Why are the shops SO disappointing?

[JanisMoplin]

I went to Oxford Street for the first time in 2 years hoping to buy a couple of nice simple tops to go with black or grey trousers. It was like the 7th circle of sartorial hell. I am 50, 5"7 and a size 12 so not Alexa Chung but not massive either. Went to
& Other Stories
Zara
Massimo Dutti
M and S
John Lewis

Hated everything. Everything was recycled polyester, frilly great yokes, oversized, too cropped, see through or with principal boy sleeves. Even Uniqlo has succumbed to huge poufy sleeves and it used to be great for basics. Baukjen and Hush in John Lewis were no better.

There were some nice coats but I wasn't looking for coats. The dresses were horrible too; completely sister wife territory
I returned with a boring black knit top from M and S which was £12. Returning to my athleisure!

I just scrolled down and see it had been recommended! 👍

The stuff in the shops has never, ever been so bloody awful - and I'm old, so I've got many years of shopping experience. It's an absolute disaster out there. I've just been driven nearly mad trying to find a new pair of jeans - simple basic jeans, for god's sake. (I got some eventually, but they were old unsold stock from Ebay ... nothing in the shops worked.)

Argh I agree about all the polyester. Sainsburys is surprisingly good for cotton t shirts. The 'sustainable' brands tend to have nice fabrics (but they can be weird designs and cuts). My favourite is the Thought sale. Also had great, well made trousers from the Seasalt sale (waited for 20% off sale prices).

3pairs of marks and Spencer's trousers shrunk and I hand washed them, absolutely rubbish another pair the waist band is coming away but the cardigan is wearing great. It's so hit and miss on quality. Laura Ashley ended its days, I found their stuff the same, nice looking but a couple of washes and pilled. I have vintage Laura and spencer stuff still beautiful and going strong. I know things are made cheaper but come on guys this is not acceptable

I like the look of the Far Face t shirts but they’re £25!!

I get my cotton t shirts from Benetton. Agree shops not great at the moment. I need clothes for summer and don’t know where to look as also don’t want the Grayson Perry /House on the Prairie look. Also I am short and a size 8/10 and everything seems so big on me these days.

I was in London (King's Cross) yesterday for work. I saw the windows (and went briefly into Accessorize and Oliver Bonas) of most clothes shops and went in &Other Stories.

I have to say there was not much screaming at me to be bought. Orange coral seemed to be in fashion in OB but I got a gorgeous vintage orange coral cardigan in a local clothes shop (which also does vintage as well as new) recently.

@FlyingGeeseAgain

If anyone knows where to get decent quality cotton t shirts that aren’t box shaped with man made fibres, please let me know!

Primary are good for this. They have stretch t shirts that aren't boxy and are made from 100% cotton. They wash well too. I'm not a massive fan of primark, but they are very good for this.

I wonder whether cost (which has been raised a lot here) is something we need to get used to. Like everything else, the cost of clothes has risen sharply. Partly Brexit, partly Covid, plus wage stagnation just means things feel more expensive because most of us haven't had a proper pay rise in a long time.

Because retail chains know this, they're turning to cheaper fabrics. If that Amish dress was in linen or good cotton or silk it would cost even more. At least with a £50 price point or thereabouts, some women will buy it. At £250, hardly anyone will.

Given environmental concerns, ethical concerns, the end of easily available credit and the stuttering of the global economy, I don't see clothes getting any cheaper. The days of truly nice, good quality cheap clothes are probably over.

Agree about the awful fucking muddy colours though...

I’m with @TottersBlankly on this one.

When you can’t find anything in the shops that suits your personal style, then it is your personal style which needs to change.

I’d agree that current fashion is not designed to flatter the figure, but is that the end of the world?

If it’s important to you to appear slimmer, then perhaps lose some weight?

I have remembered that I have family visiting from India, so am going to ask them to bring some summer clothes. 100% cotton for less than 10 quid.

In re wishing to look slimmer, it isn;t just that. at 5"7 and a size 12 and a 34 B, I don't think I am that overweight. I just don't think frills everywhere and poufy sleeves flatter even the slimmest person. It's overly girly and I don't do girly. I like fairly minimalist clothing though I don't mind print.

Love these threads where posters complain about 29 or 39 pounds for a decent cotton tshirt but in the same thread, nowhere can you get a decent cotton tshirt! If you pay above minimum wage for labour for decent fabric, this is what it costs!!

I don't live in the uk, but would pay at least that for quality. It's one thing that really pisses me off about mumsnet.

I have to say I don't see much difference between Rapanui- which is super ethical I believe- at £15 and the pricier tshirts except possibly better colours.

I've just come from All Saints and found a couple of dresses I liked (bought one, mulling over going back for the other) plus a kimono and some very nice knitwear/boots/leather jackets, but it's not a shop for everyone and it's definitely the upper end of the high street price-wise.

On the way there I wandered into H&M, M&S and New Look, and saw nothing at all bar the polyester flouncy-flounce described above. I buy most basic stuff I want to last (jeans, cashmere sweaters and so on), on eBay, tbh.

@Vohgue I agree about quality but having not lived in the UK for 25 years there is serious wage stagnation there (as there is everywhere but particularly bad in the UK)
My best friends son recently started working and was being paid LESS than I made as a 16 yr old waitress in London in the 1980s.

I am old enough to remember that M & S stood for quality and also grandad cardigans. But as a teen you would buy their fantastically well made grandad cardies for the oversize baggy look. Whenever I go in M & S now I can't find anything.

@Ddot

3pairs of marks and Spencer's trousers shrunk and I hand washed them, absolutely rubbish another pair the waist band is coming away but the cardigan is wearing great. It's so hit and miss on quality. Laura Ashley ended its days, I found their stuff the same, nice looking but a couple of washes and pilled. I have vintage Laura and spencer stuff still beautiful and going strong. I know things are made cheaper but come on guys this is not acceptable

Yes they do seem to shrink and one pair ripped and could not be repaired

I caved and kept a cotton billowy sleeved blouse, dh assured me it looked ok and I think it wasn't too bad

A friend in the fashion industry told me that M&S clothes are now made in the same factories as Primark. They just don't order the vast quantities that Primark do, which is why it costs more. Exactly the same materials and manufacturing processes go into making them though.

I'm very tempted by a second hand Laura Ashley dress and a silk blouse in a shop near me but, at £65 each, I'm not sure I can justify it really. It's not as though I need them but the quality is lovely.
But...new stuff? Nope. There's nothing I've seen in the shops that I like. Much nicer quality available for men IMO.

A friend in the fashion industry told me that M&S clothes are now made in the same factories as Primark

I used to be a designer. Lots of shops use the same factories. It’s not the factories, it’s the level of quality control that counts.

Primark dies t employ any qualities controllers.!

When you can’t find anything in the shops that suits your personal style, then it is your personal style which needs to change

No! No! Stay with your style, it’s what you are all about. Look at 2nd hand or eBay. Don’t change to wear a pile of polyester frilly duvets!

Agree with everyone here - cant wait for the frilly, pouffy armed nighty horrors to go out of fashion.

Has anyone else noticed that men dont have to suffer the indignity of only being able to choose frilly, polyester, fast fashion horrors?

They have proper, well-made clothes and shoes to choose from. Proper leather belts, not plastic like womens wear. Proper cotton shirts and tops with no unicorns or stars emblazoned on them. Quite often, I'll look at a group of men and women either in real life or on TV and I'll notice that while men look well-dressed and professional in suits or smart jackets, shirts, trousers and leather shoe, women will be wearing leopard slippers or hats with ears, pom pom scarves and cheap polyester coats and the aforementioned frilly dresses. I dont know ... I know its a free world but the comparison does bother me. its as if we're being set up to look ridiculous and not be taken seriously.

I'm a second hand rose, I love charity shops. So many designers some I'd never heard of, or could ever afford. Vivienne Westwood, Derek lam, vince, boden, Ted Baker, I've got a wardrobe full. I also love Tkmaxx but you need to live in a town, the city ones are cleaned out fast. Just bought a missoni short poncho and its lovely, plus on sale sale 🥳 that's marked down twice.

The dull green colour and mustard yellow that are prevalent for the spring, are - apparently - due to the popularity of Wordle
I heard it on a R4 discussion last weekend.

Has anyone else noticed that men dont have to suffer the indignity of only being able to choose frilly, polyester, fast fashion horrors? They have proper, well-made clothes and shoes to choose from. Proper leather belts, not plastic like womens wear. Proper cotton shirts and tops with no unicorns or stars emblazoned on them. Etc …

You are shopping in the wrong places. That’s all. I haven’t encountered a plastic belt in decades. (The horror!) And there are almost too many beautifully made plain cotton shirts to choose from.

I browse countless shops all the time. (Currently about 50 saved on my phone.) If I come across a place that ruins clothes with over-embellishment or tacky plastic details I don’t look there again. Pouf! Gone from my lists and my screens. Which means I have no truck with about 99% of the stores / brands regularly trotted out as helpful suggestions here.

It’s not even a question of expense. It’s true the more you’re prepared to pay the easier it is to find good, plain clothes - but the Cos, Arket, & Other Stories triumvirate are between them completely reliable for unadorned shirts, leather belts and footwear and knitwear that doesn’t compete with your two year old daughter’s wardrobe.

And if you’re free of financial constraints or canny about sales you can head straight to Margaret Howell / Studio Nicholson / Raey at Matches and live entirely in a world of simple-clothing perfection.