Fashion observations from a day people watching in London

[Unicornsaregreat]

• Lots of different styles of jeans. Still lots of skinnies, with oversized tops
• Lots of bags like this picture
• A very large proportion of trainers were New Balance
• Those not in trainers mainly wore chunky flat or low heeled boots (no one in heels)

@NatashaDancing - nor me. I think they're ugly.

Whippets and greyhounds are such beautiful, elegant dogs.

I have seen the half and half coloured hair too over the last year. There’s a young girl who works in my building who has blonde on one side and auburn the other.

Ah, the Otley run. That does take me back (late 50’s now). I also ‘attempted’ the Wakefield run many years ago. That was messy.

So which are the good people watching neighbourhoods now? I don't get to London very much these days, and when I do, it's busy seeing family etc. But all the old places where once upon a time I'd be guaranteed to see something eye-popping, are very homogenous now.

I like London and I can't believe all the interesting dressers have left - they've just moved, surely? Suggestions welcome!

Very torn skinny jeans over fishnets.

rolls eyes

Being mid 20's is exhausting. I'm 50 yo and don't miss it one bit. being a punk rocker and going into a pub with a red bright mohak (had taken me 3 hours to style), a dog collar and swastika t-shirt (Sid vicious fan here) and being kicked out... priceless, these girls are total "hobbyists" when it comes to uncomfortable fashion. I'm no anti-semitic by any means but it was punk rock and we just loved provocation. I actually feel very embarassed to have been such a tw-at. Nowadays I'm a middle aged woman now wearing a long puff coat, chunky trainers mom jeans and rolling my eyes at these girls in their 20's entering the pub on a Saturday night dressed like porn stars. Total amateurs.

Don't come up North please. Stuff like that scares us. We'll have to barracade the doors shut and the whippets will be crying.

@Sandra1984 😂😂😂
There seems to be a fashion to dress as a blow up doll - huge lips, arse, lashes, skin tight clothing, skyscraper heels. It's a sight to behold if you're next to them on the bus ☺️

that's so cool. I see that look but more with baggy jeans. The torn jeans trend is getting ridiculous.

@Youainttheonlyone that hairstyle fashion sounds atrocious; or maybe I have a failure of imagination and it’ll grow on me 😂

I'm in East Yorkshire. 🤣

Also bodycon dresses with those strings on the legs to pull them higher.

That's fine. Warm socks and an acrylic cardi. She'll be ok.

@Robyn847 yes! It's way too cold for me!
Tbh, I was talking a lot of crap last night! And sounded like a dick! Forgot the golden rule to not mumsnet after a night of lots of wine! 😂😂

• pull the dresses higher, not pull the legs higher. If there were dresses that made your legs go higher I'd be there!

Pre lock down I was in London about once a month. I didn't get much farther than Fortnums, Bond Street, Liberty , the V&A, the Royal Opera House, the Barbican, theatres, (smaller ones, not the ones showing musicals) or music venues like Union Chapel and Kokos and the Electric Ballroom in Camden.

I like looking at people. I always look at what people are wearing when I'm on the underground and possibly I wasn't going anywhere "edgy" but to be honest I don't recall many who stood out. There's usually elegantly dressed women at ROH, particularly in the dining rooms. The crowd at the V&A Dior exhibition had some interesting dressers.

I was in London in November and it was the same. I certainly didn't feel "ooh, get me, the provincial middle aged woman looking out of place beside these cutting edge Londoners" (possibly because I was wearing one of my Max Mara icon coats, which just make me feel so elegant and at ease, no matter what I'm wearing underneath)

It's like the tuck the jumper in now then puff it out a bit 😂
Would that disguise a midriff builder ever hopeful here ?
I think probably not……

Midriff bulge ffs

I met my daughter from school on Friday and was…well I don’t know what the feeling was…there were mullets. Permed mullets (I know they were perms as saw next doors son who always had straight hair). Full mullets

I thought I stumbled in to AIBU, some of these responses are just so nasty and snobbish. Horrible people.

Oh no dahling I wouldn’t be caught dead in puffaahs! I am soo elegant and classy. Yah I only shop on Bond Street and wear classic designers. I don’t visit riffraff areas like East London.

@DontCallOnMe Oh no dahling I wouldn’t be caught dead in puffaahs! I am soo elegant and classy. Yah I only shop on Bond Street and wear classic designers. I don’t visit riffraff areas like East London.

ya wished 😂😅😂

Ageism [tick]

What are budgie'd trousers @CanofCant?

BUT, when I lived there in the 90s and worked in the city, the thing that surprised me was how fucking parochial it was. It really was, to the people who lived there, as if there was no other place in the UK that was fathomable.

I'm from London and so are my family @RhadamanthNemes. I escaped up north in 1980, and I can't believe how parochial my family who still live there are.

I cringe so hard when a poster asks on S&B what they should wear 'In London' and posters fall over themselves to deride anything other than sackcloth and ashes as 'try hard'.

I couldn't agree more. Some of the replies are so superior sounding. I WFH most of the time and live in jeans/joggers and T-shirts, so when I go out I like to make an effort. I also make an effort on days I go to the office.

My 12 year old won’t wear NB trainers as everyone has them.

I was like that with the white trainer look

You're right, @WomanOfSteel - supermarket clothing is definitely a factor.

I wonder if it is because there are far fewer clothes shops on the high street these days, and there are still some people who want to buy clothes in real shops instead of online @@Maireas?

My DH NEVER wears trainers other than for exercise and I am v happy about that!

Does he never wear jeans @Mitfordian? I think smart shoes with jeans looks odd.

Those under the boob bags - my very cool daughter has had one (Doc M) for several years - but surely they’d be a disaster on anybody much bigger than a B cup?

Can you not just lengthen the strap @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie?

Am I the only one who doesn't know what brand of clothing and footwear people are wearing or what brand of bag they are carrying. Unless it is the Nike tick on trainers I wouldn't have a clue. And am I the only one who doesn't like chunky trainers and flatform shoes? I wore flatform style shoes in the 1970s.

I thought I stumbled in to AIBU, some of these responses are just so nasty and snobbish. Horrible people.

I agree.
I do like a good discussion on the S and B threads, but why can't they be more constructive instead of sneery and ageist?

And I only go to small theatres, not the big ones showing hit shows and musicals where the little people, the country mice, go. Oh very no. Christ, people can be so comically transparent on here. And far from sounding confident, they sound terrified, petrified that they are getting it wrong. Validate me, validate me!

That's a good shout about the Royal Opera House NatashaDancing. And the V&A - I went to the menswear exhibition which was a bit disappointing but some of the men there looked fabulous.

It's not just the edgy, fashion-forward people I miss, it's those fabulous old school dressers you used to see around Jermyn St and Sloan Square and the cafes in Harrods. But some of them were pretty elderly so.....

Afternoon, @RampantIvy - on point.
I really like S&B (because I like style and beauty!) but unfortunately, ageism always rears it's ugly head, and people do get a bit sneery. If you find what works for you and makes you feel and look good, share the ideas with others. There's a woman upthread feeling shit about herself as if she's some sort of Shrek character - she just needs a bit of advice and encouragement. When these threads do that, they're bloody brilliant.

Thank you @Maireas. I have two weddings to go to this year (my average is one every 10 years, so I am beyond excited), so I will be back here to ask for suggestions nearer the time.