To think it's weird....

[RosesAndGin]

That we all follow fashion?
I know, within seconds of me posting this someone will be along to say they are completely free thinkers and would never be sheep like enough to follow any trends but if that's the case why do we never see anyone dressed in a flowing regency gown or trussed up in a victorian dress?
Personally I love vintage dresses (70's/80's maybe, like Mary wears in Young Sheldon) but I see loads of people wearing the same style of dress, where does it come from? Who decides what 'looks good'?
I remember as a teenager reading Cosmo and the style advice at the time was that boot cut jeans were great for everyone and the only shape of jeans anyone remotely stylish should consider! As it turns out, as a tall, fat woman with relatively slim legs skinny jeans look much better on me! I couldn't have bought them at the time even if I wanted to as nowhere stocked them until I was in my late 20's!!
I think we have far more choice now which is good but to some extent we can still only choose what someone decides to buy in for retailers.
Personally I am waiting for a full Georgian revival inspired by Bridgerton so I can waft around in an exquisite gown all day (not sure I will be able to walk the dogs in it but I am prepared to give it a go😆)

I find this strange too, I don't typically follow fashion and wear what I feel comfortable in! I love vintage clothing aswell.

Hmm, well one reason is most of us buy what is available in shops/online so we are all subliminally influenced i guess, by what’s there versus what isn’t.

op won’t believe you don’t follow fashion!

I don’t think it is that weird (said as someone who doesn’t care about fashion) humans are tribal and what you wear can be one way of fitting into your tribe.

Well unless you’re going to make your own clothes, you can only buy what is available to buy, so it’s pretty hard to completely eschew all fashions trends.

Exactly.

why do we never see anyone dressed in a flowing regency gown or trussed up in a victorian dress?

Not sure if it counts but I spend my days WFH while wearing Victorian style nightgowns.

on a tangent, what I find weird is that every child calls their parents by the same name,or a cultural variation. there must be millions of parents in this country who answer to mum or dad.

Are you 5 years old? A bit sad that's the best response you could come up with 🥱

Well, there are people who do dress in period clothes, or who don’t do fashion because they’re wedded to a different look. I teach at a university and while the average undergraduate ‘look’ is definitely more homogeneous than when I was a student, there are still subgroups of hipsters, Goths, hippies, surfers etc. A colleague in another department has a kind of steampunk look with three-piece vintage suits and a waxed moustache and can occasionally be seen on a penny farthing. A friend’s sister is a pattern maker for Primark and she dresses pretty much entirely in 50s style dresses.

My point is we don't have much choice as to whether we follow fashion or not....
I can't exactly pop into H&M and buy a replica Victorian gown complete with corsetry and bloomers can I?
Someone somewhere is deciding what we all wear and we all oblige and wear it!
Is this thread as shallow as a puddle - well obviously!! I'm just musing on a Sunday morning inbetween boring jobs I have to get done.

why do we never see anyone dressed in a flowing regency gown or trussed up in a victorian dress?

Because unless it's a re-enactment event, festival etc. they would be subject to people waving and pointing at them wherever they went.

Plenty of people don't give a hoot about fashion, but they buy their clothes from what's available in the 21st century, so they will be, in a broad sense, contemporary.

It is very odd Op

it is as though you don’t understand capitalism

the shops aren’t going to produce items on the off chance that a couple of people fancy a particular style of clothing for a hundred odd years ago

There’s fancy dress shops for that

Yes I think I agree with this - there is an element of not wanting to stick out like a sore thumb - think how much the media pull down Helena Bonham-Carter.

Also while there are charity shops and vintage shops, so you don't have to look like everyone else, you can only purchase what is in those shops (so a lot will be the prevailing fashion of the last five years or so) and also what you can afford (there's lovely stuff on Etsy that I just couldn't justify even though they are essentially one-offs and gorgeous).

I was living in Shoreditch when 'hipsters' became a thing. I remember wondering why almost everyone working local pubs and restaurants was wearing a lumberjack shirt and had a beard - because it almost looked like a uniform!

And you've just reminded me I need to find an outfit for my friends 50th next month, so thank you!

@Arlanymor

i have never seen Helena BC “pulled down” by the media

To follow fashion to me means something different to wearing / buying what you prefer based on what's in the shops when you need it - do you expect people to go naked or make their own clothes ?

A fashion follower probably wouldn't be mostly in clothes that are over 5 years old

A fashion follower would know what style they were looking for rather than just shopping for a top in a style and colour that looks ok on them

They would update their "look" deliberately

Following fashion isn't the same as being dragged along behind it

Has someone upset you today?
I will point out, just for you, that this is a light hearted muse for a Sunday morning.
Do toddle off and explain capitalism to someone who needs it or cares about what you have to say.

There are literally millions of clothes shops in the world.
You can find anything you like if you look.

get going with your odd jobs OP 😆

or…. get a newspaper and read the business supplement!

exactly

I wear what I like and is comfortable. Whether it's classed as fashionable doesn't come into it.

Broadly, there are three categories of person:

• Cares about fashion and makes an effort to be fashionable
• Consciously anti-fashion, i.e. alternative (so might wear Victoriana/Goth/whatever)
• Doesn't care about fashion at all, wears whatever they feel comfortable in and is suited for the occasion, it might happen to fit current fashion if newly bought but it might equally be a 20 year old t-shirt and elastic waist trousers.

I don't follow fashion or shop on the high street. I buy second hand clothes mostly as I have my own preferred style which makes me happy.

What about someone who has their own style and buys clothes that fit that, whether they are currently in fashion or not?