What is wrong with looking mumsy?

[bouquetofpencils]

Just that really.

What is mumsy? I associate mumsy with being comfortable. In which case I was mumsy long before I was a mum.

It's far too cold for bare legs here today. Goose pimply legs are not a good look.

I never do bare legs apart from in cropped trousers!I generally don't like bare legs but that's likely a personal thing (and I'm quaint!)

Wool is not fine in the rain, it smells.

Dresses with leggings/thick black tights were worn in the early 90s, I remember at 17 or 18 wearing floaty dresses with thick tights and doc marten boots - so definitely a look I have seen before, just like skinny jeans which used to be called drainpipes. Mum jeans for my generation are the badly fitting tapered ankle jeans that were generous over the stomach and thighs - hideous; bootcut jeans were v stylish when they first appeared and when drainpipes came back re-invented as skinnies, a lot of people my age were .

I think I agree with the poster upthread who said mumsy is so many different things to different people - if you mean frumpy, then just say frumpy. Frumpy isn't necessarily a particular style either, it's how an individual looks themselves - I look frumpy in patterns, no matter how 'stylish' the garment itself is supposed to be.

I don't remember leggings with dresses in the early 90's or with dresses so much tbh I definitely remember black tights with shorts though-usually denim and cut off.

Guess the whole denim jacket 'trend' could be classed as mumsy too and I have to admit I have always thought that of denim jackets (which people have always been wearing anyway!)

Yes,wool can smell in rain,not always though.But it is warm and keeps the rain away from you.It also looks nicer.It's just a pain to dry! Still beats a parka handsdown which belongs on school girls and festival goers only

Wool initially repels water, but then becomes saturated if it gets soaked. But it does smell when wet.

Tights get on my tits though, they never ever stay up. Leggings win over tights for comfort every time. Still don't wear them though

It does hold water,it keeps it away from your skin though.It will become heavy however!!!!!

The other advantage to leggings instead of tights is no slippy feet!

MrsDeVere you have to go to a 'vintage' shop now to get those old coats! My DSD has loads of beautiful stuff which would once have been found in the charity shop but is now 'vintage' .

Interesting how so many of us associate 'mumsy' with being frumpy, dowdy, unfashionable and generally don't want to be thought of in that way. Fascinating how many of us buy into these terms and also other subtle rules that society places upon women as they get older: Must not look 'mutton', should cut hair shorter as we get older, must dye hair and not show greys.. And really it is women judging other women. We say the male equivalent is 'dadsy' but how many men worry about being termed so? How often is the term banded about by media? Men 'mature' or become 'distinguished' but women get old. We see elderly male presenters on prime time TV but less so women.
I am just ranting really but I think what I mean is we should wear what we like, what's comfy, what we feel happy in.

I've never used 'dadsy' but have accused DH of dressing 'a bit David Cameron'

The day i bought a parka was a happy day. I am now warm in playgrounds, where before I used to freeze in my stylish wool coat. I bloody love it.

The sneering about certain brands is nonsense really. Yes, some Boden stuff is shocking (actually, most of SS14 as far as I can see) but their 'skinny' jeans happen to fit me well so I buy them. Same for some of their other stuff, but mainly plain items rather than bloody hotchpotch shit.

Some of my colleagues make Primark clothes look amazing, others look pretty awful in things that cost 20x more. I guess the reason there's so little agreement about what 'mumsy' means is down to the fact that how you wear things matters.

I wore tights/leggings & dresses in the 90s as a student.

So I suppose when I'm wearing them I feel younger even if I don't look it.

Whereas if I'm wearing trousers & a blazer, which I do often, I feel like my mother.

Yep, men have their own style fears, to "a bit David Cameron" (Dadsy style, clearly!) I can add "That's a bit golf club" - you know, chinos, polo shirt, jacket with shiny buttons, loafers with tassels. Or even worse, the fear many late 30s men have that they are morphing into Jeremy Clarkson...

While woman get "mutton" thrown at them, men get accused of being a Kidult or manchild should they dare wear a hoodie past 35. Men's casual clothes are a minefield.

Not to mention the Shane Ritchie floral shirt.

I actually like DH in them though so don't care.

"Yes,wool can smell in rain,not always though.But it is warm and keeps the rain away from you.It also looks nicer.It's just a pain to dry! Still beats a parka handsdown which belongs on school girls and festival goers only"

I don't agree. I live on the edge of the Pennines. A wool coat/jacket is simply not warm enough or waterproof enough round here.

I have a lovely stylish wool coat and everyone compliments me when I wear it, but when it was thick with snow last year and well below freezing it simply wasn't warm enough. So I went back to my Cotton Traders feather filled duvet coat which was ideal for standing at a freezing cold station waiting for a late running train. Quite frankly, in extreme weather fashion goes out of the window.

The ones who still wore their silly ballet pumps/Converse in the snow looked so miserable in the cold. I just don't get why some people are so self conscious about fashion that they end up just looking stupid because they are wearing inappropriate clothing for the weather.

I always feel ancient in a blazer and hate it with jeans although lots of people do love it and look good

Pencilcase, I always think of princess diana when I see jeans and blazers - that's why I would feel mumsy in them. At the time she was looking 'stylish' I was wearing tracky bottoms for daily slobbing and spice girls inspired looks for going out! (I rocked the little scamp look even though I was in my 20s).

Stylish people still look very 'grown up' to me, even though I am now on the cusp of 40.

X post noddy.

It's not the first time Noddy that I've decided you & I would get on

Yes Monica that's it! Diana is exactly what I think.

I also think of her when I hear the word 'accessorise' as opposed to 'put a scarf on'

I think any attempt to make jeans 'smarter' veers into Carol Vordermann territory!

I don't know anyone who refers to anyone else as "mutton dressed as lamb", that is a very dated comment IMO.

Neither gave I heard or read men being described as "distinguished" since about 1978

Scarlet76, maybe we live in parallel universes?

Are you hanging out with Bridget Jones' mum?

agree with frumpy and boobs - I'm a 32F and desperately wish I was flat chested.

Bootcut jeans can look just fine when worn with cool enough t-shirt.

Read old thread. People described just about every look going!!
Yet to see what exactly you consider NOT to be Mumsy.
Cutting edge Milan fashion week seems to be the only thing that is acceptable!!

At Uni I used to be fascinated by people who paid no attention to style, I couldn't comprehend how they managed to avoid all the pressure to attempt to look good. I had a weird sense of admiration and respect for them....they are not obsessed and imprisoned by image.
I love S&B and enjoy it enormously but sometimes it makes me feel very sad for the people who can't embrace loosing their sense of perfectionism and ageing, they spend fortunes on anti ageing creams and cosmetic procedures, those who can't face the world without their extensive grooming, sometimes it comes across like an unhealthy obsession and when I read these posts I find myself backing slowly away, thinking that's enough now, being Mumsy isn't so bad.