How to pull off the 'posh girl scruffy look'

[watchforthesnail]

i work in a very naice store, i see so many of these girls/ women a day. You know the look, all underdressed, but also looking very expensive/classy but not over done.

Is it alook that only money can achieve? ( i have none) where would i start?

I think ive got the hair down ( ish) but have no clue on the make up either.

[Twinklestein]

You could buy the whole look on ebay:

LK Bennett bags & costume jewellery
Links jewellery
Aspinal bags/wallet
Pure Collection cashmere, they do good quality accessories
(also checkout their own website for sale)
7 for all mankind/Citizens of Humanity jeans
Boden/Joules/Jack Wills tweed jackets

As an alternative to good quality costume jewellery,you could pick up an antique or deco ring on ebay that will pass for family stuff.

TK Maxx is good for Osprey bags & purses, Moschino & Valentino silk scarves, also cashmere scarves & Ralph Lauren knitwear

If in doubt choose camel or brown.

[appletarts]

Anyone link to a picture for this? I think our babysitter looks like this.

[wickedfairy]

I love this look and I do try but not sure I can nail it!!

What shops sell the lovely slouchy, luxe looking tops? I never know where to look and am not very good at shopping....

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I so wish I could do this, but my hair just doesn't like it.

It's very heavy and silky, and has a pathological hate of being messy. I aim for this and it comes out like this.

Funnily enough, I dress that way more in winter (skinny jeans, boots, cashmere jumpers) than I do in summer.

[watchforthesnail]

ilovewinter, no, course not :)

desperate - nice :)

i reverted back to eyeliner today as i was in a rush. pah. it takes longer to look scruffy than it does to look glam.

[ilovethewinter]

I'm loving this thread but how about some tips more us mature ladies (in my 40's) or have I left it too late to achieve this look?!

[DesperateHousewife21]

Oh don't know why its sideways!

[DesperateHousewife21]

This is me today...scuse the dcs hanging around.

[Somethingyesterday]

ontheotherside This is exactly the conversation I wanted to have (but lacked the skill to introduce...) The thread on "giving oneself permission to look good" has been amazingly interesting......

[ontheotherside]

watchforthesnail I'm not having a go or being mean, and I'm sure you'll look lovely. I'm just interested in the politics of dress in a wider sense. Perhaps I'll find somewhere else to have that discussion.

[kaosak]

! @Ronald

[RonaldMcDonald]

Breeding is all in the legs
like racehorses

if you aren't long enough from knee to ankle you simply aren't posh

[InMyShreddies]

I'm going to start channeling Millie and Betty from Mad Men. Zero expression [posh]

[Treaguez]

Yes. Your face should be a mask at all times. Anything else makes others uncomfortable, and isn't good manners. You may laugh. But no cackling.

[WileyRoadRunner]

Sarcasm is out? and bitchy resting face too?

[watchforthesnail]

i wont ever look posh. im not trying to be posh. Its just about a 'look' not trying to be something im not.

The eyeliner less face went down well today, several people told me i looked really fresh like ive been on holiday. But mostly, people are commenting on my hair, apparently it looks lighter and more bouncy and longer. Clearly its not. I dont see how less eyeliner has made my hair look different, but it appears it has.

Inmyshreddies - yep thats the look. My friend is going to cowles week and said its full of people with that look, hair up all odd, looking a total mess, but somehow not. I think its totally about things not looking overly planned or matching and a bit lived in. The ebay buy sounds fab :)

[ontheotherside]

MrsHoarder, who says that we were scruffy by the time we were in our 30s?

Superstrength perhaps we need our own we do not want to look posh thread

[libertychick]

Oh well, I'll never look posh then! I have a hyper expressive face - my emotional state is never in doubt!

[InMyShreddies]

Haha yes me and DH do a Millie voice when watching Made in Chelsea. It involves speaking with as little facial movement as possible and no expression at all.

Try it: 'it's soo lovely to see you, we must do it again soon' and 'I'm so heartbroken/angry', how could she do that'

[Treaguez]

"Keeping your face arranged in a calm expression" this is absolutely key IMO.

NEVER show emotion/interest/enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm is extremely uncool, as is too much intelligence. Quiet intelligence is all right but too much puts the boys off. Sarcasm is right out. If you have Bitchy Resting Face, don't.

And remember, everything is lovely. Even when it isn't.

[InMyShreddies]

Love this thread. It's also about the whole French look too, non?

I remember as a teenager looking wistfully at girls from the local private school who wore scarves over their hair with bits poking out like it was totally unintentional and just flung on. I looked scruffy too but not in a good way ie not posh.

And now I often think it's about not wearing things that look 'new' or overly planned and matching. I got a fab Jack Wills Breton from Ebay that is great thick cotton but looks a bit faded - perfect, instant posh scruff credentials

I do wear the same simple delicate silver jewellery every day as I feel too try-hard in statement pieces. I do gravitate to simple dressing but my love of novelty lets me down sometimes I think. And I do have good long blonde hair but probably over-style it and should attempt a scruffy top-knot thing.

What's the verdict on 40bum? I think she always looks both posh and scruffy, but her look is a) more detailed and fussy and b) older than this I think...

[MrsHoarder]

super have you considered that the women in their 20s rebelled to not look like the scruffy women who were in their 30s when they were young?

[DesperateHousewife21]

Glad this look is in as its my fav.
The only jeans I have are skinny, my fav style tops are oversized/ slouchy or a blousr but not fitted.

Hair is boob length but often is either up in messy bun or half up half down because im growing my fringe out and it's at an awkward length.

Big brown real leather bag (love love love) big sunnies and minimal jewellery. One bracelet/ long necklace.

Clean, flat shoes- don't need to be expensive as long as they're not scruffy.

Good shops- Zara, French Connection, Mango, All Saints and Reiss/ Toast.

[SuperStrength]

I think I belong to the same tribe as toasted and theother
The none aspirational dressing of the 90s gave girls like me lots of freedom with a slice of rebellion (my parents hated my sensible boots).

I can't understand why anyone in their 20s would want to ape the Middletons...it's all a bit stepford wives & uttely boring. They dress like the 60 year old women I see having lunch in John Lewis.
If that's aspirational then I give up on the youth of today. Where's the idealism, where's the fight? I don't want sappy clones I want to see kids who help us older ones remember what's really important.

Anyway...sorry to go off on a tangent, I was just a little excited that there were others in the same boat

Back to the posh girl theme...for as many good examples of this there are many, many more bad examples. It's a bit mean but we refer to them as the 'fat Saskias'. Expensively dressed, great hair, overweight & prominant in any southern university town.