Arket

[Thinkle]

I hadn’t heard of it before joining MN... where have I been? Anyway. Just dipped my toe in the water and ordered an oversized dress... yay. Just felt like sharing 😎

Oh! Should I have sized down?

I'd never heard of Arket until MN but now I love them. I got some great knitwear from them this winter and now I've fallen in love with their denim cutoff shorts (my second pair arrived today).

I’m a 14 which is usually a size large everywhere but for Arket tops it’s a medium

Oh! Should I have sized down? A lot of their stuff, particularly the dresses, are supposed to be deliberately oversized, so not necessarily.
Having generous sizing is also an indication of the overall quality, meaning they don't skimp on fabric to cut costs like the lower end of the market. Part of the H&M group along with Cos, &Otherstories, Monki and Weekday

I really rate them as one of the best on the high street. Mostly natural fibres, lots of info on provenance. They were billed as the store to buy neutral, minimal basics, and they do excel here; brilliant pure cotton shirts in lots of styles, t-shirts, knitwear. I also love their coats and bags.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of an expert, what did you buy?!

Oh, I meant to add, the only negative I have found is the trouser sizes vary widely, I have them in 3 different sizes, and as I can only buy online that can be a pain. Sizing in everything else seem consistent though.

Also the customer service is amongst the best. Easy to get hold of on the telephone, flexible with return period, fairly quick to refund.

@fizzpopbang123 this: www.arket.com/en_gbp/women/dresses/product.printed-a-line-dress-blue.0803465004.html

@fizzpopbang123

Oh, I meant to add, the only negative I have found is the trouser sizes vary widely, I have them in 3 different sizes, and as I can only buy online that can be a pain. Sizing in everything else seem consistent though.

Also the customer service is amongst the best. Easy to get hold of on the telephone, flexible with return period, fairly quick to refund.

I have their regular cropped cropped jeans in light blue black and selvedge and all are a different fit. I’d say Arket is my favourite shop as Cos is lovely but I don’t have the life to warrant their styles of clothes and & other stories is too girly and young, I just have to steer away from the oversized style as tent dresses over 34f bust makes me look like an actual tent lol

OP, that dress is lovely and is supposed to be oversized. Personally I love the oversized look, but it is a style, so if you are of the "must be form fitting and flatter your figure" brigade on here, then it may not be for you :)

It looks like a really versatile dress though, ime Arket washes well too so you could really get some wear out of it.

What you said about the ‘flatter your figure brigade’ got me thinking @fizzpopbang123. It really is a thing on here isn’t it. So many women post pictures nice and quite fun clothes (dungarees being a good example) but get advised to send it back as it “doesn’t show off the op’s figure. Your post has made me realise that even me (lover of all things oversized) have been Influenced by this a bit... so I’ve also ordered myself some oversized dungarees too although not from Arket

Ha! I mean, it's personal preference. I get that. Everyone has a comfort zone when it comes to clothes. I have friends who live in jersey bodycon dresses and pencil skirts. Complete opposite of my style.

But it's one thing to suggest a dress looks too big or small, or it clashes with hair colour or skin tone etc, and another to say it doesn't flatter or enhance a figure, or doesn't look eugh sexy . Like we have to factor that kind of superficial, shallow external validation into the equation.

You should get yourself over to the Toast thread, someone decided to come on purely to declare it was all too frumpy and not sexy, and received quite the backlash. The last few pages have moved on to recommendations for brands with a similar well cut (and apparently frumpy and unsexy!) vibe as Toast. Arket has been mentioned a few times, so you might find a crossover of other brands to tempt you, even if Toast isn't your thing :)