I appear to be the only Mum at school without a padded gilet . . .

[ellenrosethenotsosecretpirate]

am I missing out?

[Twiglett]

oh no I'm not

[iota]

the mums with padded gilets at our school usually are about to go off and exercise the horses

I have a sleeveless fleece (Berghaus not fashion) which I wear under my Berghaus anorak - in fact I can zip them together.

Sometimes I wear it on its own

[Gobbledispook]

er twig - I don't look anything like that!

[expatinscotland]

eewww, horses are stinky.

where are you?

i've not seen any padded gillets here.

but this is urban.

my dad gave DH a down one that he rarely used, b/c he lives in warmer climates and tends to rotate to the UK in summer.

it looks a bit padded.

but for moi? no.

it's just too 'millet's' a look for me.

[Gobbledispook]

No, no, no - you all just have the wrong look in mind!! YOu need a trendy one and the trendy clothes to go with it!!

Agree that horses honk though. Yukko

[puffling]

Do you live in Surrey?

I live in Salford and and mums round here are not even aware of gilets and 'hunters.'

You only live once, so don't be a slave to Boden mumness.

[expatinscotland]

it all reminds me of pongy livestock.

how unsavoury.

no, i don't see myself in such a garment.

[MrsDoolittle]

I have two gilets; a brown one and a blue one. I love them.
They are like wearing a cosy duvet without the interference of puffy arms. They keep my torso toasty warm.
I really don't give a flying f* what anyone thinks.

[Sheraz]

We call them 'body warmers'round our way. i love mine. I don't have a horse and i don't smell. Mine was from Dorothy Perkins. i guess I'm common.

[LadyOfTheFlowersIs1Baby1Bump]

i wear one riding with my hunters, but nowhere else.

[sansouci]

I've got one with sleeves. It's about a zillion years old & the threads are coming loose. it's navy & has a cordoroy (sp?) collar. One of my friends told me I dress the exactly the same way as we did when we were at school, which was only about a zillion years ago. I hate fashion, except haute couture & America's next top idiot, which is hilarious, btw.

[ellenrosethenotsosecretpirate]

I'm in North Somerset so we have a mixture of genuinely horsey people (ride them, rather than smell or look like them) and people who wish they could spend their time riding horses but can't so dress like they could if they wanted to and those who are too busy/disorganised for any of that and end up being the one without the gilet

Torn now, with you on the lack of arms though - is there really a long period of time when it is cold enough to warrant a gilet but not to demand something with sleeves - by the time I have finished this thread I have probably missed it anyway

[Kittypickle]

WEll I am probably moving to North Somerset next year but I'm not going to have a padded gilet and that is final ! So if we end up up a bit further down the road into Somerset with the North, do they all wear them there as well ?

[Twiglett]

Gobble ol' gal ol' pal .. you just don't think it looks like that, you just think it looks trendy .. but it doesn't .. it looks like man from millets gone mad with material selection

[boboggglimpopo]

I bought a pink one with a red lining in a rash moment during the last winter sales. I look like a walking spat out sweet, the dds scoffed and did that eyebrow thing when I tried to palm it off on them, dh says that if I wear it skiing I will be visible from the next mountain, should they need to find me, so it lies, unworn, with the price tag (a fiver, reduced from sixty, which says something!) and looks at me whenever I do a shoe hunt in the deepest reaches of my cupboard.

I am going to ebay the bloody thing - unless anyone wants it for postage

I used to have a lovely plain black Gap one that I loved and wore all the time, but never with hunters.

[expatinscotland]

What are 'hunters', in the garment sense, that is?

I would think a gillet such as this would be good for, as ggg's DH pointed out, skiing. Or whilst fraternising w/livestock.

As neither activity holds appeal to me, I'm happily gillet-less.

[vitomum]

i haven't worn one since a pony club event in 1983. Are the actually back in fashion or are they a lifestyle statement?

[NomDePlume]

Hunters are wellies, expat

[vitomum]

btw ex-pat i beleive 'hunters' are wellie boots, generally green

[expatinscotland]

Ah, the brand!

Yes. I have Hunter wellies. And they are green.

But I wear them on very rainy days w/a normal jumper and coat.

[southeastastra]

at fraternising with livestock

[pointydog]

SOme gilets are back in fashion.

Some gilets are lifestyle statements, roughly like that bizarre lifestyle statement of turning up your blouse collar.

[RanToTheHills]

i'm with the twiglett on the cold arms front. Why oh why wear sth which only keeps yr body warm?? don't get it, esp as it's my arms rather than my back/tummy which get the coldest.