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

[TheOGCCL]

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?

I tend to agree, great for when I'm feeling chunky.

You're proper old when comfort becomes the overriding fashion criterion.

Which is why high waisted jeans and midi dresses + sneakers will never go away.

I don’t like floral prints, hate loose or full skirted dresses and I have never felt comfortable wearing dresses with trainers - so it will be nice to see more choice of styles in the shops this summer.

That said, a browse online tells me they are still the main style of dress available on the high street, so I doubt they’ll disappear overnight for the lovers out there!

(I still wear black skinnies, though. They’re a classic to me and I don’t care what anyone says).

I like floral but the ditsy print, even the name, makes me angry. I like leaves or deconstructed floral shapes and feel print makers are too limited in their productions so there's never much choice outside of the traditional floral offerings. As for the midi dress, midi skirt, this is isn't a fashion choice for me, it's simply my length and I'll wear nothing else!

With my petite frame they just wouldn't suit me, I tried a couple on and looked ridiculous. And although white trainers might look nice, I would never buy a pair, I never understand how people keep them clean. I have one floral midi dress I bought for my wedding in October, it is silk and quite fitted and more of a classic tea dress look with an understated pattern and a-line skirt. Being short it is much longer than midi on me. I am sure I will wear it again when the occasion is right, whether in fashion or not.

I like the look on other people but it does nothing for me (I’m small and very slight and it makes me look like I’m wearing my mum’s clothes, plus I usually favour a bit of pretty androgyny). I would be glad if it stopped completely dominating the shops. The lack of variety in women’s clothes over the last few years has been painful - unless you go to a price point that just isn’t accessible for most mums.

I love midi dresses and haven't noticed lots of people wearing identical stuff. I mean, two midi dress outfits look totally different to me if they are different colours or fabrics. Just like skinny jeans can look totally different depending on what it's worn with.

But I literally just bought some skinny jeans and two midi dresses. I don't feel comfortable in a mini dress, maxi dresses are often too short for me, and it's a pain to match skirts with tops, so midi dress for the win!

Were they? I don’t remember. I remember the white trainers But they weren’t worn with floral prairie style dresses. (That I can remember / I don’t remember floral dresses as a 90s thing - that was more grunge and docs and steam
punk.) White trainers have been in before, quite a few times (I get the comfort factor - I’m just not convinced they are a good look, but each to their own). At any rate, I wonder if anyone who did wear them together in the 90s is recycling the look today.

Midi dresses make me look like a huge block. I need to get my legs out to give me shape. People can wear what they like but I'm glad that other styles of dresses are being made room for. The times I've seen a beautiful looking dress to find it's a bloody maxi, midi... Its infuriating. M&S are obsessed with them.

I'm short and fairly flat chested.it took me ages to find a dress that fitted both lengthwise and not fitted around the bust.....so I'm going to keep wearing mine whether it's fashionable or not! It's more like maxi length for me, but I prefer that to midi.
And I still wear skinny jeans as I think they suit me best

It's so very liberating to not give a fuck about trends in clothing. I haven't since I was in my 20's. I wear what suits me - and yes that includes skinny jeans.

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.

It was floral dresses and docs. Preferably with fish nets.Or nighties and docs. But the dresses were from charity shops and deliberately old lady type. I remember wearing trainers with floral or more often tie dye dresses in the summer, but the dresses were definitely not long. That may have been because I was a teenager though.

I'd add 'leather biker jacket' to your list

they are back in!

I don't mind Nike airforce but find the black ones look orthopaedic

Any black trainer with a black sole looks bad imo.

You're proper old when comfort becomes the overriding fashion criterion.

and we do have an ageing population!

It's mostly a marketing ploy to get people to consume more in my opinion.

But they weren’t worn with floral prairie style dresses.

I thought JL was talking about floral midi dresses not specifically just prairie frilly ones?

It was floral dresses and docs. Preferably with fish nets.Or nighties and docs. But the dresses were from charity shops and deliberately old lady type. I remember wearing trainers with floral or more often tie dye dresses in the summer, but the dresses were definitely not long. That may have been because I was a teenager though.

I didn't own docs in the 90s, wasn't into grunge at all. But I did wear ditsy printed floral dresses in all lengths from the likes of Tammy girl with white pumps

The PoW dress in the article is just a tea dress. The JL dress is a loose midi print dress, so not far off a loose midi floral dress.

About 10 yrs ago, it seemed that every woman wore Stan Smiths.

I like how they proclaim the floral midi dress is dead and then show a picture of a dress from their new line - a midi dress with leaves. Not exactly a huge departure!

I'll be glad to see the demise of floral everything. I'll wear a midi dress but it has to be plain fabric.

and my wrangler denim jacket is from the 90s

Love that they’ve illustrated this with a photo of JL’s new avant-garde, bleeding edge alternative to a midi dress with flowers….a midi dress with leaves 😂

Just been checking old photos from the 90s to see what I was wearing. Long patterned skirts with a plain t shirt and trainers, midi dresses again with coloured trainers (blue, red, white) My docs were retired in the late 80s and I didn't start wearing again until fairly recently.

Am too ill to shop. I go online. Far more variety of styling.

@Netcam
Trainers go through the wash just fine and come out sparkly clean. Am getting a bit bored of white trainers though.

I can live with floral. But I wish frills would die a quick death. I'm 41 years old; I have no wish to dress like a 6 year old going to a birthday party.

What John Lewis is actually saying, as a clothing retailer, is that the flowery midi market is so saturated that they can no longer compete, therefore they want to manipulate trends and fashions to force a new “trend” onto women in which John Lewis can regain a larger market share.

John Lewis won’t be the only ones.
I hope women are not manipulated by this shit.