vision of high heels and matching plastic handbags down the Big Market on a weekend! Throw in triples for a quid on the revolving dance floor on the Tuxedo Princess and you’ve got the full stereotype!

Where I live now, the youth uniform is grey tracky bottoms which make me think they’ve just come out of custody. I’m constantly in dog walking/yard gear, so yard boots/sweatshirt/casual trousers.

I grew up in North Cheshire and yes, going home before going out was much more likely, so getting changed, then dressing up.

Re thr rucksack, I live in a commuter town for London and still, most woman don't carry rucksacks - even those who I know do commute in. I mentioned it as it did seem strange, that near my friend, once you've got past the changing bag stage, all mums seem to go to a rucksack, whereas here the move was back to handbags, even on days out with the kids. Hadn't really thought about it until suddenly noticed.

I am a townie, lol, and dress like one. However I live more rurally these days. I do look different to my neighbours I guess and defo my dsis who lives rurally too and thinks how I dress is hilarious. Mind you she lives in sea salt, has the Janelle coat etc which I would not be caught dead in… apols to those who love it!

How do you think a townie dresses then? Is it tracksuits? Big white trainers?

I think that you should brace yourself for the responses, judging by what we’ve seen so far.

I think you dress to the lifestyle you're living. When younger and living in London I used to dress smartly in business atire most of the time as was in the office and going out in the evening a lot. Now live rurally with horses so tend to be always in old tatty clothes or full waterproofs in winter, with generous splattering of mud/poo/sloppy horse feed on me somewhere. I am definitely the worst dressed Mum on the school run!

My city has a large university student population, most of whom follow the trends, then there are the frumpy academics who look like they’re wearing their parents hand-me-downs, the posh types in Boden, and the locals from the surrounding estates who don’t dress very nicely at all. Quite a mishmash.

Yes, the fact they had logos on kind of undermines the "understated" claim.

Pretty much everyone I know wears at least some outdoor gear all year round. We all live in South and East London. We all also spend a lot of time outdoors. Once you start wearing technical type clothing I think it's quite hard to go back

I think what you say probably does apply to many people. I don't think it does to me, though, but my 'style' (if you can call it that!!) is not exactly 'normal'. I'm autistic so have different sensory needs to most people. Also, I was always a bit of an outcast growing up so adopted a slightly 'odd' style since that way I could pretend I 'meant' to be weird!

I've lived in cities, towns, and the countryside and my style hasn't changed between them.