What brands to go to for good quality stylish clothes?

[CorporateBull]

I am at a loss. I have a decent budget for new clothes but want to buy good quality stuff that will last. I’m just emerging from a longish period of buying very little and living in the same clothes.
Many of the brands I used to buy from have disappeared or now seem to sell expensive polyester, and current trends just don’t suit me.
I have no idea which of the brands I see ads online for are real decent ones and which are dodgy resellers from China!
Please suggest some nice places to try for natural fibres and classic styles? I’m late forties and tend to be a jeans and jumper type - overweight and not very groomed!

I had some great items from Cos ten years ago - they were a bit different and made from natural fibres, and fitted me really well even though I am quite petite. Toast also had some great items ten years ago. Now all those brands make really shapeless items that look terrible on me.

Yes why are so many garments so shapeless

I'm trying to justify spending £200 on very plain navy blue jumper. It is very similar to a considerably cheaper one I have from Uniqlo, but inexplicably about 100 times more beautiful.

@CountryCousin wrote: I generally recommend Raey @ Matches Fashion for relatively effortless swagger, but they’re perhaps not quite as good as they once were.

Have been thinking exactly this too, so it's incredibly validating to see your comment.

(I think Matches has lost both its edge and original vision. I guess it was inevitable given its founders sold-up and left, and there have been four different CEOs in less than fives years, the latest of which is ex-ASOS)

Ah, that’s interesting - I had a vague idea there’d been some leadership change.

Oddly enough I wandered into their Carlos Place ‘shop’ by chance a couple of months ago - strange experience. Across the 80s/90s/early noughties, when I had a City career, I stalked the stores of Mayfair, Knightsbridge, South Ken as if my life depended on it - so I’m perfectly at ease in that environment, but I was disappointed to find the Matches HQ so determinedly gilded. They were very polite, but it was clear people were expected to have an appointment - and the mere handful of clothes on show all seemed encrusted in sparkly stuff. As I climbed the stairs I was looking forward to rifling through rooms full of Raey - but there were barely a dozen items on the rails, and none the sort of everyday clothes I valued the brand for.

Ho hum … There are always new places, that’s what makes getting dressed fun.

@CountryCousin

Ah yes, Carlos Place townhouse. It's mostly used for private shopping or events, so they have a distinct lack of clothes unless they're expecting you. If they had, there would have been a room full of Raey.

There was a Raey store for a time on Ledbury road, but that vanished, along with several of their bricks and mortar stores. I sometimes think they've lost sight of who their customers are, something that happens when one is reliant on algorithms and online sales rather than information direct from the shopper/personal relationships between sales staff and client.

But yes, there are always new places, and as you say, that’s what makes getting dressed fun. Should you find any, report back! (Am mostly buying bits and pieces from small boutiques when I'm overseas)

I went into the Sézanne shop in Paris, very excited, but found their quality not that great: about right for the prices, but not as good value as I'd been led to believe.

I try to buy things that are good quality for the price - you rarely get good quality, that lasts when you pay a low price, but you don't always get it when you pay a higher price. So I look for really good quality, and pay accordingly.

Besides the already-mentioned Max Mara, Margaret Howell, & Sandro, I also like Hugo Boss, Agnès B, & Paul Smith, and I think good online and physical shops are:

www.madham.co.uk/latest.php
(Womenswear for female barristers, so lots of beautiful black suits and dresses, but much more besides)

www.morganclare.co.uk/shop/
(Shop in Harrogate, good online)

For knitwear/t shirts I like Sunspel, John Smedley, and special cashmere from Aethel

www.aethel.com

and Begg

www.beggxco.com

You could try Stitch Fix and make your requirements very clear so they send you the right stuff.

Cheap to make. Tailoring requires skill, which costs money.

I’m surprised that people are recommending Reiss as good quality. It was once, but now you’re lucky to finally anything that isn’t polyester. It’s such a shame because their designs are good. Their shoes and accessories are still decent though. I miss the Reiss of 20 years ago, when the fabrics were much better and the tailoring was beautiful. You could buy things there and know that you would be the best dressed woman in the room.

Mint Velvet and Phase 8 have always been keen on synthetic fibres in my experience, so I’m surprised to see them being recommended. Have we lost sight of what ‘quality’ means? It feels as if some posters have just summarised a list of the more expensive high street shops, but you can pay a lot for things that are rubbish quality and don’t wash well or last. I boycotted Hush when an expensive jumper featuring bamboo shrank - despite following washing instructions - and started to fall apart.

I’ve noticed that where a garment includes a natural fibre - wool, silk, cotton - the website is telling you about it in the thumbnail item description before you click through to the item (‘cardigan with wool’ for example). Then you’ll find that the cardigan in question is 50% wool and 50% synthetic and that will be £150 please (example from the White Company). Also, you really have to seek out fabric composition for most garments. For obvious reasons: cheap, crap fabric. When you click on the furtive ‘details and care’ section, you’re told that it might be polyester but it’s recycled! So that’s all right then, please take my £200.

And I agree with the PP, maybe @CountryCousin about MaxMara coats. I can spot those things of beauty at 20 paces. It is so difficult to find a really good tailored wool coat. Probably because we’ve been fobbed off with miserable puffer coats for the past few years, not much tailoring needed for those. Retailers must be rejoicing at what we will put up with!

This is why I don't really follow style. Seasalt is widely derided here and yes, am not keen on their flowery tunics. But their jumpers are often pure wool at a reasonable price and have lasted far longer than my Hush or more expensive jumpers. Ditt Woolovers.

And honestly a navy blue jumper is a navy blue jumper. One is very much like the other except for wool content which oddly often tends to be lower the more expensive you get.

I have eczema so can’t tolerate synthetic stuff. It’s difficult: Reiss and Whistles have completely jumped the shark. Rarely shop there now. I rate Jigsaw for jeans, trousers, wool coats, plain silk shirts and silk cotton polo necks; Brora for cotton or silk shirts and knitwear; Poetry - some very nice cashmere in winter and linen in summer - think Diane Keaton in a Nora Ephron movie; Toast shirts and jackets if short in length - but I can’t wear their trousers. Some Gerard Darel although there’s viscose creeping in there and it’s quite trad. Scotch and Soda have quite zany clothes but their jeans and cotton shirts are excellent quality and last ages. Me and Em sizing is massive but they make good tailoring, very flattering dresses and interesting blouses. Russell and Bromley for shoes. Falke for socks. Still shop Hush for jeans, casual trousers and shorts. I don’t buy much because all these are expensive but what I buy lasts years.

Thanks for the Aethel recommendation.

Thanks to the pp who recommended Benetton upthread. I had forgotten they existed, but their jumpers look good quality and wool not acrylic for those on a budget.

babaa.es/ - beautiful knitwear

also

jaggerylondon.co.uk/

Anyone tried Curated Crowd?
Some lovely stuff!

Good quality Viscose is actually a really useful fabric. It’s natural (made from wood pulp) better for the environment than non-organic cotton, which is sprayed with lots of hideous pesticides. It is lightweight, breathable and falls beautifully, so perfect for dressy dresses!

I've said before on here, Reiss is owned by Next now. And with Joules coming under the Next umbrella, expect to see their cotton replaced with polyester.

Reiss is not owned by Next. I’ve read that fallacy before on Mumsnet: somebody spotted that Next were selling Reiss clothes on their website. They are, but they don’t own Reiss. A private equity fund do. Which probably explains the increased use of wretched polyester: private equity is all about jacking up the EBITDA.

Peruvian connection jumpers are dreamy... My fave one is actually from a charity shop that cost me £4.25.

Is viscose 100% natural?

Is viscose a natural material? While viscose fabric is made from natural wood sources, creating yarns uses chemicals such as carbon disulphide and sodium hydroxide, making it a semi-synthetic material.

From Google

I prefer cotton and think it is more durable but I understand about the environment etc

Turning into a great but expensive thread! Just got a gorgeous jumper from jaggerylondon thanks for recommendations x

I like viscose, I think it’s a nice fabric.

Thanks so much! @PoppySeedBagelRedux Harrogate is my local prosperous market town so you’ve given me a good start there.

I like viscose too @SomeChickensAreJustTooBig.