Boden dresses - am I completely wrong then?

[NigellasGuest]

Perhaps I'm just a frump but I've seen a few dresses in the new collection which to me look pretty good. I've only looked at them online I must admit. But I've read on here recently people saying Boden dresses are pretty awful.

Here are some examples:

with huge chunky pearl bracelet and fishnets
with opaques and boots
ok it's a wrap dress

BTW I'm talking about all of the above in NAVY.
Can you tell me are these really so bad? or am I just totally misguided?

Yep, they're frumpy!

It hnk they are just very expensive! I also find Boden dresses come in very unflattering styles for a larger bust. The wrap dress might be ok.

I think the skater and colette dresses look very uncomfortable, but then I am quite casual.

I have to agree they're all frumpy. I think once they're navy & on they'll be even worse. But I can't stand Boden style so I'm hardly objective.

I think it more that there are very few dresses people seem to like, at least that's how I feel (plus some are saying they're more expensive). They've improved, I think, in that it's not all empire line dresses nowadays.

I like one or two dresses at the most only this a/w, but have bought plenty from other depts.

Oh dear, I am clearly a frump too because like them, especially the first 2! More for office wear than casual.

I like this one not sure which colour, and I know it's awful.

www.bodenpreview.co.uk/en-GB/Womens-Dresses/Day-Dresses/WH602/Womens-Casual-Cord-Dress.html?NavGroupID=4

Though I think it needs a belt of some sort

None of them are doing anything for me, sorry. Whether or not they are frumpy would be influenced by how they are worn, but they all look a bit austere and dull to me.

The first one would work on a young, skinny, long-legged person if it was very short and worn with boots and a biker jacket. The second is awful - the fabric looks thick and not v nice too. The third is the frumpiest.

I think the first one has potential on a slim and lovely young thing with long hair. Me it would pitch instantly into 1970s grammar school teacher.

This Boden dress isn't the least bit frumpy though, have lived in it this summer: Newquay Dress

x-post Remus

:) DD1 could wear it and look gorgeous. I'd look like Hattie Jacques.

I love the skater dress.

frozen yogurt to me that one is beyond frumpy.
Although I'm sure it doesn't look frumpy on you.
But I would never ever buy that.

Just shows how it's horse for courses I suppose. But judging from the majority of the responses, perhaps I need to see a stylist......

could I please have your thoughts on these as well?
Not thoughts regarding price thank you - just style....

www.net-a-porter.com/product/358031
www.net-a-porter.com/product/386202
www.net-a-porter.com/product/384638

Boden to Westwood is quite a jump! I love the Westwood one. Don't like the 2nd - it's fussy and a bit old fashioned looking. The 3rd is hideously expensive but quite nice - I like the back - but the waist detail would need a v slim body to carry if off, I think.

Remus play the video for the 2nd one!

Nope, I still don't like it. It's dowdy but trying to be sexy.

ok, so my point is they are not a million miles from the Boden ones.

although just because they are designer, doesn't make them non-frumpy of course.

I bought a Boden wrap a couple of years ago (and I was 51 at the time) and it was hideous crappy fabric and a frumpy length. And very pricey for what it was. Back it went.

I hate Boden, it is so overpriced.

Only the third one has any similarity at all with the Boden one, I think - but actually it's an entirely different kind of dress due to the shaping details and the fabric.

I like the third one - so where would I find a cheaper version (not exact copy but something along those lines).

Not Boden, obviously!

Cos?

I had some fabulous dresses from Boden last year but this year's have all gone back. One was cut so low that had I not been wearing a bra, my nipples would have poked cheekily out of the front. And I didn't want to expose all of my grey bra, so back it went. And its friend.

The patterned wrap dresses look like what my mother, who is 80, would call "old lady dresses" or overalls, and would be better off sitting with friends in the Chums catalogue: this and this would not look out of place in the Boden catalogue.