Trends that you just can't "do" because of the fashions of your youth

[EoinMcLovesCakeJumper]

Not a very snappy thread title, but I shall try to explain! I was a teenager throughout most of the 90s and all the fashion magazines I read during my impressionable years said that:

Slim, properly shaped eyebrows are as good as a facelift
Bootcut jeans balance out a pear shape or heavy thighs
Tucking in your top emphasises your tummy
Ankle boots with skirts make your legs look shorter and chunkier

Consequently, I will never be able to embrace thick, drawn-on eyebrows, skinny jeans and jeggings, tops tucked into high-waisted trousers, or ankle boots with skirts. I am aware that this probably dates me pretty accurately to within a couple of years and probably makes some people think of me as frumpy, but I still can't do it!

I do think, though, that the principles I was told still hold true, but people now are just less concerned with "hiding" things like heavy thighs and tummies than they were when I was growing up. I wish I could feel similarly, but I guess it's just ingrained in my thinking now.

What recent or current trends have you struggled with because it went against advice you were given when younger?

PowerHooper I feel like I probably dress in Funk Penguin occasionally by accident. Is it basically black and white with some haphazard stitching?

Yy to the recurring AW trends. Why is velvet ALWAYS in there, under the heading of "everyday luxe"?

It's winter. Tweed is trotted out every autumn, Tartan every winter, florals and gingham in spring...

The rule is that if you are old enough to have worn it the first time round you are to old to wear it now.

Velvet is described as being forgiving on plus sizes. Not sure how that works.

And a lot of 'velvet' is polyester and looks cheap.

I want the disco collar. Want it want it.

Velvet is tricky on anyone because of the tiresome need to keep smoothing the nap of the fabric so it's all lying the same way. But on me, as we've already learned, it looks like upholstery. On a recent thread, I was advised to wear velvet and silk if I go on a date, as it is a tactile fabric and will make my date want to touch me. I think it is more likely to make him want to sit on me, and not in any kind of sexy way either.

I’m top heavy, I remember being told not to wear high necked tops as it made me look like I had a marrow strapped to my chest.
That has stayed with me.

Fashion and style are two very different things. I'm hopeful that my overall look is stylish now rather than fashionable.

Polyester velvet is my pet hate because it makes you look like you've been cheaply upholstered. Real silk velvet is beautiful and drapes so well but costs £££££s.

I think that, as a previous poster said, the emphasis now is much more ‘if you like it, wear it, and fuck flattering’ and less of the early 2000s ‘dress in black to hide your arse unless you’re a size zero’. Which I think can only be a good thing, regardless of whether you personally like what’s in fashion at the moment or not.

The only male attention I get is from the cat and he treats me as furniture anyway.

*The rule is that if you are old enough to have worn it the first time round you are to old to wear it now.
I can only assume this rule was dreamt up by a teenager who thought they'd be dead at 50.
By 60 there is nothing in the shops you haven't worn before. I'm seeing stuff come round for the 3rd time. You either have to get past it or you take to your bed for the rest of your life.

I have a soft spot velvet and I don't agree it gets trotted out every winter. It can disappear off the radar for years and, when it's out of fashion, it can look really cheesy. The problem with current high street velvet - even higher end places like Toast - is that it all seems to be the shiny stuff. You have to turn to vintage to find the old school cotton velvet.

It was said to me years ago.
It's a bit like the 'no mini skirts after 35' type advice
On the fashion advice - why ' the perfect white shirt' ? I usually spill my first coffee down it or am terrified of being mistaken for a waitress.

What are you wearing for the third time?

I had a bob when I was young but wouldn't get one now.

KnitFast that was more or less what I said in my OP, and I agree it's a good thing for people to wear the things they like and not give a shit if they have a bit of a tummy. I wish I could do the same but I will always have my mum's voice at the back of my mind telling me that short skirts are for women with "decent figures" and that mine were like tree trunks...

MikeUniformMike ditto, except the male in my life is a python and he is more interested in trying to sneak under my jumper where it's warm and dark. He loves wool and hates polyester, fussy old thing that he is.

What are you wearing for the third time?
Off the top of my head:
Midi length dresses/skirts with boots - 70s, 90s, now.
Wide legs - it might even be the 4th time, I've lost track.
Flares - not wearing them myself yet but back for the 3rd time
Wrap dresses - same.

Thanks Floisme.

A python! Is his name Eoin?

I’m with you, OP.

I can’t wear cropped trousers, culottes or anything that looks what we would’ve called ‘Jack ups’ or ‘wedgies’ in my day. I’m also tall and live in fear of looking like I’m wearing trousers that are too short for me.

I had natural black slug eyebrows as a youngster and always plucked them (not super thin, but shaped) so the trend for microbladed scouse brows fills me with horror.

Heavy orange foundation and the mask-like make up that a lot of young women favour these days would’ve been laughed at in the 90s. Ditto obviously fake eyelashes and hair extensions.

I also can’t wear brogues or clumpy shoes as they take me back to my mum buying me sensible brown lace-ups from Clark’s as a kid. I want pretty shoes!

No, although he'd love a cake jumper to burrow into, especially if it was still a bit warm from the oven. He's a George.

I don't remember midi skirts with boots from the 90s Floisme. I do recall A-line minis with 60s style heeled boots. My mum used to wear midi skirts with ankle boots for work, but that wasn't on trend, I don't think...

What's with those eyebrows that look like the eyebrows have been shaved off and slug shapes drawn on and filled in with felt tip pen. Is that microblading?

It took me a long time to accept wearing skinny jeans as I'm a non-skinny pear shape. I only started wearing them as the straight/ slim leg jeans I bought previously no longer seemed flattering. I like skinnies with boots or loafers but not with trainers and always wear a long top.

Agree with advice that boot cuts balance out pear shape but I can no longer wear heels and think that at my age long jeans in puddles would just look scruffy (if worn with trainers) also they were always low waist and I prefer the high waist now.

Don't think I could wear tucked in tops.

Oh and the pleated skirts! I wore pleated skirts early 90's. I'm sure even then they were what my Nan wore except mine were very long and hers were just below her knees. I was in my 20's then and I think if I wore them now I would look like my grandmother! Although I was recently looking at them being worn with boots and a cosy jumper and I was tempted.

As someone who was a teen in the 90s, I do find fashion difficult right now. I can either dress like I used to as a teenager or dress like mum mum did when she was my age.

I tried a dress on the other day and it actually looked like something my old history teacher would wear

I do actually think boot cut (or maybe kick flare?) jeans are very flattering when worn very long over heels but they are so out of style that noone wears them now.

The skinny eyebrows we all had back then didn't really suit us. I don't make my eyebrows bigger now but do fill them in as mine are sparse so they are their normal size just more defined.

Titsywoo I don't have the pencil-thin brows that were popular then, but I do keep them about a centimetre thick at the widest point, tapering off at the ends, with a natural arch. They haven't started to thin yet but I will probably fill them in when they do.

I've seen kick flares in H&M so they can't be that dated - I think they're about to come back around.

I don't remember midi skirts with boots from the 90s Floisme
Don't make me get the photos out I remember a long, straight stretchy but not quite tube skirt that I wore with a big chunky sweater. And a polka dot dress that everyone had who'd been to see Pretty Woman - mine was from Mark One but M&S did a good one too. But skirt lengths were quite relaxed I think, and people switched between minis and midis like we do today with slim and wide legs.

I do get that it's a weird feeling when it first happens and, in the 90s, we were the ones going 'What's with all this 70s shit?' You think fashion's always going to be new and exciting and then you realise most of the time it's a revolving door. But I don't get setting your face against something just because you've worn it before. It's like saying you'll never read Catcher In The Rye again or Pride and Prejudice, or watch Frasier.