Dresses dresses dresses everywhere!!!!

[cofingalthetime]

So I was shopping at the weekend. For one thing, OMG I had forgotten how exhausting it is traipsing from shop to shop with teenage daughter, and trying on things, and sweating, and and and....
Anyway, SO many dresses lol!!!! Have you embraced the dress??? Being fat and fifty I think I have to be so careful not to look like I'm wearing my grandmother's nightdress... I ended up getting the usual 'black trousers' but did try on loads of dresses. I just think they are not as flattering as trousers but maybe I'm just not used to seeing myself in a dress. I definitely steered away from things I wore as a child in the 1980's - like big round collars and stuff like that. So are you all wearing dresses - talking to the more "mature" ladies - my dd looked incredible in most of them, she couldn't choose in the end!

I have legs that suit trousers. Chunky ankles, broken veins (thanks to pregnancies) and a big bum. Trousers just smooth everything out so from October to May that’s what I wear.
Then it gets hot here in Italy and I transition to my favourite long stretchy tube skirts and tshirts, fit and flare mid-calf dresses in small prints, column dresses with slits and linen muumuus for the beach. They all disguise the legs. Shorter T-shirt dresses when at home.
I just know those Holly Hobby style dresses would make me look like a galleon in full sail.
I get the same Birkenstock style sandals every year (the ones that cross over your big toe) with different height soles. Dr Scholl Pescura for slopping around, white trainers and trainer socks for walking and flat pointed sling backs for best. Home pedicure (I’ve bought a Footner mask and I’m looking forward to that ) painted toenails and fake tan wherever it will show.

I know a flowery dress, cropped denim jacket, crossbody bag and white trainers is the Mum uniform and at nearly 55 I have all the components, I just don’t think it’s for me.

No need to be snarky, it just looks like opaque tights

You need empire line OP! No shelf boobs or matronly vibes! Try asos or Roman originals

It’s been a look thats on and out of fashion for 20 years or more. How can you have avoided it?

I am a 16 on a good day, and pretty much only wear dresses unless I am working out. They hide a multitude of sins fat tum and can be casual or dressy. Just avoid manmade fibres as they can cling or make you sweaty.

Maybe it's a thing in the UK? I don't live there.

Lanacane, (the people who make cream to treat fanjo itch) also do an anti chafe cream for chub rub. It works for me.
www.amazon.co.uk/Lanacane-5011417561508-Anti-Chafing-Gel-28grams/dp/B00YCQGRJG/ref=asc_df_B00YCQGRJG/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310799282629&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3163815445826230800&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006598&hvtargid=pla-627845717917&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Not being snarky. It's just not something I've ever seen a grown woman wear.

It’s been a look thats on and out of fashion for 20 years or more. How can you have avoided it?

Quite. I expect that poster has seen it pretty often in the winter under the impression that they’re black opaque tights. That’s what mine look like anyway.

Nope, I haven't. But I don't live in the UK.

my MIL got tired of her tights laddering (this is because she does not buy M & S tights or put her tights in a laundry bag; i wear dresses and tights daily and my M & S tights do not ladder) and now she wears leggings and black socks. They look like tights.

I'm embracing 'loose around the midriff' clothing - and even though I'm not really a dress person, I've bought a few midi dresses this season (length is like maxi on me, I'm short) and theyre loose and floaty around the midsection. Looking forward to trying these out with sandals or trainers.

Oh and YES to dresses with black leggings underneath! If anyone doesn't like that, they can jog on!

Snag chub rub shorts are brilliant for this. I didn't wear dresses in summer until I got some.

Sudocrem is also good for treating and avoiding minor chub rub.

Yes, I wear leggings under my Weird Fish dresses when it’s cooler. I suppose they’re more like tunic dresses. I also have a fine knitted dress which I wear with leggings. I’ve seen plenty of women wearing leggings with dresses!

I haven't worn a dress in about 20 years. They all look shite on me. My figure even when younger and slimmer needed a fitted dress , which given my larger bust and hips made me look quite 'sexy' which worked in some situations but not others, a wrap dress also worked. Anything flowy or not tightly fitted made me look like a sack even in those days , so even in those days I rarely if ever wore a dress

Now I am old and fatter that fitted look still works better for my shape but does not work in that it makes me look 'cheap' and I am too fat for them now anyway unless I spend a fortune on the dress. Any of the dresses in the shop just look terrible on me. Skirts don't work either unless they are knee length or longer ans pencil shape. So for more smart occasions, I tend to stick to pencil skirts and more dressy floaty tops or trousers and a similar top. I just don't do dresses anymore, not even for wedding or very formal occasions unless they are straight/knee length and/or fitted, then with a sort of jacket over it .

Really you have never seen this?

www.roman.co.uk/a-line-pocket-detail-swing-dress-14125331?istCompanyId=2c7d42bf-c86e-4126-852a-34976c2accf2&istFeedId=2671bd7b-958a-4180-b178-22e89d93d179&istItemId=immtrtixx&istBid=t&gclid=CjwKCAjw4ayUBhA4EiwATWyBrsVy0_HHAVShPiKDTMuzEk0gGJ8D5XCegqkJoPOAhngKHLIvAqdOfBoCCLwQAvD_BwE

outfittrends.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Sightseeing-Outfit-1-268x500.jpg.webp

I only wear vintage stuff. Means you can get any style of any type of clothing as it's all been in fashion at some point and it's (often) cheaper and more sustainable. I love vintage sales where you pay by the kilo, quirky vintage shops, Ebay/Depop and charity shops. I really don't care whether it's currently 'in' or not as long as I like it. And I agree that a lot of what is currently in fashion in new shops is not that appealing.

But on the dress/trousers debate, I think that the bigger you are, the more dresses are your friend. I've always been very slim (I'm a dancer) but we all have psychological 'fat days' and, if I'm in that place, trousers are the last thing I'd wear. The majority of women carry excess weight on their hips, bottom and things - trousers show all of that.

One of my favourite looks is the 50s style flared dresses (Collectif are a great example although they're reproduction, not true vintage). I do wear them and they are available in very small sizes but I'm not the shape they're designed for. I tend to look like a child in them (not ideal at 49!) but they look absolutely gorgeous on women with big boobs and hips and a comparatively smaller waist. Don't show the thigh/bum/hips area at all.

Yes to dresses and a big fat yah boo to trousers!

I have thunder thighs and a big bottom. Trousers or jeans do not suit me at all. What I like to wear instead is a nice skirt to hide the thighs, but alas they are getting harder and harder to find. Especially plain calf length black skirts. Even M&S has drastically reduced their range of skirts to the point it is nearly non existent. Why?

I like dresses, but I really don't like the eye-boggling tiny ditsy patterns that are on about 70% of them at the moment; I'd feel like a magic eye picture.

Yes to dresses. I'm pear shaped and long waisted, size 12 on the bottom, 10 on the top with a bit of a Mum tum. In the Winter I like to wear a dress or A-line skirt and a body suit with leggings under or opaque tights, I am a huge fan of patterned and coloured tights and patterned leggings. In the Summer I tend to go for mini or midi dresses, occasionally long, with some of the Nivea Summer Skin lotion on my legs, I am also very pasty. I find it difficult to get jeans and trousers that I feel comfortable in. I'm 47.

At the moment there is every style of dress going in the shops. Maybe not much bodycon but being post 50, that's not what I am looking for. There is long and short plus oodles of midi.

@cofingalthetime Think about what shape tops you like and colours that suit you. Then try on everything that might be OK and a few wild cards. Take photos in the changing room mirror. If you have never worn wild flowery tops with the black trousers, you are unlikely to be comfortable in a wild flowery dress.

Think about shoes, white trainers are the most popular option. I wear walking boots with snazzy hand cranked socks for walking the dog and gold fitflop sandals for more urban adventures. Plimsoles for work.

Go home, drink wine and look at the photos. Next day look at photos again and choose the dress that you are mega comfy with.

H&M do cheap chub rub bikers www2.hm.com/en_gb/productpage.0278811011.html if it is cold, stick a camisole or vest under a dress.

You're comfy in black trousers because you have worn them as school uniform and beyond. We all have a sweet spot for the fashions from when we were 16 - 22ish. Remember to look at current fashions. Nothing more dated than the woman who wants to please others by wearing what was fashionable when they were young.

As you age, comfort is all. But, it can also be fashionable.

This is my style, knee length dresses, particularly skater dresses. I'm 42, size 16, 2ft tool (5ft really) and midi dresses more like maxi on me. Find what suits you.

Don't like how strict ive trousers feel, apart from pjs which Id wear all the time if I could. Not so sure they're a good look for work 🤔

One of my favourite looks is the 50s style flared dresses (Collectif are a great example although they're reproduction, not true vintage). I do wear them and they are available in very small sizes but I'm not the shape they're designed for. I tend to look like a child in them (not ideal at 49!) but they look absolutely gorgeous on women with big boobs and hips and a comparatively smaller waist. Don't show the thigh/bum/hips area at all.

thats why I were them I’m a big lover of the 1950,’s style because I have big boobs , and a waist and hips, they also look great with white flat trainers, sandals, or heels. Can but a little 1950’s style cardigan over them or denim jacket or leather biker style jacket what every mood your in. Timeless