What brands do posh people wear in London

[MrsDeadlock]

I am northern, and not posh. However I do have a fancy job that usually requires a level of travel.

There is a dress code that I'm not very good at reading for my London based contemporaries. Think Meg and Julia in Motherland types.

What brands do these types wear? I can spot a Mulberry handbag at ten paces usually but the rest is baffling and I'm genuinely intrigued. They always look so well dressed!

Please help me, I can't ask in real life!

@RonaldMcDonald thankfully I have no experience of the world you live in. I work in a creative sector and literally anything goes fashion wise & in all my years working in this area I have not heard anyone sniggering at another person's style. It's seems a v rigid & bizzare stance to me.

Of course the extreme latitude regarding style in my sector at times makes it almost overwhelming to decide on a personal style as there's no 'code' to follow. At a certain level of seniority there's a perception that it's all edgy, sharp, black clothing but in reality it's not like that in my experience.

@Atalune I love those jeans. My trousers are a v similar shape but not jeans. Can i ask how you wear trainers with them in this weather? Sock or bare ankles? It's too cold here for bare exposed ankles so I've worn mine with boots. Either flat by day or heeled at night. In fact I think I have the ones the models wearing but mine are plum leather.
I'm tall & I find the shape & length of these trousers v flattering & a nice change from jeans.

I'm LOVING all the new possibilities opened up by this thread!

Bluebeck Some of the dresses on the Browns website are beautifully stylish. Way out of my budget - nice to browse though

I am a bit tragic (so my dd says) and wear glitter socks and then I have sheepskin insoles in ALL my footwear for winter. Bit of a game changer. If it’s really cold then I wear tights that I have cut off the foot to 3/4 length and then glittery socks.

@Atalune - your glittery socks sound great!

Yeah the Browns website is absolute Fashon Porn

I also have glittery socks!! And a daughter who thinks I am tragic!

I have the teen daughter but not the socks

I’m tickled that being descended from “generations of doctors” makes you posh. That’s my family background and I thought we were middle class .

It’s London, OP, nobody cares what you wear but flat shoes and a big bag for sure.

@Atalune - looked up your Whistles trousers - that is so weird, I have the exact same ones but from Zara and I had to get them tailored to crop - I am short and Zara are quite long.

I also wear them with white trainers - thanks for the tip on the sheepskin liners (I am off to find some).

I also wear them with hiking boots (mine are M and S - I don't wear these type of boots often enough to justify the Grenson price tag)

@Annasgirl oh that’s interesting I wonder if the Zara ones were cheaper?

I do love Zara, I used to shop there all the time when I lived in Japan. They had an on-site seamstress so you’d try on your trousers or whatever and they’d alter the hem to fit and then you’d collect them the next day tailored for the equivalent of £5! It was amazing!

It has been so long since I bought any new clothes that I am probably not qualified to post on here (at all!), but if I had unlimited funds I would go to straight to Fenwicks in New Bond Street, Paul Smith in Floral Street, Smedley for knitwear or Margaret Howell in Wigmore Street. Grenson shoes, or I also like Chie Mahara.

I had a Theory cashmere jumper from New York and it lasted me for at least 10 years. Washable too. May have a leetle look at the sale.

I have now moved on to the Sunday Times lockdown cliche - Sweaty Betty leggings and long puffer coat - not a look for a posh London workplace, but definitely required for walks around my very posh Dublin suburb with the dog.

In terms of Insta fashionistas, Oliver Palermo's style is one I'd like to steal (though I imagine most of it is designer, and technically she's NY based...). I aspire to look as chic as she does when walking her dog

This thread has been an oasis of loveliness for me this evening! I'm panicking about wfh with two DC again and clearly won't need fancy London clothes for that but it is nice to daydream! I worked in a conservative office in the City until a few years ago and have a job now which (in normal times at least) requires a fairly similar wardrobe (men all in suits & ties). I bought myself a load of new clothes when I started this job but went to a meeting in London just before lockdown#1 and noticed how tired and dated my clothes looked and now they're another year older (although largely unworn for that year!). This has given me lots of ideas of shops and designers that I have never heard of.
OP as well as going for a stroll along Marylebone High St, if you're looking for work clothes, go and get a coffee at one of the places in One New Change or in Canary Wharf and just look at what other people are wearing and seeing what you like the look of. I've never been particularly interested in fashion or shopped much so I don't generally notice if styles are changing but, by making myself go and actively observe, I tend to have a few lightbulb moments and by that stage a look is so ubiquitous that I can decide if I want to just try it out and get a cheaper version or if I already know it's going to be a keeper and so can go more expensive.

Westbourne Grove and the Portobello area is an excellent place to both shop and people watch for the style you admire. Marylebone has nice shops but positioned towards a much older post-family demographic, and it doesn’t have the multi-cultural Bohemian vibe that characterises so much of London style.

@RoSEbuds6 those Paul Smith trousers you linked to are GORGEOUS!!

That's what I love about this thread. I genuinely never knew that Paul Smith did womenswear, or that Mint Velvet was well thought of. I honestly thought it was the Per Una of John Lewis. I always discounted it I think because the only person I've ever known talk about it was an elderly aunt, so I didn't relate to it. But, as a PP showed with some great jeans, I was mistaken 😬

@MrsDeadlock I totally agree - those Paul Smith trousers are amazing & I really REALLY want them. But they're sold out apart from a size 2 [sob]
If anyone knows where I might find a pair in size 12 in that dark green PLEASE let me know - thanks!

@Atalune

I am a bit tragic (so my dd says) and wear glitter socks and then I have sheepskin insoles in ALL my footwear for winter. Bit of a game changer. If it’s really cold then I wear tights that I have cut off the foot to 3/4 length and then glittery socks.

This is next level stuff. Bow down.

Ha ha @ElspethFlashman, I can teach you my ways

Also, if you want dress like a northerner, then do so. As a former Londoner in the north, I find northerners can be a little judgy about clothes. I live in a joules/Cath kidston/ fat face/ted baker/sea salt/boden neighbourhood and it's so conformist and predictable.

London is less like that and enjoy the diversity of styles going on, as well as staying true to who you are. Don't feel as though you need to dress a certain way to fit in.

I'm pleased you like the trousers I'm going to be quite big headed now!
I love Paul Smith, but not for the statement colourful print, just for their plain separates or I sometimes like their photographic prints too not this season though. I once bought a lovely Paul Smith blue trench coat on sale in Fenwicks, so worth doing a generic google search if you like anything specific.
Ahh I wish we could all go trawling the shops again! Thanks for this lovely thread @MrsDeadlock

Oh I love Paul Smith! I've just bought an emerald green raincoat from there and can't wait to get back into work to wear it. The quality is usually so good the clothes last years and I am sad when eventually they die.

My DH loves Paul Smith, but like PP i've never looked at the womenswear - thanks RoSEbuds6!
I will add Hugo Boss - like PS, they have some nice things alongside the plain workwear. I would love one of the leather skirts that Meghan Markle wore.

I wonder if PS would like to send me some free clothes to thank me for a modest spike in their web traffic!
Very happy to have spread the word. Share if you buy anything won't you?

I'm nowhere near as public spirited as you, RoSEbuds6; the possibility of 'a modest spike in web traffic' (aka selling out of the thing I've got my eye on) often prevents me from mentioning some of my favoured, (smallish) brands here.