What happened to S&B?

[janlevinson]

I used to browse this topic regularly several years ago and I enjoyed the recommendations of Ash high tops, Net A Porter sale items and high end make up, amongst other things. Loved reading what LetThemEatCake had been buying.
I've been having migrating over to here again recently after a long time away and it's all Roman Originals, granny sandals and things that "wash well".
WTF happened?
~lighthearted~

The thing about dresses over leggings is it can be the height of fashion in the same way those Teva walking sandals have become fashionable. If you look at brands like Studio Nicholson or The Row you will see long dresses worn layered like that or even more appealingly with pop socks and brogues . So when people are disparaging about the whole idea of it ( not just the specific example) I think they’re probably not that current. As an aside dresses over skirts can also be great given the right cut of each. I’ve done it with long pleated skirts. It’s a trick I learned from KarenBritChick. Like all these things it’s knowing what cuts and proportions work.... sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.

I missed all the leggings and dress hooha so can't comment but I'm always very careful what I say to posters asking for opinions.

However

I was on a thread recently where we were talking about styles that were starting to look dated - you know that moment when something you always thought looked good starts to look off? And then the moment when something comes back into fashion, looks weird at first and then your eye adjusts and it looks right again? I find it fascinating. I'm pretty confident the discussion was all about the clothes and not about the people wearing them but so many posters dropped in to complain about 'sneering' and how they didn't care that I just gave up.

It pissed me off because quite frankly if we can't talk about that on this board then really, what's the point?

@Floisme I agree with you so much. I think some people confuse interest in trends and progression in fashions for ourselves with being disparaging and judgmental on those who are not. I love fashion and trends, and reading up on it, trying new things with my wardrobe.

Using the leggings with dresses as an example - I don't like it, it makes a nice summer dress look heavy and dowdy and sad. It also reminds me of when I was about 12 and everyone was wearing footless tights with anything and everything, and not in a good nostalgic way. More often than not it's clearly a choice made by the wearer to disguise a part of their body, rather than because they themselves like the look. So if someone asks if it looks nice, I will say no. But that doesn't mean I walk around town laughing and sneering at people who have chosen to wear that, or that I see people who are not interested in fashion as beneath me.

Using the leggings with dresses as an example - I don't like it, it makes a nice summer dress look heavy and dowdy and sad.

It just makes me think that the wearer is self conscious about their legs.

@Floisme I agree with you too! I'd join in another thread about that specific phenomenon :)

I bought that coat too and am referred to by the crossing patrol man at DS's school as 'the walking duvet', but hey I'm the one who's toasty warm. And I agree, wearing a duvet doesn't mean I don't like more stylish items too. I could be wearing something from Paris Fashion Week under my duvet! (I'm not though ...)

I have a black Prada version of those coats - I look fabulous in mine and may well style it with pieces from Paris Fashion Week or any catwalk show because I love designer fashion and have lots of fun experimenting. The comments on this thread reinforce why I generally choose not to join in.

What do you mean MapleMay? Which comments?

That Next coat was recommended in the Sunday Times Style section at a time when we could only go for walks. I liked it but I already had a big DKNY duvet coat. It combines style and practicality pretty well I thought.

@SummaLuvin and @BlairWaldorfLovesShopping Thanks - yes I agree it's an interesting phenomenon, and in no way about the individuals wearing the clothes. I wasn't the op of the thread concerned and I'm not sure I'm in the mood right now for more 'you're so sneery' / 'at least I'm not a sheep' posts but I might revive it in a few days time - or maybe start a new one - and I'll @ you both if I do!

@Floisme
I'd be interested in that, too...though I might revert to lurking again ;)

One thing I've found from observing S&B is that people in the UK seem, on the whole, to follow trends more. Here in France, women my age (late 40s) have mostly found their style and just tweak it a little as the years go by (which is what the Parisienne thread was about at the start, IIRC - not looking French, but adopting a more long-term approach to what suits you and buying fewer, better quality clothes). I'm generalising, obviously, and I don't hang out with fashionistas, but I do observe women in the street and live near a town with a fairly wealthy, style conscious demographic. I'm very curious, now lockdown is slowly easing here and the weather getting warmer, whether those baggy, frilly, floral dresses that are on all the websites will fill the streets of Provence, or whether women will stick to more classic shapes.

I have never worn skinnies, as I have thin legs and I just find them really unflattering on me. I've stuck to bootcuts - slim ones, not the flappy, flarey, frayed ones from the early 90s. I've never felt weird, and my friends here in France compliment me now and then on what I wear, so I don't think I look weird. When I last went to the UK (Sept 2019 ), I really noticed that pretty much everyone but me was in skinnies. It didn't make me want to wear them, as I still thought I'd look daft in them, but I did wonder whether I looked like an alien from another planet.

Divebar someone needs to tell my kids that my coat is stylish. DS said I look like a giant glowworm .
That's the thing with style though - it can be so personal.

Here in France, women my age (late 40s) have mostly found their style and just tweak it a little as the years go by (which is what the Parisienne thread was about at the start, IIRC - not looking French, but adopting a more long-term approach to what suits you and buying fewer, better quality clothes)

I think that is why I enjoy the French/Parisian threads so much because they are more about style rather than high fashion.

Having had my colours done, and knowing what suits me, colour and style-wise means that often the latest trends just don't suit me.

I hate clothes shoping in autumn because shops are full of muted autumn colours that just look awful on me. And no, I won't buy online. I like to see and feel clothes and try them on before purchasing.

I'll @ you too @AuldAlliance if I do it. Like I say it won't be immediately as I've started spotting references - and not even on S&B - to 'fashionistas dictating what people can and can't wear' and I just haven't got the energy for it ight now. Hopefully it'll die down soon.

It would certainly be interesting to get more out-of-the-UK viewpoints of fast fashion. The Parisienne threads are good for that too. I think in Britain we're going through a payback time for that so-called golden age 10 or so years ago when Kate Moss was 'designing' for Top Shop and the British high street was the envy of the world - maybe the world is having the last laugh.

@RampantIvy

Here in France, women my age (late 40s) have mostly found their style and just tweak it a little as the years go by (which is what the Parisienne thread was about at the start, IIRC - not looking French, but adopting a more long-term approach to what suits you and buying fewer, better quality clothes)

I think that is why I enjoy the French/Parisian threads so much because they are more about style rather than high fashion.

Having had my colours done, and knowing what suits me, colour and style-wise means that often the latest trends just don't suit me.

I hate clothes shoping in autumn because shops are full of muted autumn colours that just look awful on me. And no, I won't buy online. I like to see and feel clothes and try them on before purchasing.

I started the first Parisian thread, and it was totally about looking French

It’s since taken on a life of its own and been elevated somewhat.

My mistake, then. Sorry. I can't remember how it started, TBH.

I dislike leggings under dresses. I honestly don't think it looks good on anyone. Maybe if you were super skinny and 21, but.......

The problem is, my legs need about 5 layers of makeup to look decent. Veins galore. And luminous white. Definitely NOT stylish. And so I find myself avoiding dresses. Which is shit. And very imiting in the summer.

But it seems like theres no acceptably stylish way of getting your legs out without makeup, and who has the time day to day?

In the summer of 2019 I decided to use tan the whole time. They don't really take tan, as legs often don't, so I spent all bloody summer exfoliating and tanning. I was worn out with it!

God I hate the legs dilemma.

I often find the recommendations for fancy dresses too fussy, frilly, floral and polyester-y for my taste ( I like very plain clothes) but the reccos for hard wearing basics and work clothes are worth their weight in gold.

My legs are luminous white and I just go with it. Quite like it. Used to do the fake tan thing in my 20s but then decided it looked a bit dated. I can understand that veins are a bit of a different matter though.

Yeah, inherited just shit veins (thanks Dad!)

You could say porcelain bare legs are very Vogue but not blue spider veins.

Style is HARD.

@LunaNorth, thank you for starting it... I remember it fondly. It took two threads before I dared to venture in. Cafe-clopes....

It's moved on, in a very pleasant chatty way since then, but we still talk about buying clothes for fun and clothes forever, and the differences. But you probably follow from afar.

I’m not liking the current trend for loose dresses with puff sleeves which seem to be everywhere. Thankfully I have a couple of simpler long shirt dresses that I’ve either had for a while or have bought preloved. I have always rolled my eyes at the relentless adoration of French style because I do find it a little safe for my taste but then I watched Call My Agent and did a complete 180. 😃 Given the quality of some of our heritage brands ( eg Daks) I think there’s a halfway house between French & British style which might suit me. (#delusional)

Call My Agent has cost me a lot of money.

ha ha me too!

I am not keen on leggings in general, but do have a couple of pairs, which I wear with a specific floaty tunic. What l really don't get is the people who wear them like jeans with a short top or jumper. It makes them look as if they are wearing tights and have forgotten to put a skirt on, almost as if they are going out in their underwear. I recently saw a lady who, must have been in her fifties, in just such an outfit and the leggings were bright green. Not a good look.

it was quite a way in before anyone posted brands that I didn’t know that were interesting. That’s the kind of poster I’m interested in having a discussion with but they seem few and far between.

Because if one dares to suggest anything other than "Hobbs, Coast, Phase Eight, bloody boring Bombshell dress" you're either virulently shouted down or, more often, studiously ignored.

I've been choosing my own clothes for more than five decades - and see no reason whatsoever why I shouldn't take an interest in, and wear, 'high fashion'. And I absolutely hate the all-too-eagerly-embraced English female martyrdom about spending money on clothes. So even I, who could happily talk about clothes all day, am a bit more circumspect about which threads I respond to now.

Bit worried about how I'll combine my lockdown uniqlo flannel pjs and my latest snatched-from-the-jaws-of-unaffordability sale purchase in the same sentence - if they're not allowed on the same thread.