I hate all clothes! Help!

[CheshireSplat]

5' 3".
12-14.

The only things I look good in are long skirts and dresses. But I WFH most of the time and it's cold.

I know I'd feel and look better if I were a stone lighter so I've been hanging on to lose weight until I buy new clothes but it isn't coming off so I need to get on with it. I dress head to toe in Uniqlo, like Esprit and end up trying on and never buying anything in M&S.

Any ideas gratefully received. Maybe throw everything away and invest in dresses and woolly tights?

If you're WFH can't you just focus on how your top half looks? Or wear a dress with warm leggings/ joggers and whip them off when suddenly on show?

I have found extra bits like knee high socks and wrist warmers and neck warmers help a lot even if rest of outfit "ought" to be warm enough. Thing is, you get colder sitting still

I agree focus on your top half . Bright scarves and jewellery are your friends. You can literally wear fleecy joggers and uggs on the bottom half .

If you prefer dresses and skirts, why not just wear those? Get thermal tights (Primark) or leggings (M&S), wear thermal tops (Uniqlo) underneath the dress and a cardigan over the top. For WFH meetings I often take my cardi off and drape it over my legs - also have a blanket for my legs if really cold. Sheepskin boots are good too. Maybe a poncho that could go over anything. If you're unhappy with weight but hope to lose it, dresses are probably your best buy - forgiving for now and probably will still be ok if you lose weight.

I could have written this post OP!!

I'm the same height as you and wear the same size clothes.

Nothing fits me anymore because I've had 2 babies and I'm struggling to lose the baby weight.

I'm 8 weeks PP and looking for clothes that suit me AND suitable to BF in.

I've found that straight, cropped trousers with poplin shirts (that have high slits and long at the back to cover my bum) look decent, sometimes with a knitted sweater over the top (again long with high slits).

ASOS have some nice things and Zara.

Thanks everyone. All good ideas. I went top shopping today but I just can't find any nice tops. I have a couple of plain long-sleeved t-shirts which I could dress up with scarves, necklaces, brooches but they seem dull. So accessories could work. I'll need to buy new long sleeved tops because I've worn mine to death as pyjama tops because I can't choose what pyjamas to buy. 🙄Honestly, I'm hopeless atm.

Daisy it's a great question. Maybe I should just wear dresses. I'll also look up poplin shirts (have no idea what they are). Thank you Carbon. Congratulations on your new baby!

When I was about 6 months PP I got my colours done. Was revolutionary for me, had always hated clothes shopping but this helped massively. I've lost my clothes mojo now but maybe because many of my clothes are at least 7 years old so pretty shapeless.

I think a massive clothes audit Marie Kondo style is overdue and a bit of shopping. I'll have to be careful though because when I've gone bulk buying previously I've realised after a couple of weeks I only like about 50% of the things.

So maybe on the list:
Thermal leggings
Plain long-sleeved tops
thick tights for under existing dresses
Couple of plain knit jumpers
Educate myself about poplin

Jumper dresses?

Uniqlo heattech long sleeves or M&S thermal tops under your dresses. Thick tights of thermal leggings with real sheepskin boots will keep your toes toasty and if your feet are properly warm you'll be so much more comfortable.

Set a timer and get up, move around, do jumping jacks, whatever it takes to quickly warm up and get your blood pumping a bit faster. Moving your body is more effective than a hot drink. But put the kettle on while you're up.

You can bundle up in scarves and be cosy but can remove quickly if you're Teaming and need to look more slick.

Poplin shirts are shirts made from (usually cotton) poplin. It tends to have a crisp feel but are quite soft to wear

Not sure if your style, but Seasalt have lots of dresses, and the range at M&S has improved hugely. Celtic and Co have lots of slouchy knitted dresses that would work with woollen tights.
Your style may not be bohemian, but this old thread had some great suggestions, as did the Monty Don thread mentioned on it. I discovered brands I didn’t know existed - you might enjoy reading it.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4363808-where-can-I-find-decently-bohemian-clothes

If you had your colours done and found it helpful maybe have a look at Kettlewell? They do good staples like tees and roll necks, infinity scarves etc all in specific colours for the different seasons and sub categories.

It can be pricey but it's largely good quality and the basics are so useful for building outfits.

There are some Facebook groups too which might help. If you join the Kettlewell Colours group and the Kettlewell resale group you should get recommendations you can follow to separate seasonal groups. I'm not a great groups joiner but I've found it useful to see how people of different shapes and sizes style themselves in my season.

I also found Kibbe style types helpful in figuring out why I like some clothes and dislike others.

The seasonal and style analyses can seem a bit cultish from the outside but I've found it a great jumping off point.

I seem to live in thermal leggings, (m&s a thermal top same, then leggings with a jumper, all through the winter I get sick of them, I do love dresses but I too feel the cold and only wear them in the summer.

Thanks everyone! The replies to this have given me the confidence to go with my instinct a little. I've bought a few things this week; from Sainsbury's a jumper dress, a jumper I thought was a jumper dress, fleece lined leggings and a jumper from m&s, along with heat-tech tights. The 2 jumpers are going back. The m&s one was awful, disappointing given the reviews but exaggerated my tummy (which doesn't need exaggerating).

However, I've enjoyed the new leggings and jumper dress.

I also decluttered most clothes categories yesterday so have a bit more space and I know everything I put on will look nice. Have got rid of a few t-shirts which don't suit me but were convenient iykwim.

I'm not sure when I started to go wrong, a good example is jeans. I never wore jeans as a teenager or in my 20s as they just don't suit me. More a cords girl. But somehow jeans and t-shirts slipped into my wardrobe.

I'm now off to Google kibbe style types and female Monty Don.

Thank you.