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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Can someone please explain why a decent school run dress is so important?

101 replies

poshsinglemum · 24/02/2010 18:00

I do love a good dress but most of the time in this country it's too cold to wear one.
When reading the syle and beauty section it always amuses me when poeple say ''look at this school run dress!''.
Do you put it on just to do the school run? Is it to impress the other mums?
I guess my dd isn't at school yet so I've yet to endure this fashion parade.

OP posts:
JohnnyTwoHats · 24/02/2010 19:36

And dresses surely easier to throw on than separates? Quicker, and you don't have to co-ordinate them.

YoginiBikini · 24/02/2010 19:36

I don't think they're listening Su

upahill · 24/02/2010 19:37

I don't do the school run anymore - they take themselves, but I used to go dressed for the day. So most of the time I was going straight to work and would be fairly scruffy ( due to the nature of my job) but if I had a formal work meeting first thing I would dress more formaly.(obviously) So when ever I put a dress and shoes (As opposed to fleeces, converse and jeans with knees torn!) some mums would always say in amazement - 'You look nice , Doing anything special?' As if they couldn't believe that old Upahill could possible own a Jaeger dress and LK Bennnett shoes!!

Still makes me smile thinking about it!

JohnnyTwoHats · 24/02/2010 19:38

60 foot doll- depends what you are wearing to garden in, eg it is a hot day and you are wearing little vest top and shorts (privacy of own garden and all that).
Now tell me what all the mothers would say if you continually turned up for the school run like that.

DomesticG0ddess · 24/02/2010 19:39

I think it depends where you live, which is why I was terrified of staying in London....I live in a little village now and have just started doing the school run to preschool and "school run outfits" appear to be "whatever is closest and vaguely clean", which is how I like it! (There is however an ex-supermodel who also lives in the village which is never great for ones self esteem first thing in the morning - the fact that she makes zero effort too and still looks amazing is a tad annoying!)

DomesticG0ddess · 24/02/2010 19:40

LOL TippyTumbles!

pagwatch · 24/02/2010 19:45

This may be a shocking concept but I get up in the morning, I put on a dress and I stay like that all day. I even do that at the weekend.

I know. Unbelievable isn't it...

Should I change and dress in jeans to do the school run?
Would that make everyone feel better?

Morloth · 24/02/2010 19:50

I think that is the point pagwatch, I don't dress for the school run. I get dressed for the day.

It seems totally weird to me that someone would actually get changed into anything specifically for the school run. What is the point?

Nightshoe · 24/02/2010 19:58

Ooh, I want a school run dress now - they sound so easy!

Original poster
poshsinglemum · 24/02/2010 20:03

I am btw absolutely addicted to dresses even though I have no occasion to wear them. I have seen the most divine green maxi dress in New Look that I am going to have to buy because it will make me feel more glamorous if I own it.

In a way I can understand why mums would have several school run dresses. As a sahm I no longer have an excuse to dress up. When I go to the school gates it's a chance to flaunt my wardrobe!

OP posts:
Original poster
poshsinglemum · 24/02/2010 20:05

I know that New Look isn't glamorous btw- it's just all I can afford at the moment!

OP posts:
SuSylvester · 24/02/2010 20:09

becuase i look minging in a vest top
like a butch Bulgarian weight lifter

SuSylvester · 24/02/2010 20:10

it all started when we got a pool
i would laz on a lilo reading grazia
then whhops it was 3pm

i needed to cover up and fast 0 but nto start fannying around getting fully dressed into jeans or what not

YoginiBikini · 24/02/2010 20:13

I remember being very green for a moment that you had a pool

pagwatch · 24/02/2010 20:25

but Morloth pulling a dress on is just as easy as pulling on a pair of jeans - so why does it matter...

A dress to pull on instead of bikini, gardening stuff etc is no more weird than pulling jeans on over your bikini - or taking wellies off and putting shoes on.

I can understand people who happily walk to school cover in shit from clearing out the chickens even if it is a bit more info than I want. But do some couch it in such judgemental tones - why all the " Gosh I am just so laid back and anyone clean is just trying so hard or an egotistical bint ".
That I really don't get?

Being scruffy is not morally superior just as being tidy is not.

jenster1976 · 24/02/2010 20:28

I want one of these dresses, can anyone point me in the direction of something, suitably casual and easy to throw on in a casual way - am fed up of living in jeans, and a SRD appeals!!No time to shop tho!

noshouting · 24/02/2010 20:32

SuSylvester you really made me laugh there because that is exactly how I look in a vest top.
So as we share a body type can you link to your best dresses please ta

Earthstar · 24/02/2010 20:34

I think jeans always look shite tbh, have no idea why folk like them so much, save them for the gardening fgs unless you are a rodeo rider

am a big fan of dresses though

SuSylvester · 24/02/2010 20:34

I will start an official " school run dress thread" ( as i twas mY baby years ago any hoo) when the clocks change or we hear a cuckoo or similar.

TippyTumbles · 24/02/2010 20:36

As the great Harry Hill would say "some people like jeans, some people like dresses - there's only one way to find out FIGHT

TippyTumbles · 24/02/2010 20:39

oops forgot to add "which one is better?"

MitsubishiWarrioress · 24/02/2010 20:50

I just love taking care with what I wear and as I get up and go to school, I will be wearing what I have planned for the day. Not especially for the school run. I love skirts and am only pee'd of with current weather because it is too cold or too wet to wear my ankle skimmers.

There is a broad mix of work wear, (office and manual), casual jeans stuff, and a few others that seem to share my love of dressing up. I don't give a monkeys what any one else chooses to wear and I don't care what people think of me turning up dressed the way I do. It is one of my few, simple pleasures and I don't feel self conscious, guilty or embarrassed about it.
And I don't judge others.

Today I went the whole hog and put make up on as well. So yah boo sucks.......

BustleInYourHedgerow · 24/02/2010 21:37

I love dresses.

When you put one on, you're instantly dressed.

I have to wear trousers for work, and spend ages faffing around looking for a top that doesn't look hideous and hides spare tyres before I go.

I also am a short arse and find it hard to get trousers that fit my stumpy legs. The never look right when taken up.

I feel better in a dress. And make-up. Since having DS, I often put make-up on when alone in the house, even if I'm just going out for a walk or to the shop.

Oquioqui · 24/02/2010 21:43

If you wear a dress all day do you wear it for cleaning, gardening etc. or do you change into something else?

staranise · 24/02/2010 21:46

Goodness, do you really notice what other people wear? Sometimes I wear dresses, sometimes jeans, always wear make-up but I'd struggle to remmeber what any of the other parents were wearing - depends on what theyre doing after drop-off I would imagine.

Though the father who wears not-very-clean pajamas every morning is notorious in our school yard.