No more fast fashion so what do we wear?

[Oddgirlout]

I'm fully on board with not buying endless new clothes. I'd happily buy a couple of £££ jeans and live in them forever. BUT what can you wear that avoids dating? What is timeless? I've read the thread on abandoning skinny jeans and I've got four pairs. If they really go out of fashion should I just keep wearing them anyway?
Thoughts please!

How about develop a vague uniform , say jeans and black/navy/grey tops in lines that suit you and then over time tweak them according to what is current astray wear out?

as they

Yes that is the way to do it I think. Repair lots too and try not to worry so much about it!

Oooh I'm guilty of buying new clothes - they do seem to need replacing each year - not jeans. but boots/jumpers/dresses. I don't kniw if I'm really hard on my clothes but they seem to accumulate immovable stains, holes, bobbling that can't be removed with a defuzzer. They look so tired which makes me feel tired wearing them so I want to replace them. I know my style so I pretty much replace them with identical/similar styles which is even more annoying when you think about it.
This autumn though I'm only buying one item per month. So I need a new v neck blue jumper (mine has worn through at the waist where I tucked it into jeans) so I'm going to try and find used cashmere one on ebay. Ditto I need a new warm wool blazer as my old one has been stained across the shoulder by a cross body bag (I won't be doing that again!) so I'll wait until Nov to get one. One item a month should slow me down.

@JMAngel1, this obviously doesn't apply to either of the examples you cited, but I think one thing that often makes clothes look worn much more quickly is washing them too much, and especially tumble drying them too much.

I agree a vague uniform with a simple colour palette and go from there. Some combinations I often wear in this weather are:
long-sleeved tee + straight jeans + trainers
long-sleeved tee + skirt + trainers
dress + trainers
I can swap the long-sleeved tee for a t-shirt, or shirt, add cardigan, jumper, jacket, raincoat or swap the trainers for ankle boots. I would add jewellery, maybe scarves, sunglasses, hat etc. depending on the weather or how I feel.
If they're clothes you feel good in in a tried and tested combo, it will work.

Recycled Cashmere? From Turtle Doves in Shropshire. Scarves, ponchos, jackets. I have a few things from them. Also eBay - although I'm very wary of Cashmere in case of moths.

About 80% of what I buy is second hand. But it's easier for me now - no current caring responsibilities so I've time to do it, and I have a lot of clothes, collected over many years.

The 20% that I buy new includes a small amount of fast fashion (e.g. I've just ordered some Uniqlo jeans). And shoes - I rarely pay a lot because I always trash them so I don't see the point.

Everything dates but silhouettes tend to hang around longer than trends e.g. I expect wider leg jeans/trews will be with us for a few years yet. (Note, I said 'expect' - I could be wrong.)

Clothes that are dated or that I'm bored with (and I do get bored I'm afraid) but that still fit and are in good nick get put away. I've revived a couple of things recently that I hadn't worn for 15 years.

I get things altered and one fine day I'm going to learn to sew.
Agree that how you wash things makes a big difference. I wash my cheaper clothes even more carefully than my expensive ones.

If you've no choice but to buy cheap then things probably won't last so don't beat yourself up.

For the last few years my approach has been to buy a few as timeless as possible staples a year - things like a good black coat, an unfussy dress, a good scarf, leather gloves etc. I'm not exactly rolling in it to say the least so I usually wait for sale time and buy from John Lewis, M&S etc - the 90% off day at the end of the M&S sale last year was a bonanza for stuff I know I'll still be wearing in ten years' time. I've got dresses I bought fifteen years ago that I still wear - there was a couple of years when they looked a bit dated but fashion is cyclical, and with the right accessories they look great again now (for example, a floral maxi dress from 2008 which now looks very Vampire's Wife and will look good with my DMs and charity shop faux fur coat come winter).

Which brings me to my next obsession - chazzas! If I want a fast(ish) fashion fix that's where I head. I've found such amazing things and they're also great for accessories. I only buy decent quality stuff though so if I do want to move it on I can donate it back. I would say that 40% of my wardrobe is staples bought new in sales, the rest is second hand.

And definitely repair stuff - if it's decent quality to begin with repairs are somehow more justifiable, especially if you have to pay someone to do it. I have a beautiful bag DH bought me for Christmas in 2014 which I've used almost daily since - it's broken a couple of times but I've repaired it myself and it looks fine, in fact the leather has improved with age. Dry cleaning gives a new lease of life to coats, also.

I think the use of tailors for alterations is a bit under-utilised in the UK. I’ve bought items off eBay and had them altered to fit properly- I think it makes it so much more likely to wear them in the first place but looks better also. Obviously it needs to be good quality in the first place to justify the expense. With regards charity shops I don’t tend to find too many designer brands in my local shops ( sometimes I do) but I find “ good” makes that may not be very fashionable. Other than Jaeger and similar my favourite is Daks. They are a British heritage brand a bit under the radar but the quality is fantastic. I also like to shop in the men’s section because I’m plus size ( 16/18) and I like blazers to look a bit oversized. The quality tends to be better overall too.

I agree that we don't use tailoring/altering that much. It's changing to a culture of buying a few, good quality items rather than lots of poor quality items.

I'm lucky here, that our charity shops are pretty good, and I've bought some good quality items over the years. I also think certain elements of my personal style have stayed much the same and my clothes size hasn't changed that much (not including pg and post pg). I also find less clothes which I switch round seasonally much easier as I wear most of them and it's easy to find something to wear.

Menswear is often better quality, true. I'm wearing a pair of men's suede Chelsea boots from tkmaxx that are much more comfortable than women's and beautifully made.

I love men’s clothes but I’m very narrow and have size 3 feet 🙁

Narrow in stature I mean, so men’s shoulders swamp me even in Xs.
I did find s0me fab boys chinos last summer though, but oddly they were too big in the bum. It was a puzzler as I do have a fleshy backside.