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?

thats a step to far 😂 don't care if I'm uncool I'll happily wear midi dress and midi skirts, side part my hair and wear skinny jeans (occasionally) and be proud of it. I'm 29 and have no interest in impressing teenagers

JL and fashion advice….hmm.
That being said, I hope they’re right on this occasion as I’ve never owned a floral midi. Last summer, at a school event, I swear I thought I’d missed the memo that required every single female parent to wear the floral dress/denim jacket uniform.

@NatashaDancing well I'm basing it on my experience as a footwear buyer & what sold. Trainers have definitely being the most popular shoe of choice for a while now, not sure how you've missed that 🤷🏻‍♀️

What's a good alternative to a denim jacket in the summer over a dress?

It's an extremely silly comment. Laura Ashley kicked this off in the 60s - Laura Ashley is no more but the floral midi dress lived on.

Batsheva- much beloved of high fashion writers -even has a range of floral midis from the Laura Ashley archive.

Of course everyone is free to wear what they like whenever they like....but this the the 'style & beauty' board & some of us here actually like to think about & talk about....you know.....what's in fashion.....

I think it's hilarious how affronted people get by stuff like this . Of course you can keep wearing your floral dresses & trainers & skinny jeans but that doesn't mean things won't move on & some of us will move with it.

Agree about all leather black lace ups, but these days comfort overrides fashion when it comes to shoes.

Why would any grown woman care what a newspaper or anyone else thinks?

If you like skinny jeans or midi dresses wear them 🙄

I didn't say I missed the fact almost everyone wears trainers. I'm not sure how you missed the fact not everyone does. Brands like Docs or Pretty Ballerina have been going strong for decades

Style and fashion are not synonyms.

But fashion trends keep moving because it's fun. I'm bored of wearing floral midi dresses or what have you. I fancy a change. The catwalks make some suggestions and I go with what I fancy. If I'm not prepared to trawl the shows I can let the shops do it for me.

I put away my floral dress for a few years, knowing when I'm bored of the next thing and want to do floral dresses again I can dig round in the attic and fall in love with the one I bought from last time. Only this time I'll wear it in a different way because the catwalks have come up with a new way of styling it, so it feels new again.

I'll rotate my wardrobe toward the end of feb and I'm looking forward to pulling out old gems I'd forgotten about and wearing them in a new way. It's how I get my kicks and it's not harming anyone.

The 90s floral tend was more grunge looking. I remember wearing a button through floral dress (which would have been minis or maxis, midis weren't a thing) opened up from the bottom with maybe leggings and laced boots. The 90s version is more to my taste - a midi, no white trainers and your hair wouldn't have been the tonged, highlighted curls that I see with the look these days.

@NatashaDancing I interpreted Were they? Never noticed as you not noticing "the fact almost everyone wears trainers". I'm not sure why you think I said everyone only wears trainers? Or that Docs do not exist? I thought we were discussing general trends.

I found that article really funny - firstly, because JL aren't exactly arbiters of high style, and secondly, because they seem to be massively overestimating their importance to shoppers. As if anyone's going to go 'Oh, JL haven't got what I wanted - I'll just go with this next best thing' instead of 'Never mind - I wonder what the entire internet can offer'.

Such a weird, self-sabotaging decision.

I don’t think they looked awful - if that were the case it wouldn’t be such a resilient trend.

They look feminine, relaxed and floaty - and yes - horror of horrors - for overweight women too. God forbid the fatties would go out in anything pretty… 🙄

@NatashaDancing perhaps but let's face it I don't think anyone's going to win any 'style' awards in floral dresses & trainers or skinny jeans...

Having a style is not about adopting a trend & slavishly sticking to it doggedly for years on end.

It's about understanding what works for your particular body & evolving it to avoid remaining static or dated. In my opinion.

So as I say, I don’t even wear floral midi dresses but I have a big interest in fashion trends (and indeed in everything people wear) and that’s why I hang out here to listen to others who also have an interest and why I started the thread. Why wouldn’t we discuss stories in the news.

We all know anyone can wear whatever the hell they want, no one has to follow fashion and whilst we’re at it no one is too old for anything either.

The catwalks make some suggestions and I go with what I fancy. If I'm not prepared to trawl the shows I can let the shops do it for me.

This is what I think has changed though. The UK high street used to be very good at interrupting the trends & tailoring it for their specific market. So if you went into Topshop, Oasis, French Connection there would be specific trends in all of them but each had their own handwriting. Now I think the high street is a lot more homogeneous & shops are a chasing the same customer so they tend to latch onto that one trend & nothing else.

Agreed @TheOGCCL !
I don't wear them either so it's no skin off my nose if they're no longer 'stylish '

interpreting not interrupting!

Agree - it's very tough on the high street at the moment and they're having to be extremely conservative.

But on the other hand, we have unparalleled access to the resale market now so we aren't beholden to them. I'm in my 40's and I've pretty much built my wardrobe, but if I was in my twenties I'm sure I'd be knee deep in Vinted and 1st Dibs etc

If only we were all as "on trend" as you ay?!

Thread raving about a floral midi dress

www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4738769-am-i-too-old-for-this-sezane-dress?page=1

@shouldhavetakenmorenotice that's true, I search for & do find some Topshop gems from the 00s on the resale sites.

I’ve been wearing a floral midi dress, denim jacket and trainers since the mid-90s.
It’s a look that suits my figure and personality. I’m short & curvy but maybe if you’re tall & elegant you want to wear different styles. It’s boring if we all wear the same stuff anyway.
I think the problem with JL and floral midi dresses in general is not the concept of a floral midi dress in itself but the fact that so many of the ones sold in e.g. JL are cheap fabric, badly made and unattractive prints. Yes there are loads available to buy in the shops but not many of them are nice. Even during the past few years when the shops have been full of them, I’ve still only found the odd one that I like.
A floral print is difficult to get right; flowers that are too big look a bit too ‘wedding guest’ outfit and too small can be a bit too ditsy. And so many shops now use horrible, cheap looking fabrics too.