I am 43 and never been to TopShop, what am I missing?

[BikeRunSki]

Well, I have walked through TopShop to get from Meadowhall car park into the rest of the shopping centre. But it scares me. Too bright and fashiony and cool and young.

Am I being silly?

I like the expensive ranges they do - Edited and Boutique. These are clearly aimed at the more mature ladee and are perfect for non-frumpy workwear. Silk shirts, decent trousers, leather-lined boots and wool jackets. Not much pricier than the rest of the shop, but much better quality, no knicker-flashing issues and decent value.

Wr

Oops!

Wrong time of year, I know, but they do the best leggings. I think they call them 'heavyweight'.

Good length, no bagging or sagging, and definitely never even slightly see-through.

I bought a lot there in the late 90s and early 2000s. At the time they seemed to have 'normal' clothes. They gradually changed to more fashion/style clothes - great for parties but not for work etc. I continued walking through the shop for another year or two and passed by neons, oversized t-shirts, 80's styled clothes and I found myself avoiding the place completely

UNTIL last week when I was passing time and decided to wonder in and look around. I saw a lot of tiny skirts, skinny jeans, cropped tops and then I found some great printed trousers. They are supposed to be 'ankle grazers' but as I'm five foot two, they fit perfectly. Zara have a similar pair (which I also got) but the TS ones have a more interesting pattern in a similar colour. I love them! So much that I went back to the shop yesterday and bought another pair of casual printed trousers and a plain t-shirt. Perfect for flip flops. I can never find anything other than plain trousers and am wearing ones from H&M that I bought ten years ago so I'm delighted.

The prices reflect the quality so I'm not expecting them to last forever but someone mentioned the quality of Oasis clothes and I'd strongly disagree one is of any better quality than the other. It just depends on the fabric. I have good quality dresses from Oasis and I have terrible knitwear and t-shirts from them. I find Oasis clothes are so repetitive - the same style season after season so I'm hoping and willing Topshop to keep stocking more 'wearable' clothes!

i am your age and i think i was 22 when i last shopped in topshop so some time early 90s, we are not it's target audience.

As others have said, shoes and bags. I have also recently bought a couple of necklaces and brilliant boyfriend jeans - not too baggy or too long. But the best thing is being totally ignored by the shop assistants as you are too old for them to compute! (Although they are fine if you actually accost them.) But then I get my kicks in odd ways ...

The last time I was in Top Shop, I actually saw very few teenagers/early 20s there. I think it's become too pricey for them and it wouldn't surprise me if TS started 'repositioning' themselves sometime soon.