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First skinny jeans, now they’ve come for the floral midi dress

243 replies

TheOGCCL · 10/02/2023 23:10

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/feb/10/john-lewis-declares-death-of-the-floral-midi-dress

I’ve not owned one myself but have heard enough people extolling their virtues and seen how flattering and easy to wear they are to highly doubt they’re going anywhere.

Are you bored of them yet?

OP posts:
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thehorsehasnowbolted · 14/02/2023 07:37

Oblomov23 · 11/02/2023 08:57

she is clearly just trying to prove a point. They are popular, so why would JL stop selling them, if it's what many women want, it doesn't make business sense.

I agree. They're trying too hard to be 'disruptive' 🙄

thehorsehasnowbolted · 14/02/2023 08:34

TheDead · 11/02/2023 09:56

It won't bother me one iota. I've never worn the midi dress with trainers & I haven't worn skinny jeans since 2020. I'm 53.

I remember driving though our city last summer & there was some outdoor concert on & there were literally droves of women wearing midi floral dresses, white trainers, denim jackets & Cross body bags. It looked like some bizarre dress codnoe! Seriously it was a strange sight
It was like seeing all the women in identikit amish dresses!

I agree. it can get a bit surreal when many 'congregate' at the same place

SpookTacula · 14/02/2023 10:13

A bias satin skirt 🙄 is really no replacement for the kind of dress that most women can wear that feels practical and looks good.

I can think of maybe 1 or 2 people in my life who would or could get away with a bias satin skirt.

LeandraDear · 14/02/2023 11:24

SpookTacula · 14/02/2023 10:13

A bias satin skirt 🙄 is really no replacement for the kind of dress that most women can wear that feels practical and looks good.

I can think of maybe 1 or 2 people in my life who would or could get away with a bias satin skirt.

Yeah it looks a bit out of place in the supermarket.

journeyofinsanity · 14/02/2023 21:46

@LeandraDear @SpookTacula you are missing the style concept. A bias cut skirt can look completely normal at the supermarket. That the point. It's worn during the day with sneakers and a t-shirt or hoodie.

journeyofinsanity · 14/02/2023 21:48

They have been around for a few years now. About as long as the floral frock has been passe

www.clubforty.co.uk/how-to-wear-satin-slip-skirts/

StrawHatOnTheParcelShelf · 14/02/2023 22:00

I love my satin skirts but agree they're not everyday wear - it's not that they can't be styled to look alright, it's that they're fragile and pull/mark easily.

I do have bamboo midi-length pencil skirts which are absolutely fabulous for everyday. They're also a staple for travelling as they never crumple, are stretchy and comfy, somehow manage to work in both hot and cold weather.

HerbalTeaAndCake · 14/02/2023 22:01

Mercurial123 · 11/02/2023 04:45

There's nothing wrong with floral midi dresses, it's the puffy sleeves, flounces, tiers, and those awful collars that make them look too fussy.

LOVE a puffy sleeve!

HerbalTeaAndCake · 14/02/2023 22:05

Shortpoet · 11/02/2023 07:32

After living in black leggings and a jumper for the whole of lockdown, I’m delighting in poncing about in bright floaty dresses with puffy sleeves and a frill.

I wear them with white trainers or big clumpy black boots. IDGAF if I look like Little house on the prairie. It’s just more joyful than lockdown.

(Tbf mine are more prints rather than floral but still, I like them). I love seeing the riot of frills and bright colours at work. So much more interesting that black, blue and grey suits.

Heaven forbid fat middle aged women enjoy wearing something colourful and roomy that has pockets, with a pair of comfortable shoes.

I took my daughter shopping this weekend. She bought parachute pants and a crop top. She looks like I did on the 90s. I had a moment’s nostalgia for the 90s trends that were everywhere. But I can’t wear on trend crop tops now. Trust me, no-one wants to see me in a crop top.

Anyway. I’m learning to see. If JL doesn’t want to sell me pretty dresses, I’ll make my own.

This.

HerbalTeaAndCake · 14/02/2023 22:06

AuntieStella · 11/02/2023 07:48

They've been proclaiming the death of skinny jeans for nearly a decade now. They're really not going away. People like them, like how they look in them, and - most importantly - keep buying them.

The internet gives the customer more sway - and there will always be someone who will sell what customers want.

Also, people don't want fast fashion, are more clued up to the idea that changes to trends are pushed by an industry that wants to keep selling (especially if you have to buy different shoes, accessories and tops to do with a different shape), and have less money to spend generally

TL:DR - don't worry, you'll still find what you like

Yes to the skinny jeans 🙌

SpookTacula · 14/02/2023 22:39

journeyofinsanity · 14/02/2023 21:46

@LeandraDear @SpookTacula you are missing the style concept. A bias cut skirt can look completely normal at the supermarket. That the point. It's worn during the day with sneakers and a t-shirt or hoodie.

No I'm not missing the style concept.

I'm pointing out that a flimsy bias cut satin skirt is an unlikely substitute for someone like me, a chubby 42 year, who would look and feel like they'd been piped into a sausage skin.

journeyofinsanity · 14/02/2023 22:58

@SpookTacula then don't wear them. Wear a longer midi denim skirt or faux leather skirt or a jersey wrap skirt. The point is someone asked what's replaced floral frocks and white trainers on the fashion front and I gave some examples. Nothing works for everyone. Wear your cotton frock i really don't care. But people who want to know what's more 'in' want to know. Wear a similar dress to your floral one but in a plain fabrics maybe. Mix it up a bit. Wear it with a shacket rather than a denim jacket. Or wear some loose pants. Do whatever you want

NatashaDancing · 14/02/2023 23:46

On another thread I posted a link to a Times article from 2021 about best summer dresses. The links in the article itself obviously now click through to the current websites. Checking them would suggest the death of the floral midi dress seems to be greatly exaggerated.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/915ed916-d8e1-11eb-b92f-5fe539a30c29?shareToken=67ca632b4d6f4dfa6c14817edea31663

There are several posts on here criticising women for having no minds of their own and wearing a uniform of these dresses. On the other hand posters like journeyofinsanity seems to think being "on trend" or "in fashion" is the only important reason for choosing what to wear- can't be a "frump" wearing last season's dress. It's odd, as I can't think of anything less like having a mind of your own than slavishly following what's "in".

I can't remember a time when I didn't have midi floral dresses. They are my staple in the same way jeans are for others. They suit my idea of myself as someone who is a mixture of quite prim, quite ladylike with a touch of bohemian.

SpookTacula · 15/02/2023 07:17

journeyofinsanity · 14/02/2023 22:58

@SpookTacula then don't wear them. Wear a longer midi denim skirt or faux leather skirt or a jersey wrap skirt. The point is someone asked what's replaced floral frocks and white trainers on the fashion front and I gave some examples. Nothing works for everyone. Wear your cotton frock i really don't care. But people who want to know what's more 'in' want to know. Wear a similar dress to your floral one but in a plain fabrics maybe. Mix it up a bit. Wear it with a shacket rather than a denim jacket. Or wear some loose pants. Do whatever you want

Funnily enough I actually don't own a dress like this - a 'cotton frock' as you so snobbishly put it - I just object to the general misogyny behind society's constant need to change, upgrade, improve women, in the name of making money.

QueenOfThorns · 15/02/2023 08:08

Having browsed the newspaper front pages on the BBC website this morning, I can see that both the i and the Times have declared the death of floral dresses today: www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-64644867

DorritLittle · 15/02/2023 08:42

In around 1999 I bought a lovely bias cut olive green midi skirt from Benetton in France but it wasn't satin. I wore it all the time. Wish I still had it!

MyrtIe · 15/02/2023 08:54

Hopefully this means there'll be more wrap dresses around. The only dresses that really suit me but thin on the ground/derided as frumpy (god I hate that word) for years.

Also I've carried cross body bags all my adult life, but they're usually vintage doctor's bags. Not all cross body bags are those tiny camera bags on ’jolly’ wide fabric straps!

NatashaDancing · 15/02/2023 08:57

QueenOfThorns · 15/02/2023 08:08

Having browsed the newspaper front pages on the BBC website this morning, I can see that both the i and the Times have declared the death of floral dresses today: www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-64644867

Here's The Times article - again a rather exaggerated statement if you read it and click through to the links. Rixo and Hush for example still have loads of them on their websites.

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