What would you ask clothes and shoe designers to STOP bloody designing and trying to flog us?

[HouseOfBamboo]

On my list:

1. Tops/dresses with necklines which show your bra straps. As most women wear bras and most bra straps aren't designed for public display, this would seem to be a basic design flaw.

2. Skirts / trousers / jeans with pockets in stupid unflattering places. We don't need the extra bulkage thanks.

3. Yet ANOTHER bloody gladiator sandal. Just because I hate them.

What would be on your list?

Fake drawstrings. For the love of god, why?

Draw strings, I'm still debating taking the scissors to the ones on my new Tshirt.

I wish shops would have a clearer idea of their target market, or at least communicate better with us who on earth their clothes are aimed at.

Yes, the likes of M&S do at least have a reasonable stab at defining demographics (I think we all know who the 'Classic' and 'Per Una' ranges, for example, are aimed at).

But although demographics are important, so is HEIGHT and BODY SHAPE. A size 18 apple shape is radically different from a size 18 pear shape or a size 18 hourglass. If all three lived together they won't be able to share much in their wardrobes. To put all their clothes on the same rail in the shop is just confusing and annoying.

I must say, I don't know who per Una is aimed at - or even how any human mind could come up with some of their designs and fabrics!

Polyhymnia - re Per Una, I'd always assumed 55+ mad middle class art teachers (droves of them), but actually who knows. It's not aimed at me, that's for sure. They don't really seem to have a section aimed at me

But at least M&S do different trouser lengths, so they are ahead of most of the others on that score.

Ohh thank you Euphemia that sounds perfect ... sadly, I'm not based in UK and have already visited this summer . Will look out for next year though!

Bunbaker it is much easier in general to find clothes that fit when you are thin though. I know! I've been both shapes ....!!! It's much, much harder with big norks ....

Going off on a tangent, I'm afraid, but LRDTheFeministDragon please don't ever take your shoes to Timpsons to be resoled/repaired etc, especially if they are nice ones; they have ruined too many of my shoes! Find an independent cobbler. Some time after finding mine I somehow got chatting with him about Timpsons and the awful things they had done to my and DH's shoes before I saw the light and he explained how he had left there many years ago because they don't train their staff properly. They are rubbish and it still riles me when I think about their shocking service.

Rant over!

"Bunbaker it is much easier in general to find clothes that fit when you are thin though."

Come to Sheffield. In Meadowhall yesterday all the clothes left in the sales were size 16 and upwards and loads of sizes 20 and 22, hardly any 10s and 12s.

Optimism - I tend to agree - I did go to other places than Timpsons and they all said the same, though, which pissed me off. I usually go to Timpsons as a first port of call because they're cheap and most of my shoes are likewise.

But thanks for the warning!

It's generally a lot easier to find nice stuff in sizes 8 - 14 than it is in larger sizes though.

Also, the pear / apple difference in shape becomes more obvious the more fat you put on. I used to be a 10/12 top and 14 bottom, and could get away with most shapes of clothes, but at a couple of sizes larger I need to be much more discerning to avoid looking totally disproportionate.

"Women's clothes are usually sized to fit a b-cup"

I never realised that. I can't even fill an A cup so most tops are too baggy on me, which is why I tend to wear T-shirts most of the time.

"and I doubt many size 16 women have breasts that small, so clothes will gape or look wrong."

Yes that makes sense. What a stupid idea.

Denim that has rhinestones on it. Also pleather with cut out patterns. Nice.

Casual jersy/tshirt style tops that look like a nice colour/ shape from the side on the hanger, until you pull it out and it has a picture of an owl/american college logo (fake)/'bonjour' written on it. I want PLAIN ffs!

Yes, you wouldn't think plain would be SO hard, would you. I mean you can't get much cheaper to produce than plain.

Same with kids' clothes. Plain, stripy, or spotty please. Not bejewelled, bejazzled, be-logo'd, splattered with stupid 'hilarious' jokes...

Bunbaker come to mainland Europe (France, Belgium) where clothing stops at size 14 and no-one appears to have breasts!!

Interestingly the two pairs of trousers/jeans I own that are made in France are a better fit. I am going on holiday to Italy at the end of the month, so maybe there is an opportunity to see what I can find there.

Happy hunting Bunbaker - sure you will have rich pickings ...!

Btw couldn't agree more with BerryLellow and Bamboo about unecessary embellishments ....infuriating!

I'm a B cup (on a good day and in some ranges ) and tall and thin, and most things don't fit me; if a top is nice and snug round the norks it's three sizes too big round the torso and ribs, and if it fits my torso the neck gapes and V-necks come down to about my navel.

I don't doubt it's hard to find things to fit if you're short and curvy, but honestly, it's hard when you're the other way inclined too! They must make clothes for someone dead in the middle of all the sizes and shapes, who doesn't exist in real life.

D'you know, I reckon I could freestyle cut an old pair of curtains into a pear shape and it would fit me better than most of the size 16 dresses out there

Really. really high heeled shoes or dead flat shoes. Can't do them. Anything in between looks middle aged!

Yes, dead flat shoes with nasty thin soles

Actually Fly London aren't doing a bad job at good quality chunky non-grannyish mid-height heels.

Appreciate that not everyone likes them though, and shame about the price.

I loved my Fly sandals until someone on here said they look like 1980s BHS. Ruined them for me!

I think Per Una was supposed to be M&S's attempt to court the young market, then they discovered that it's older heavier women who buy it, so they're now also trying to cater for that market AND THAT'S WHY IT'S SHIT.