Sali Hughes on high street fashion for women over 35

[elotrolado]

Just read this - so true.

www.the-pool.com/fashion/fashion-honestly/2017/20/sali-hughes-on-the-british-high-street-dressing-women-over-35

I too long for those 'flattering frocks, neat at the shoulders, sleeves and neck, but with enough fabric around the middle to invisibly accommodate a bottle of red and more than 19 calories ...'

They are a bit more reliable size-wise in the menswear, my dH just buys his standard size in trousers from them, it is easy to order for him online.

I've coveted Old Town things for ages. Must get to Holt to try on.

Merchant and Mills is a similar aesthetic. Mostly they do patterns and cloth but there is some ready to wear.

I read this thread the other day and thought how bad can it be? I'm 38, not been shopping in a while, but I'm sure I'll go on Sunday and buy exactly what I want and prove them wrong!

No. I found nothing. I wanted three things - casual summer dress or two, tailored slightly cropped trousers, and a few tops. I wanted my shoulders covered and tops to cover the waistband of whatever I wore them with. I wanted them to be flattering on my ice cream c-section tummy. I want to wear a bra. And I want the material to not make me sweat too much. I bought one top. One top! I don't especially like it, but it fulfills the basic requirements.

High street is crap but I am nearly 50 and still get nice things from Topshop/Uniqlo and French Connection/Baukjen.

I usually got to central london a couple of times though to get to these stores as most Topshops only stock up to size 12.

Levi has stepped up in terms of t-shirts and sweats lately though I expect that that's the style I like so am happy. Do miss American Apparel for basics.

for bras I really like fantasie and usually covet the ones in john lewis then source cheaper online.

I've read the thread and tend to agree with the majority of posters here.

But I want to introduce a few thoughts from a different angle, just for the sake of covering all bases.

I think that the issue to some extent is political, at a national level.
The longer people are pushed struggling to survive on low wages, zero hour contracts, stressed over feeding their kids and trying to make ends meet after the cost of housing and fuel, etc - they really don't have the spare cash or incentive to shop expensively or ethically.
Not with food or clothing.

Poverty enables cheap tat.
Primark wouldn't exist perhaps if there weren't so many people struggling to get by. And after endless 8 hour shifts with no future benefits attached perhaps many people just want to be able to afford some cute clothes for the weekend off.

I don't know, but I do think the issue is inextricably linked to poverty - keeping people poor benefits many at the top.

It's a trap that can't be got out of easily. Supply and demand. People want to feel they can afford mini luxuries and for many those luxuries are Lidl perfume and frocks from primark. I'm not going to ask to take that away from them, and the greedy bastards at the top won't either (for different reasons)!

I got up close and personal with the M&S pink dress today.

I totally agree BadRabbit. George Orwell wrote something similar about chips in The Road to Wigan Pier. Cheap treat at the end of a hard week, when you live hand to mouth and can barely pay your rent.

BikeRunSki Haha, quite apt as I am from sunny old Wigan!

Did you buy it, User?

I would disagree Rabbit.

It would make sense if people bought the occasional treat in Primark or Lidl. But they are not, disposable fashion, and lots of it is not an occasional treat, it's every weekend treat.

Whole families spend their weekends in the shopping malls and so they buy stuff. It's there. Shopping is a pastime and cheap rags feed it their habit.

The downside - cheap clothes feed poverty because they are made by someone working for pennies.

Someone up-thread made a really good point about the cost of clothes. Everyone wants bespoke fit and quality, but pay Primark prices and I see it a lot on here.

I don't think the problem of lack of choice/fit/quality on the high street is confined to women either. DH has struggled for years to find good quality clothing which fits him. From what I've seen, the issue seems to be even more pronounced for men's clothing where there's a distinct lack of choice and not much variation in style. I would actually say that I think women have a much greater choice for clothes than men do.

For several years the fashion has been for very fitted shirts, suits and trousers. Obviously that's fine if you're 23, 6'2" and built like a string bean, but not for everyone else. My BiL and brother have the same problem.

I'm not going all 'what about the menz' but it seems clear that high street fashion is failing everyone really.

Also, we don't all want the same thing- I was moaning (as usual!) about Bodens high waists on their dresses, and my friend (similar age, smaller size!), said "but that really suits me!" And unlike a previous poster, I love a sleeveless shift!

However, 90% of us do seem to agree about fabric!

•ChardonnaysPrettySister•
I can see your point.
That does mystify me a bit, even if I stand by my argument.
I do wonder why so many people have slipped into the habit of buying so much at every price-point though.
What encouraged us? A cultural shift to some extent - we expect low prices because we have been offered them for so long. Which came first? The desire to buy so much of the media encouragement?

I see all these summery images online and in stores at this time of year: sultry sun soaked environments, festivals with no rain clouds (But just to be safe, buy those expensive wellies!), with women lazing around stylishly looking stress free and full of the joys of summer!

Reality is, this is pure bullcrap. But we fall for it to some extent. They KNOW what we dream of and aspire to. Well, sort of...

typo - The desire to buy so much or the media encouragement?

I don't want to go into the usual blame the media cliché, but inevitably we want what we see and we see more and more things, we see them everywhere, not just your glossy month magazine, but everyday.

So we want some. Then, the next day we see some more and we want that, too.

Producers, media and influencers, us, the consumers, we feed off each other. What came first? Greed, it's a primal, in all its forms.

We want out immediate gratification, producers and media want their profits.

I think there is an expectation that good quality clothing should be cheap. On an FB page I'm a member of, someone recently asked for recommendations for good quality wellies, saying he wasn't prepared to pay more than £15-£25. Several people recommended good brands which were more expensive, but long-lasting and they were dismissed out of hand purely on price. How often are you going to buy a pair of decent wellies? If you buy better quality, you pay more. And I see that ALL the time. Just look at the S&B board on here - 'I want an outfit I can wear often for work which will last five years and cost no more than £20'. They shriek at paying out for a Toast (for example) skirt then complain when a £9.99 one from Primark disintegrates after three washes.

I'm not saying that name = quality, often it doesn't. But people need to be realistic about what they are prepared to pay for a good quality, well-fitting item.

I'm very willing to pay for quality. I'd rather have a few good items than loads of cheap ones.

I used to buy a lot of clothes in the 2000s and up to about 2013 (when I had my DD): and from loads of places, Urban Outfitters, Boden, French Connection, Jigsaw, Whistles, White Co., Zara, Gap, Cos, Asos (and small designer labels through Asos), Alice Temperley, Reiss, Noa Noa, Topshop, Hobbs, LK Bennett, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Anthropologie....it was reasonably easy to always find something in a nice jersey, cotton or silk fabric that looked attractive, sophisticated, pretty, fashionable. My standard work wear "uniform" was a nice fitted crew-cut cardigan, a nicely cut top, and a skirt and heels - all sorts of skirts from tulip shaped to A-line, pencil, full or mini skirts, in nice attractive fabrics. For going out, a pretty dress in chiffon, wrap jersey or modal, etc.

Since I had maternity leave and then went back to shopping again, I can hardly find a thing I want to wear: sometimes I go looking (with cash to spend), but can't find anything decent, by which I mean flattering, chic, well cut, in nice colours and fabrics, that makes me look like a well-dressed not over the top and not muttony late 30s professional woman. I have no idea what I can wear. "Directional" or boxy clothes swamp me (I'm small). I'm curvier than I used to be and don't want to show off my shoulders - in fact I'd like clothes I can go to work in and also still look nice out in. I don't suit jeans, skinny or not, or Breton tops.

All the shops I used to shop in have gone weird. I can't find a natural fibre for love nor money any more in French Connection etc. (their knitwear and black dresses used to be good staples: now there's nothing I'd ever think of wearing). Jigsaw seems to have aimed its current range at wealthy but very elderly women who don't go to work, plus their prices have jumped massively (ditto Boden prices). Where has all the workwear gone? This strange fad for shapeless synthetic clothes that look awful but are incredibly expensive is very odd. Who is wearing these clothes? Not young kids as they can't afford those prices. Not women my age/mums. I don't see them on older women at work either. Why are the shops still offering weird stuff no-one seems to be keen to buy? Aren't they doing any focus groups on what customers actually want?

I'm sick of wearing baggy maternity Seraphine dresses that are 5 years old because I can't find anything else that I even remotely like that is wearable. I'd even pay a lot more for a few nice items but can't find anything I like even in the "aspirational" fashion brands.

I mean, £129 to look like Wee Willie Winkie?
www.jigsaw-online.com/product/stripe-linen-dress/J33357_WH000

Even the model clearly hates this 1980s look (fresh from The Love Boat):
www.jigsaw-online.com/product/curved-hem-cupro-trousers-/J32826_GN075

Not exactly a look you can wear to work:
www.jigsaw-online.com/product/dancing-tulip-kimono/J34404_GY068

What happened to the flattering little black dresses and elegant little skirts of a few years back?

I don't know why they don't put it straight into landfill and cut out the middleman, Wayfarer.

Chardonnay

And these are actually nicer than most other shops' offerings.

Why is everything so wide? They're like tents.

I agree chardonnay I think the fast fashion culture has dominated the high street, focusing pretty much solely on the younger consumer and the result is what Sally Hughes has hit on - very few timeless, quality clothes out there at a decent price point. And older customers have largely been forgotten. Even M&S tries to seduce younger customers with its fashion offerings (though they keep getting it horribly wrong).

Social media has a lot to answer for, influencers in particular push the notion of 'hauls' and constant purchasing so their feed has an ever changing roster of outfits. How many celebs/ bloggers post a picture wearing the same thing twice? It's normalised this very wasteful, throw away culture for younger people in particular. It seems retailers are manufacturing clothes of cheap quality as they know the cheap price is more important to a lot of people than quality - probably because they often intend to wear these clothes a handful of times before they move onto the next style.

Boohoo/misguided/in the style etc are all examples of online companies selling very cheap clothes with next day delivery... but it's all horrible cheap fabrics. And these firms are doing better than the traditional high street! If this is the future of fashion then I don't want to be involved. I'll learn some sewing machine basics instead.

Hollycatberry, yes it is the culture...

Like the newspapers saying the "thrifty Duchess " "recycles" a coat if she wears it more than once.