Getting dolled up. North-South divide?

[Getabloominmoveon]

Hot on the (high) heels of the 'airport outfit' thread, I'm wondering if there is a real North/South divide when it comes to the average level of doneupness expected to leave the house. I'm from Liverpool, where a Sunday night at the local pub demands full regalia, but now live in the South where I rarely see Aintree Ladies Day levels of preparation in local bars and pubs. When we go back to Liverpool, my husband (posh, foreign) is amazed at the swishy hair, heels and eyebrows surrounding him. But maybe I just go to the wrong places in the South?

[squoosh]

Carrie Bradshaw isn't in her grave yet! She'd be choking in her Jimmy Choo's to hear of her demise

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

Sarah Jessica Parker isn't dead is she

[NicknameUsed]

Waves to MuttonCadet. I'm not far from you (near Penistone) and don't dress up much for a pub night out or a meal. No-one does round here.

I used to love getting dressed up to go out, but I never go anywhere that requires it now.

[JasperDamerel]

I've lived in Yorkshire for the past twenty years and have only seen the heels/tan/hair/sparkly frock look on either very young women or hen parties. I did used to spend quite a long time getting ready if I was going to a goth club, but that was as much the case in London as in Leeds.

[Meeep]

I'm from the north, if I go out, I don't "dress up" dress up, just put heels and a nice top with my jeans and some lipstick as well as my usual mascara.

[MuttonCadet]

Waves back to nickname thanks for confirming that we aren't all tacky in "the provinces".

Love a good black or white tie, but that's the only time I dress up (and even then it doesn't involve a hairdresser or MUA).

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

I agree it's possibly a bit of a class thing, and also very much a what you're into thing.

I've never 'glammed up' as described on this thread in my life, despite spending the first 25 of it in Glasgow and the last good few in Newcastle. None of my friends do or did either. Other people might, but it's really not my thing.

Dynasty style glam wasn't really the thing of all the other people hanging out in sleazy's and then heading over to the garage in the late 90s either. But plenty of other people who weren't hanging out with me got all glammed up. Although, that said, I think the possibilities for fake tanning, HD eyebrowing, professional makeuping etc in preparation for a night out are now infinitely greater than they were in 1998. So the people doing it are probably doing it with far more conviction these days.

[dibly]

I'm from the northwest and it's a generational thing as much as anything else. In my day, you'd make sure you had a liberal amount of fake tan on and a glam outfit for a weekend night, but in the last 20 years that seems to have evolved to professional make up, false eyelashes, eye brows (gulp), blow dries, nails, etc etc. It's no wonder the girls aren't wearing coats, probably can't afford them after all that outlay.

I get that it's fun dressing up and getting ready, but I feel quite sad that some of these young girls feel obliged to conform to such unrealistic versions of themselves.

[Trills]

I'm not far from you (near Penistone)

Snigger. Penis.

[sugarfreepolo]

round here (st albans) we just go out as we are, don't get 'dolled' up for anything thats a bit odd really

[Trills]

It's no wonder the girls aren't wearing coats, probably can't afford them after all that outlay.

Haha - it's not about the cost, it's that it would cover up the outfit.

[AmberNectarine]

MadHatter they'd love that in the Fez

[MadHattersWineParty]

Amber- they would! It'd look smashing on that dance floor!

[lemonade30]

I'm a scouser who went to uni today n Birmingham, we used to go to this gay club in a big warehouse, subway city I think it was called....

Anyway, being scouse I was always there in my going out dress, big hair and killer heels and I kid you not if I had a pound for every man in that club that admired my boobs and commented on how realistic my 'work' looked I'd be a rich woman,

Yes ladies, they thought I was a tranny....

[PirateSmile]

It isn't just the women in Liverpool who are well turned out. The children are always immaculate too. I recall venturing into Liverpool when mine were babies. My dc would be covered in food and looking dishevelled and invariably we'd end up sitting on the train next to a spotless baby wearing a designer outfit. I don't know how the mothers did it.

[sparechange]

In the south, there is a London:provinces divide
You can see it at the weekends in the West End and 'cool' areas
Londoners are in jeans.
Provincials are dressed like evening guests at their boss's wedding.

[sparechange]

When I worked in The City, we had a bar near our office where we occasionally decamp of a Friday afternoon.
The women's loos were hilarious - girls would come in for the night from Kent and Essex to nab a banker, all changing into suits and Blazers, and scrubbing make up off

[Bluedolphin1971]

sunbeam18 Defo agree with you Glasgow can be very dressy when you go out, but then again I think it's great because you can either go out casual or very dressy and not look out of place. Sometimes I like getting dressed up but I do draw the line at fake tan, shellac nails and hair extensions but then again, I'm 45 😜 X

[Iwillorderthefood]

I was a student in Liverpool, and for us on a night out, the no coat thing was so we did not pay for the cloak room 😜

[Iwillorderthefood]

Sorry to drip DD, but just thought, on a night out on Friday in London, most people do not go home after work, and just go as they are. We had dress down Friday so I just took a different top to go over my jeans, an small bit of makeup and that was it. If you went home from the city, you did not go back in, it takes too long. I suspect it's the same now,

[Iwillorderthefood]

*feed

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Nettle, your post brought it all back .... I was brought up in the 'pool too (b. in the sixties), and even then every girl out and about was fair game to other girls.
I went to a girls' school and was pretty much ostracised as I had a severely limited wardrobe and a dm who didn't believe on spending money on clothes for kids, so would have to wear the same gear to discos etc.
I still felt the shame of it when I became a student elsewhere, but at least there was more of a 'normal' attitude towards clothes and you wouldn't be openly mocked for not having many or for wearing the 'wrong' ones.

[FankEweVeryMuch]

Sparechange are you talking about Digress by any chance?

I moved from Wales to London In my late teens, I loved the accepted lack of dressing up compared to back home, suits me down to the ground.

[sparechange]

fank
Nothing that classy..!
The legendary Abacus was the best place to spot the costume changes, but mostly we were on Rocket bar in the courtyard near Bank

[rubybleu]

Madison (St Pauls) is the new Abacus/Revolution. The queue to get up to the roof on a Friday is crazy, and yes everyone has come in from Essex.