Alternative to White Stuff? It's gone so downhill!

[haventkilledtheorchidyet]

Having lost some weight, I'm looking for new clothes. I used to love White Stuff but I think their recent collections are so boring! Please, any suggestions of other brands where I can try things on. I don't have to be too poshed up for work, so WS has been good for me up until now. Snowy wastes of Edinburgh.

I love some of the Nicola Quilter skirts. I am a 12. What size to get? A 10-12 or 12-14? Bike Have you got any of her skirts?

I avoid WS and Fatface because it all looks quite dowdy nowadays. The kiss of death for me was when even my MIL, who is very partial to a twinset and Hotter shoes, declared both shops too frumpy for her.

I like Massimo Dutti, mixed with French Connection and Zara with a bit of added Whistles and vintage Next. I often eBay bid for vintage Next items from the early Nineties and the quality is just gorgeous. A whole world away from the polyester miasma in their stores now.

Seasalt

I don’t have any if her skirts never, sorry. I think the actual measurements might be in the website. If it helps, the tops are big.

A Mistral vote here.... have bought few things, never disappointed tbh..

The kiss of death for me was when even my MIL, who is very partial to a twinset and Hotter shoes, declared both shops too frumpy for her.

haha!!!!

Lily and me. You can sometimes pick up bits in TK Maxx.

I buy a fair few things from Cath Kidston (ignoring the newer Disney range) and I like their knitwear and skirts especially, but some of the clothing is quite twee.
I also buy vintage (70s usually), especially skirts which can be altered easily if necessary. Fat Face isn't as good as it used to be, but I check there for occasional thing. Boden is ok for basics, but is more dull in last few years, and nothing but pencil skirts (in skirt section obviously), and ranges much reduced generally.

I think WS have got better recently after a bit of a bad patch. Same 'rules' as Boden; buy mostly plain stuff or minimal pattern and only in the sales or with a discoubt. I'm at the Mistral suggestion as i find it to be the stuff from WS that is in my wardrobe from 5 years ago!

The skirts from Mistral are too similar to White Stuff, not in a good way. Just below the knee a-line style with garish patterns. To be fair I haven't looked at anything else yet.

I love the minstral dresses.

Laura Ashley?

Really surprised at the Mistral dress 'shrinkage' comment. I bought about 1 per year for my first few years of teaching .... and would rather like to buy some more, but I haven't managed to wear any of them out yet. The oldest is about 8 years old, the newest around 4-5. I have probably worn each one every fortnight throughout the winter ever since i bought them, washed in a normal 40 degree cotton wash cycle.

I have just succeeded in wearing a pair of their leggings into holes. Again, it has taken me 5 years of weekly wearing through every winter (I can't wear tights due to eczema, so wear cotton leggings instead).

The only thing i would say is that their shaping is variable - some items fit brilliantly, another dress or top from the same season can be very strangely shaped. Definitely worth going in to a shop to try them on.

Washed them at 30 as per the label - they shrank but the worse thing was it was as though all the colour bled out of them. They looked as if they’d been worn for years and washed on hot. They went grey. Really poor quality.

Customer services were really quite rude about it as well, which to me is an automatic nope, not buying from you again. If they’d offered an exchange I’d have chalked it down to one of those things but they were downright rude.

That's a shame. As I say, because their dresses have lasted so long and so well, I haven't bought any recently, so there may be an issue with their quality in the past year or so.

I think a lot of shops are suffering and trying to cut costs because shoppers will not pay for better quality fabrics. They churn out the same designs. Seasalt is a classic for this. Shops that have good quality fabrics are expensive. M and S hardly uses any pure wool fabrics any more except for mens' suits. Wool trousers for women are absent. However, I have found their cashmere to be pretty good. Mistral, White Stuff and Fat Face are fairly similar.

I think Massimo Dutti are stylish - they are Zara of course! French Connection are pretty good at the moment. Arket are brilliant if you have not looked at them. Cos use decent fabrics too. &OtherStories is also worth looking at for a reasonable price point and decent fabrics. Jaeger still do decent linen trousers that are lined.

Boden is too recognisable for me and I do not like stereotypical clothes. Mango is worth a look and Warehouse have upped their game.

Uniqlo

Brakeburn?

uniqlo

Billienomates Who in the name of God is Gudrun Sjoden (sp) aimed at? Art teachers on acid?

I think WS has got better recently after a couple of ‘off’ years. The quality in Seasalt is better but I agree that they do churn out the same designs. I’ve had some nice things from Sainsbury’s lately. WS/ Seasalt/ Fatface type stuff at a fraction of the price.

"All their stuff is so dowdy, shapeless and hideous necklines."

I find their necklines way too big. The dingy colours are washed out looing and depressing and the T-shirts are so thin that you need another layer underneath. Yet I bought a lovely corduroy skirt from them just before Christmas. Unlike M and S skirts it was lined.

I want to like White Stuff (and M and S) but it is getting harder to find something I want to buy.

I'm slowly working through the suggestions. Massimo Dutti is stylish! I've spotted a couple of promising things already.

Thought

Mudd and Water