'Prissy style' of the South east - WHYYYY????

[windygallows]

I live in a smaller town in the home counties after many years in a large urban centre in the North. Lovely place but the style is so different and I'm still struggling to make heads or tails of it.

Up north people wore a lot of black and the look was a bit more slick... down here women my age (40s) and even younger dress in what I can only describe as a kind of prissy, prim style with:

• lots of cardis
  
• lots of bright colours including loads of floral dresses and skirts
  
• Very rarely do you see lots of black or all dark colours
  
• bootcut mum jeans with heeled boots a la 1995
  
• lots more 'ortho' sandals and shoes
  

When I see women in brightly coloured mary janes wearing spotted Boden skirts and sporting floral Cath Kidston bags I honestly think it's an outfit more suited to a 10 year old girl.

Help me understand the style down here. Where does it come from? Is this quintessential english style? Or are the home counties stuck in a style warp? I don't think I'm some style guru and certainly don't want to be teetering around in a sparkly dress in heels....but it feels v different here!

[LucilleBluth]

Yes, loads of loud floral joules etc round here. I can only put it down to the fit....bear with me. After giving birth, unless we are very lucky our bodies never really snap back to how they were. Hips spread and midriffs are never quite the same... a pair of Boden jeans fits better than a pair of topshop jeans, white stuff flatters curves but Zara emphasises all the wrong bits iykwim. 'Trendy' clothing manufacturers don't cut for mothers of two and their bodies.

[Sunshineandwaves]

I don't understand why Boden gets so much hate on here. Most of there stuff is non pattern and a decent quality. I'm 5ft 9 and would be lost without their long length. And as a size 14 would look embarrassing dressed In top shop Zara.

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

Sunshine - no ! I am a size 14 and whilst my top shops days are gone you can get good tips and jackets from Zara and COS is the size 14 BFF

I also like Hush for more simple stuff that's plain but nicely cut

look wear what you like but dont think that Boden is the only option that's all

[NicknameUsed]

What is so special about Boden? I wouldn't recognise Boden clothing unless someone pointed it out to me? I have occasionally looked at their website, but their prices frighten me.

And branded wellies. Why? Unless you are a farmer and wear them all the time why not wear something cheaper? I wouldn't be able to tell if someone's wellies were an expensive brand unless there was a whacking great label on the side saying so.

I live rurally and you don't see people wearing wellies all the time, because we country folk only wear them in the mud, not for walking children to school etc. We don't need to pretend we are in the countryside because we already are.

[Jmangel]

Well does it really matter what everyone else is wearing? Just wear what you like and don't let the floral shite infiltrate! I think that awful mummy look is everywhere tbh. I'm in Cheshire but refuse to comply -I'm a Zara, Hush girl and prefer the simple streamlined look. Yesterday I saw an abomination of clothing at the park - there was a girl in her 30s wearing a floral above knee linen dress which was strappy and then she'd put a short sleeved t shirt under it in a different floral print. Then ankle socks with floral converse style trainers with a cath kidson style cross over bag - truly hideous and she was only 30ish. Do not be sucked in to dressing this way!

[Trills]

She was doing that on purpose.

3 different florals and the ankle socks is a style she has deliberately chosen, not a lack-of-style that she's accidentally slipped into.

[Jmangel]

Oh no believe me there was no style involved whatsoever - it wasn't in a trendy way - I know that clashing floral and prints is a trend - but the shapes and the prints were truly hideous. She looked 20 years older than she was.

[herecomesthsun]

I have always liked clothes and had a lot of fun as a student wearing Red or Dead and vintage Chanel/ Givenchy. I liked black and looked good in it and was fond of wacky shoes. One colleague - a mum -turned up in a huge black down-filled puffa jacket and I was very aware how different our clothes choices were.

Then I a) moved to the countryside b) got a senior professional job c) had kids d) got older.

I don't suit black so much these days, I wear navy blue.

I order almost all my clothes on line. This is because I now live in a village with good shops several miles drive away and I would likely have kid/s in tow on a shopping expedition. Boden gives detailed measurements and is easy to return if things don't fit.

I need shoes that are mud-proof and, if not waterproof, will withstand rain and driving. I do have some shoes I will change into for meetings etc but it is a pain.

I also feel I would look daft walking around the village in shoes with spiky studs, for example.

The mums at the school gate are generally dressed for comfy country practicality. I don't mind being a bit different but I don't want to look stupid.

Oh, and I don't buy stuff that needs to be dry cleaned. And I like being warm and dry in the winter (including for health reasons) so I go for waterproof coats with hoods.

I am careful with flower prints as I think I am the wrong age for them. I do seem to have a lot of plain Boden, They do natural fabrics which is great.

I guess my style has changed, but were I to live in rural Northumberland or rural Cornwall, I would imagine I would be guided by the same reasoning.

[HoneyDragon]

My Hunter wellies are probably older than quite a few people on this thread, and worn every winter. And I have a purple pair of Nora's, which I tend to wear on the school run when it's pissing down.

I've got a few bits by Boden, White Stuff and Joules as well including the obligatory flowery coats, amongst other wardrobe staples.

I'm a committed cardigan wearer too, I think they are the greater invention ever.

And I wear nice comfortable thick soled sandals in the summer.

I certainly don't look prissy in them, not with the shaved head, facial piercings and tattoos.

I dress the same as I always have wherever I've lived. See it, like it, by it, wear it.

[HoneyDragon]

*buy

[DinosaursRoar]

Agree it's not a north/south thing, it's a city /country town thing - when I visit uncle, aunts and cousins up in Cheshire, it's a sea of boden and joules, and "fun" prints, although agree younger cousins do seem to get very dressed up for a night in the pub.

The style you are describing can be found in Church halls and the gates of OFSTED rated "outstanding" schools the length and breadth of the country. This is middle class mum uniform.

I live in a Kent market town now and it's a mixture, lots of boden with lots of those who do the London commute still keeping up the London style. (Which isn't just lots of black, that doesn't seem to be that popular, although black suits very few white woman).

[Sunshineandwaves]

**stopfuckingshoutingatme I agree Zara is good for jackets and tops. I am limited by length though and find Boden's longer options great.

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

that said as a Londoner I cannot tell you how many times I have gone out on a weekend in a black and white striped t-shirt, skinnies, sunglasses, hair back, and either trainers/flats to see every. single. mum wearing the same

sometimes I dress my DC the same and its just a fucking joke!

[MadisonMontgomery]

It isn't a southern thing, it's a look that's popular with a certain demographic - at my workplace we call it the health visitor uniform as that's how they all dress! The social workers are similar but a bit more Toast/Hush thrown in with some chunky silver jewellery to add to the mix.

[onemouseplace]

I'm in SE London and you don't really see the Boden/ Joules floral Mum uniform in my area at all - if there is any uniform it's generally the Hush look, with a bit of COS for the slightly edgier.

Although I have seen midi-pleated skirts everywhere this summer.

[i8sum314]

Never heard of Hush. checked it out. Bit too 'slouchy'

[mewkins]

Hmm I get you. I am a Londoner who has also lived in a northern city but been back in the se home counties for 15 years. You may even live in the same town as me. I have kids so do the school run in work clothes but wear black pretty much all the time. I have a real mixture of friends - lots have moved out of london and still dress in a more of an individual city style. Lots of waterproofs though. Is it partly a parent thing? I care very much about clothes hair and make up as feel it is partly what makes me me. Plenty of people don't give a shit though and dress for practicality. A lot of people have moved out from london for good schools, quieter everything so may feel they need to dress accordingly.i find it fascinating.

[Glittershoes22]

Ugh, I used to live in London and moved to the home counties and yes I have become that joules/boden/floral wearer. Part of me loved it until I wore a flowery Joules coat into London (it was pissing it down) and I caught sight of myself in Selfridges and realised I looked like a country bumpkin. I gave myself a bit of a talking too. I still bloody love florals in the summer but I'm looking forward to my slightly more cosmopolitan autumn winter wardrobe!!

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Posh Cheshire uniform is definitely slouchy griege in expensive looking fabrics. Is that Hush then? It is deadly, deadly dull.

[FunkinEll]

stopfuckingshoutingatme ha, I have that exact outfit as do all of my boys. Sometomes we'll go out somewhere and just as we're getting out of the car I notice we're all in stripes.

It's the same with friends too, we have an ongoing 'stripe memo' joke going on.
Dungarees are the new mum inform around here, preferably with a black and white Breton.

[i8sum314]

Re the stripes, not a breton but my friend and I both went to visit a school friend last year and we were on a flying visit, 36, travelling light, no alternative choices to wear instead and we both pulled this top out of our rucksacks.

felt like a girl band or something

[i8sum314]

36 hours that was supposed to say.

Anyway when I was linking to that top I saw this one which I like, if I buy this one will one of my friends have bought the same top!?

mummy uniform top

[EmpressTomatoKetchup]

Dungarees are the new mum inform around here, preferably with a black and white Breton. and a red lip and those white trainers (name escapes me) I call it fashion blogger chic.

[onemouseplace]

Stan Smiths. Yes, it's all a bit uniform, isn't it? Sometimes I would quite like to rock up on the school run in full Helena Bonham Carter.

[FunkinEll]

And a heavy fringe (to hide the baby hairs).

I'm so guilty of this