What is "in" vs what people are actually wearing

[RampantIvy]

I often read on here that no-one wears heels, skinny jeans are dated and short bodycon dresses are out.

I went out in Leeds last night, and all the young girls (I am an old gimmer, so I am talking late teens, early 20s) were either wearing short bodycon dresses/skirts and tight tops with heels or skinny jeans and heels. I felt a little out of place in my jeans, jumper and trainers.

I just like to follow fashion a bit. It takes extra work to find tops that fall right, that’s all.

Yes! Especially the bit about fun and everyday creativity.

If you don't like pedantry look away now but I think we often say 'stylish' when what we really mean is 'well dressed'. I think we can all achieve 'well dressed' if we're interested enough to make the effort but to my mind, truly stylish people are rare. They're inventive - they don't stick to fashion but they don't stick to rules either or to wearing what's supposed to suit them. And they keep moving, even if they have a 'signature look' they play with it all the time. They're a pleasure to watch, even when they're having an off day - which they do sometimes because they take risks.

I have always been cheerful about wearing what I like and sod what’s fashionable. About the only concession I make is in temporarily retiring anything that is either so ubiquitous it’s a cliche or so clearly a recent has-been style. I’ve put my skinnier jeans in storage for the next time they become acceptable, though they don’t suit me as well as wide leg ones anyway. And, for the record, a leather biker jacket is a style classic.

Or does a leather biker fall into the 'so ubiquitous it's cliche' category atm?

@pocketvenuss Not round our way, at any rate! 🙂. I rarely see women wearing biker jackets. The usual uniform is tracksuits or similar and baseball caps/trainers. I feel the ‘ubiquitous’ thing is trends that suddenly seem to be everywhere, and are always worn same way - so in the early 2000s, it seemed that everywhere you looked, you’d find a woman in a fake fur gilet worn with skinny jeans and knee boots - always with the same hairstyle as well.

Tracksuits and baseball caps? Blimey!

Don't see tracksuit and baseball caps where I live.

You sound like my doppelgänger!
I am in Southern Hemisphere and over winter my favourite thing was an oversized vest with V -neck over dresses with chunky boots.. travelling to UK for Christmas and looking forward to wearing again.
in my 50’s but hip young things would look wide eyed and ask if it was vintage 😂😂

Really? Thats pretty unusual.

Yup. Could see about 8 women in skinny jeans. A couple of woman who looked early 20’s got on 5 minutes after I posted and both of them were wearing flared jeans.

According to this thread, middle-aged mums should avoid aping the young'uns because they look ridiculous dressing like their daughters and shudder wearing a trend a secondary

Oops posted too soon.... I meant wearing something a second time around. But they should also avoid getting stuck in a rut in stuff from their heyday and move with the times, otherwise they will look Really Bad.

Personally (as a middle aged mum) I quite like following trends sometimes and I agree with the posters saying it should be fun to experiment and tweak your personal style, if you feel like it. At any age, and even if you wore, say, bootcuts before in the Nineties.

Short bodycon dresses are most definitely in fash in the "younger" stores where I live. Ankle length high waisted skinnies as well. Not wanting to offend but mumsnet is (on the whole) very out of touch these days.

@Vohgue but the title of the thread was around what is supposedly in fashion and what people are actually seeing around them . Which of course depends on where you live, city/country, the kinds of places you go to and whether you mix with different age groups.

Hey Luna 👋 I’m in Northern England and aged 63 #FabulousatanyAge

Where I am all I could see in spring and autumn for the past many seasons has been floral dresses (maxi or shorter) worn with a denim or leather biker jacket and white sneakers. It's a look that has been done to death but is still clung to by certain groups of women. The ones who are tribal and wear only what their friends wear.

Absolutely @Floisme.

That's what I love about clothes, fashion and 'risk', it's absolutely ok not to get it right, but when one does, it's brilliant, so much swagger.

If it's a bit suboptimal, that's ok too, it's all part of the fun. I absolutely know that some outfits are absolutely 'me' and on-point, when I wear them people (usually women or gay men, but when I'm flairing like mad, it's young well-dressed Japanese women), do stop me and admire my 'look'. I do similarly when I see someone killing it.

And it's not age-based, when I was about 25 I saw a woman who was probably 50ish, and she looked like the coolest person I had ever seen, just absolutely perfect. She obviously loved clothes, but also herself. I often think about her. I find women who are clearly very comfortable with themselves very inspiring.

That’s me all over, except I don’t think I’m edgy, skinny works for me as I ride a bike everywhere and it’s easy to find tops that work with the leg shape. I’m in ( not particularly affluent) south West London suburb.

@pocketvenuss I do know what you mean about that look! And about the tribal aspects of having a certain ‘look’ that everyone else has. I’ve never toed the line in terms of fashion - wish I could say it was about being brave and edgy, but to be honest it was about only being able to afford charity shops and jumble sales when younger. My ‘look’ grew around what I could afford. Over time, it’s grown into a quirkiness I enjoy in myself. I like messing around with the grammar of the conventional looks, so the biker jacket would end up being worn with something unusual (on one occasion a vintage tartan maxi skirt and platform 90s trainers).

Me too, but I'm under no illusion that I'm edgy 😆

What shoes/boots are you meant to wear with wider leg jeans? In the summer I would wear white trainers but can’t do this in winter as it’s cold and they’d get filthy - what sort of style boots go with wider leg jeans? I never know what to get so go back to skinnies tucked into Uggs (so 2008, though my teens tell me they’re cool again now?!) but I’d like to wear my wider jeans all year round.

I was in Bristol yesterday and it was either wider jeans with trainers and a short puffa jacket (and they looked freezing, it was -5 when I got on the train) or skinnies with boots.
I have 2 different styles for the weather. This past summer I embraced the 90s straight-leg look with tucked-in tops and in winter I mainly wear black skinnies, black Docs and knitwear. This is for work, casual office.

I did wear my 10 year old Uggs with skinnies yesterday and I didn't feel out of place whereas last year I'd never have worn Uggs shopping.

I was in a shop last weekend and the sign said 'mum jeans' and they had their skinny jeans underneath.

I wear rolled up straight jeans. I was a bit bored of skinnies.

Thanks for keeping this thread going - have been watching, i would like to comment on the middle aged mums being tribal - I prob fit into this category as from a mix of 2 kids in 3 years, plus covid WFH a lot of us are probably a bit lost and have no time to truly consider what of the newer loose silhouette works with a body that’s changed after 10 years in skinnies/boots!

FWIW I am trying more chunky brogues, straighter jeans and casual looser jumpers for work (unless I have to be client facing and I revert back to old school dress / suit but with flats).

i love the looser jeans but being bottom heavy with a smaller waist it’s hard not to look chunkier I feel than skinnies with a French tuck… but am trying:)

am also interested in how to wear boots with wider legs, the AMA stylist the other week had some good looks.

People tend to stick with what works for their body shape unless they are young. There are plenty of skinny jeans and no biker jackets in my area.