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?

The death of Top shop makes me so sad. I still wear TS all the time.

I look at the Pretty Little Thing and Shein shit and just think Gen Z have been shafted by fast fashion. It was our fault for going knee deep in Primark.

You know Shein and similar is made by slaves and I'm sure they're burning excess stock. Plenty of noughties brands will have been doing the same and we haven't learnt, we've just offshored it.

And I don’t think wearing trainers with everything is going anywhere whatever about floral midis.
Too many of us have discovered what it’s like to be able to wear the same shoes all day, walk as much as you want, run for the bus, etc without any discomfort whatsoever - I.e. what men have always known 😂

Yes heels make your legs look better and longer so I’m happy to wear them on a night out or when I know I won’t have to walk much. But no other flat shoe for me comes close to trainers for all day comfort - so unless orthopaedic-type loafers or something similar come back into fashion, I think the trainers are staying

As long as the floral mini dress doesn't go out of fashion I'm ok because I live in them in the summer. I think fashion is more fluid these days, I remember when flares went out and skinny jeans came in, you could not buy flares for love nor money. Now you can get any jeans in any style.

As long as they don't take leggings off sale, I'll be happy forever.

Me too. I live shorter dresses. Especially floral print.

*love

I agree with what LivesinLondon2000 is saying about unpleasant prints and nasty materials.
I like a floral midi dress on occasion but have to be careful now I'm an old woman not to look like a sofa or a frilly lampshade.
Midis generally are great, for comfort and freedom of movement.
I shall watch the charity shops carefully now that the fashion conscious are chucking them out. I'm a keen dyer and can overdye the worst floral excesses in the right materials, to end up with something a bit more me.

I just hate black trainers

but that is the main purpose - to conceal flaws? Most people are not flawless.

I was thinking this about the winter outfit now of long gilet or gilet type coat with leggings and various footwear ( trainers for those who insist) and boots ( for those who realise it's Winter 😂) and the obligatory pom pom hat.

What would we wear instead of the dress? I love a dress and will wear one anytime the weather allows but do have flaws that I want concealed 😂 I have never worn a skirt for over 30 years.

I can't wait. I'm 5ft2 so midi on me is too long and makes me feel like I'm playing dress up. I just find them very unflattering on someone as short as me. I also look quite young which adds to the whole dress up vibe. I can't wait for mini/knee length skater style dresses to be everywhere so I can actually find some summer dresses I like!

Meh. Wear what you like.

Ive worn floral midi and maxi dresses since 2010 and not about to stop now.

Skinny jeans look good on me.

I don’t like white trainers on me but think they look good on others.

Hallelujah!

Properly laughing at John Lewis trying to set themselves up as setting trends.

Glad to see they got themselves in the news by shitting on the taste of their target demographic though. Fuck John Lewis.

When are they coming out to say guys should stop wearing jeans/shirts/jumpers? Or is it just women who need improved?

I detest skinny jeans and floral dresses. I'd much rather wear some wide legged trousers a smart shirt or my slobbing around gear...a tracksuit.
I haven't worn a skirt or a dress for 50 years.
I'm feminine looking but I much prefer trousers.

Love my skinny jeans even though they are not that skinny and I'm not that slim. With a long jumper to hide my belly and some boots , it's fine.
Any dress , be it plain or floral , looks terrible on me! On some people they look lovely.
I'm sure those that have them in the wardrobe will continue to wear them

@ChesterCheetah
Totally agree. Their target market is middle aged women who have some money to spend but aren’t going crazy on designer labels, who want quality fabrics and clothes that look reasonably fashionable, but not super trendy and most importantly are flattering! (Basically me!)
There’s a reason midi dresses in general have been so popular. They’re pretty & you can wear comfy flat shoes with them.
Shorter dresses often require a heel to look good - unless you have lovely, slim legs.
And let’s face it, showing your legs in general is a pain for many of us. Having to make sure they’re presentable in summer (hair free, fake tan in my case) is just something I can do without most of the time.

Middle aged mums in general want comfort and practicality as well as looking good so any clothes shop catering to them needs that at the forefront of their mind.

Also love your point that no one is telling men that their fashion staples are over and they need to get with the new fashion trend. Just hilarious imagining my DH being told he needs to give up his favourite weekend Merrill’s walking shoes for e.g. suede loafers.

The only time I'd rather be male is because they have such a limited amount of clothes to choose from and hardly anyone dictates their fashion unless they are a celebrity or it becomes part of their act or persona ( like Graeme hall the dog whisperer who wears a cravat and blazer , for one example, but that's his style )
Hardly anyone would suggest ' doing away with trousers ' to them or not wearing a tracksuit or shorts because on some men they can look a bit dated or out of fashion.
Women are fair game for this it seems as we have more to choose from!

I buy Your Homes magazine and we have a "floral midi dress and white trainers" count every month for the home owners. Almost without exception..

(very occasionally you'll see coloured Converse)

I've never been a fan of floral, prefer animal print, spots, and stripes,

meant to add I do own one from ebay, a zara maxi floral print shirtdress, that I wear open as a jacket.

What a massive PR fail… The clothing and shoe industries have a higher carbon footprint than global aviation and shipping industries combined!!!

John Lewis wants to sell clothes that we don’t need. Because they are not making enough profit. Why should their profits trump the needs of women and humankind? Screw them.

The article quotes: ' But we don't want her to just keep buying what she already owns' which I read as ' we have to make the floral dress look deeply unfashionable so we can sell her something else so we can keep making money'.

@ChungusBoi and @NecklessMumster

Absolutely yes! I hope there is a big backlash against this policy of deliberately trying to move trends along to make people buy more clothes they don’t need

I'm not that tall so these would probably be long on me. I do wear prints and don't care if I do look like a sofa. Nowadays however mostly old cord trousers and polo shirts.

I'm late 30s. Curvy.

I live in skinny jeans in winter (with white trainers or ankle boots) and midi dresses in spring/summer with white trainers (occasionally with salt waters).

Do I care if they're not super fashionable? No. They're comfy and practical

Oh my Christ @DeoForty what a flashback you've just given me! I had two button throughs, one was a full sleeved dress and the other had straps so I wore a wee crop top under it. Blue with white sprigs and dusky pink with white, both a bought together in a HUGE splurge in Miss Selfridge. They were my uniform for a whole three years of college, along with two floral minis.

Crikey. Where was I keeping that memory?