Weekend in Rome

[blibblibs]

I don't come here very often as I'm neither stylish nor beautiful but I have a holiday coming up and I'm hoping for some help and inspiration.
I'm off to Rome for a special weekend and would like to look my best. My usual attire is gap jeans addidas trainers and a selection of tummy skimming tops mostly bretton, so its not really gonna cut it
I don't want to deviate too far from what I normally wear but would like to look a bit better presented.

To help you help me, I'm short, slightly tubby, a 12 on a good day, really bad knees and feet so they must be covered and we'll be doing loads of walking.
And just to make things more complicated I'm not uk based so don't have such a huge selections of stores to choose from. Do have Zara, New look, Matalan, a small debenhams & M&S , Esprit and Pull & Bear. Have no time really for internet shopping so hoping for ideas more than anything else on the hope that I might already have them in my wardrobe .

Bumping for you as MN is usually brilliant for this sort of thing!

When are you going (thinking of weather) and what do you plan to do when there?

The clothes you describe sound exactly right for an Italian weekend!

Italian women will soon be dusting down the Bretons and skinnies, believe me. Puffa jackets until about May, then a navy blazer (if they're going really posho) or a denim. Not averse to the double denim look either.

Rome pavements and roads are atrociously badly maintained, so the trainers will be fine. Italian women will be in Converse, Vans, Superga etc etc.

I went during the first weekend in March.
It rained very briefly but it wasn't cold, I imagine it will be even warmer now.
I wore jeans, tshirt, trainers and light waterproof Mac on all 3 days to travel in/sight see, with a cross the body bag.
I took a pair of flats and nice blouse for the Saturday evening meal, and a midi dress and heels for the Sunday evening in a nice restaurant. Clutch bag and separate jacket to go with both outfits.

Thank you and glad to hear all is not lost.
We're going in a few weeks so imagine temp will be around high teens.
We'll be doing lots of sight seeing and plenty of eating and drinking 😀
So trainers for daytime but I suspect I'll have to find other footwear for the evening. Also need to think of a style of jacket. I have a lovely denim one but can't do the double denim and a black leather one which will be no good for the daytime. Jeans are navy, I have ok navy trousers for evening and a navy dress if I take that so would like something that would work with all 3 as we're only taking hand luggage.
Where I live the ladies all like a puffa too but I can't go there so any other suggestions? Would only need it for the trip as it's not going to be jacket weather here soon

You need a jersey blazer! If you get the right fit they can be really versatile and surprisingly stylish, for something made of jersey. H&M usually have a good selection.

Did went to Madrid last year at this time and took a grey/ neutral colour Zara linen blazer. It went well with ankle length jeans and also over a dress and smart trousers for evening. It's aeons old though but there are probably similar in the shops.

Did? I mean 'I '

You definitely won't need a dress unless you're going somewhere really posh.

Ankle length jeans with canvas/trainers are de rigeur in spring.

I think I need a jersey blazer! Off to H & M I go....

Ok, no dress. We don't do posh!
Are jeans going to work in the evening if I change the top and pop on shoes?

I'm sure they will. But even for the evening stick to really comfortable and practical shoes with reasonably thick soles unless you are planning to be driven everywhere which I don't recommend. The Roman cobbles are all really hard and uneven.

What about a jacket like this??

I was there in March last year when 6 months pregnant (i.e. Not looking stylish at all!) and for dinner I wore skinny jeans and a silk blouse with biker boots and a navy blazer. Definitely did not feel under dressed.

Lovely jacket but being just 5ft it's not going to look good on me.
I think I need a nice shirt some shoes and a jacket and I shouldn't embarrass myself. Oh and possibly a bag 😁

Honestly, in Rome, most people you will see are tourists.

It's not a spectacularly stylish place as everyone is focussed on comfortable shoes and not being too hot.

Even if you go somewhere posh, jeans and trainers are fine - they know you've walked there

Crisp white cotton shirt with dark jeans, understated jewellery, trainers and a leather cross body bag will take you most places. Get a cut and blow dry before you go and you'll be fine.

Massive sunnies. And black tops. I felt very garish in patterns, found the locals dress pretty simply and chicly (if that's a word?) In black tops, jeans and sunnies. But agree with pp, there are loads of tourists and anything goes. I'm jealous, Rome is one of my all time favourite cities.

Adds new sunnies to the list

Garish in patterns - really depends where you go. There are some Italian women doing the full on Versace/Pucci/Cavalli which is mind-boggling to the average Brit tourist. Plus men in very very shiny suits and shoes.

We went in Italian wedding season - going round historic churches on a weekend we got to see several weddings a day. Roman wedding guest wear can be eye-popping.

Prints can be beautiful don't limit yourself to black if you love pattern. I love Missoni and Pucci and Italians wear it well.

It was pretty dressed down when I was there, except for the posh shopping area. I never changed before eating out - we just found a restaurant wherever we happened to be so any smarter clothes I took were wasted. I agree with everyone that you need shoes you can walk miles in and withstand cobbles.

If you're struggling to find a jacket to wear with jeans then why not look for chinos to replace the jeans? Then you could wear your denim jacket which you like. Plenty in the shops at the moment. It's around 20 degrees there this weekend so it could even be too warm for jeans in a few weeks although I think their spring is unpredictable.

It's a fabulous city - have a great time.

I packed a jacket for late September. Total waste of packing space - never worn. Fancy sandals worn once, then sobbed at the dinner table about how much my feet hurt.

Brilliant holiday in brilliant city but comfort all the way.

Thank you, I don't really do prints, my size and shape dont really allow me to carry them off very well. I have lots of stripes and a few checks but that's about it.
I do have some chino type trousers that I got from zara last month but I find you can only wear them once and they need washed, with jeans I can get away with a few days without the baggy knee problem.
I think I jacket to look put together with jeans is the way to go and the holy grail that is a nice evening top.

As others have said it's generally very understated in restaurants, so I wouldn't get an 'evening top' specially, unless you want one anyway or unless you're going for a very glitzy expensive dinner.

It's looking awfully like I don't need to get very much!
I think I new jacket wouldn't go a miss and possibly a new evening top because I think my understated is probably everyone else casual
Thank you all, you've made me realise I maybe don't dress as bad as I think