Housecoats.....so retro they are trendy again?

[liath]

Dearest MIL, bless her cotton socks has given me a housecoat of all bloody things ! In her defence I was looking for a pinny last time she stayed so she thought she was being helpful (I presume) but this thing is polyester and a revolting check design.

Thing is, I'm wondering whether to wear it, just in the privacy of my own home, as I always spill flour down my front when I'm baking.

Any closet house-coat wearers out there?

lol! not a housecoat wearer but I will have to confess to recently investing in a (tasteful ) apron as I'm forever spilling stuff down me when baking and cooking.

My Grans used to wear housecoats of the sort you described

Where do you actually buy them? I've never seen them in mainstream shops.

There was once a shop in my neighbourhood which had a big sign on the window saying "warm dresses" and they sold housecoats, you won't be surprised to know. Unfortunately that shop has now closed down, otherwise I am sure I would have been a regular customer.

no liath. Step away from that thought. Wear an old t-shirt if you like while baking. You are not 97.

What about a kimono?

Would that be more acceptable?

Hmm, there's a point - where did she get it? The same shop that sells those pull-along shopping bags on wheels that little old ladies use? Although they do look useful too.....

Argh!

I think you'll find the shop sells warm dresses as well

WTF is a "warm dress" ?

pmsl at housecoats! I actually remember my mum wearing one in the 70s. She'd have been all of about 30 poor soul.

A warm dress sounds like a practical and stylish solution to the need to keep our boilers down because of global warming...

Ikea is selling shopping trollies too - I just can't do it, I'd rather cripple my shoulders!

Liath, did you get 3 curlers and a headscarf too so you can be Hilda Ogden?!

Seriously, I would love to go all retro and do things like wearing a pinnie or housecoat but would feel too daft. I do have a Cath Kidston apron from their outlet shop and figure that's OK! I can pretend I'm a mixture of Nigella Lawson/Anthea turner/Bree van der Camp...

Housecoat Wearer of The Year!

Sherlock Holmes had one.

It's just an mc dressing gown.

My DH always says i should get a housecoat cos i always end up with dribble/food/crap all down me.

I want one of those Mile for Maude/Mumsnet ones... anyone have the address?

I meant i want to get an apron not a bloody housecoat

I've got half a dozen aprons, all lovely cotton ones. Some for cooking jobs, a couple for messy cleaning jobs. Wouldn't have polyester though.

And I've got a shopping trolley - got it as soon as youngest child gave up the pushchair at age 2. Had to put my shopping somewhere!

Er, what is a housecoat? Is it the same thing as a dressing gown? Excuse my ignorance.

Does Cath Kidson do housecoats? Maybe our generation is ready to re-embrace the housecoat - but in cheery polka dot or flower prints!

MrsMuddle - watch a 1950's/60's film - the sort where the woman stands on the doorstep chatting to the neighbours wearing a cotton/poly flowery thing over her clothes. Or imagine Les Dawson when he dressed up as a woman doing the chatting over the fence bit. Got the idea?

Yep, got it now. Thank you.

How about these?!

My word - I could get one for me and one for dd. DH would come back from work to find me & dd resplendant in matching 1940 style pinafores and run for the hills !

Funny though, because what you're describing would never be a housecoat to me, it would be an apron or pinny or similar.

A housecoat is definitely a dressing-gown sort of thing to lounge about in during the day!

Yep, a quick Internet search has brought up masses of sites offering dressing gowns, kimonos, negliges, wraps etc. But no aprons!