Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Let's do this. Fashion V Style.

135 replies

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 10:19

This comes up all the time time.

I actually think the two are immutable.

You can't have one without the other.

Stylish people have a very particular ownership of themselves. They know what they love. See Daphne Guiness, Grace Coddington, Tilda Swinton. These women are stylish as fuck.

BUT, they are also fashionable. They are all very interested in fashion, and keep themselves current, by keeping an eye on, and being very interested in 'Fashion'.

I honestly don't think it's possible to be stylish without being fashoinable.

Fashionable doesn't mean fashion victim, it simply means, being interested in fashion and adapting current looks that fit in with one's personal style.

OP posts:
Authorisatingarchibald · 26/02/2023 12:13

Instinctive and naturally evolving is stylish, so agree Kate Moss. Contrived and planned within an inch is not stylish - Victoria Beckham so I don’t think is remotely stylish. I actually think Megan markle is extremely stylish. The princess of wales, although beautifully dressed, isn’t.

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 12:16

You are doing it right @RosesAndHellebores, you don't brook any nonsense

As @Floisme and @botemp

I like all of your ruminations.

You're all very different. But you all consider.

And I love it.

Thank you all for your fashion thoughts.

OP posts:
grayhairdontcare · 26/02/2023 12:18

But would these people be stylish without stylists?

MarshaBradyo · 26/02/2023 12:20

I’d say Kate Moss would fit the bill for stylish and fashionable

Manages to cut through both and get it right so many times

I know some look more up to those with more personal style - eg HBC but it’s not as much for me. Maybe a bit too stuck

safeplanet · 26/02/2023 12:25

Contrived and planned within an inch is not stylish - Victoria Beckham so I don’t think is remotely stylish. I actually think Megan markle is extremely stylish. The princess of wales, although beautifully dressed, isn’t.

agree

botemp · 26/02/2023 12:29

I think Kate Moss' strength has always been her aloofness, it leaves enough room to imagine things that aren't there and for people to recognise themselves in that and connect without the idea of having to be her, just a part of her is enough. It's also what made her such a good model, she knew exactly what to give and where, a template with a lot of adaptability.

Agree she was/is both a style and fashion personality, which probably was very of her defining era when high street fashion and runway sat so snuggly together.

NatashaDancing · 26/02/2023 12:31

I bought my first Samantha Sung dress at least 15 years ago. I don't know if they were fashionable then or if they are fashionable now. I like, and have always liked, since my late 20s very feminine 1940s and 1950s style dresses. The dresses currently on Samantha Sung are the same style as the ones I bought years ago.

samanthasung.com/en-gb/collections/dresses#651

Palava do the same

palava.co/collections/womens-dresses

www.edinaronay.com/ss-17.html#/

Edina Ronay does the same for 1940s dresses.

My most recent purchase was this Eponine dress at the end of 2022

It's a floral midi dress - worn with high heels - which according to some self appointed fashionistas on here are so "dated"

eponinelondon.com/collections/aw22-ready-to-wear/products/queen-mab?variant=43498022863070

I'm not going to ditch any of my Samantha Sung, Edina Ronay, Eponine or Palava dresses because some random influencer or MN poster says they are "dated"

My shoes are mostly from Pretty Ballerina or LKB Bennet low to mid heel courts. The sort of shoe which could easily be Tardised back to the 50s and 60s and would fit right in. As I have a lot of shoes they don't get heavy wear and some are years old. I'm not going to stop wearing them and start wearing trainers or platform soles because some random influencer or MN poster tells me they are "dated"

Yesterday when I went out I was wearing, over a Palava dress, a Max Mara camel icon coat and Joseph Cheaney flat lace up boots and a Hermés scarf. Max Mara and Joseph Cheaney may have made minor tweaks to their coats and boots over the years but on a casual glance I'd guess it's probably impossible to tell when an item was issued. As for Hermés, I defy anyone other than the Hermés archivist to place a date on them. My first one is over 30 years old and regularly worn.

On my head I wore a dramatic large brimmed, felt hat with a feather in it, bought from a hatter's shop. I think large, brimmed , dramatic felt hats stopped being fashionable pre- WWW II. The first time I wore it a teenage girl told me it looked fabulous.

I wear proper felt hats from a hat shop in the cold months. Some of them must be at least 2 decades old. If anyone is familiar with the work of the Scottish colourist painter F C B Cadell and "the black hat paintings" that's what my hats are like. I've even been told I looked like someone from his paintings.

I don't wear as much tailored work wear as I used to but when I did most of it was from a shop in Amsterdam called Pauw. Pauw's by line was dramatic military style jackets, exaggerated shapes, lots of tailoring and complicated skirts , some of which even came with instructions. I still have all of them - although unfortunately they don't fit but they're too beautiful to throw out. Pauw still does the jackets although the complicated skirts have gone.

Myjobisanightmare · 26/02/2023 12:31

Slightly off piste I’ve become more stylish than fashionable for a few years anyway but doesn’t it become difficult to be fashionable when you have older teenage daughters and they’re wearing the fashionable items so it automatically makes me feel uncomfortable even contemplating wearing it too ie I’m not too bothered my daughters wearing the cargo pant I had my turn in my Maharishi sno pants in the late 90s and bomber jackets I gave one to my daughter a year ago as I felt too old for it and now they’re back again

NatashaDancing · 26/02/2023 12:36

safeplanet · 26/02/2023 12:25

Contrived and planned within an inch is not stylish - Victoria Beckham so I don’t think is remotely stylish. I actually think Megan markle is extremely stylish. The princess of wales, although beautifully dressed, isn’t.

agree

Markle to me looks highly contrived and planned, even more so when she's trying to be casual. Of the 3 women, I think she's the least stylish of the lot.

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 12:49

@NatashaDancing

You too always hang about on S&B, I really enjoy your contributions.

BUT, you are a fucker for the 'ole 'Style V Fashion'.

You are convinced that Style is divorced from Fashion.

Explain yourself!

OP posts:
Authorisatingarchibald · 26/02/2023 12:50

NatashaDancing · 26/02/2023 12:36

Markle to me looks highly contrived and planned, even more so when she's trying to be casual. Of the 3 women, I think she's the least stylish of the lot.

thats so interesting. I feel that Meghan looks amazing all the time, especially in those first pictures of her and Harry where she’s in the jeans and white shirt and flats she just looks incredible. Even the pictures of her and Harry on safari she’s wearing denim cut offs and a hat and again, just looks so comfortable and natural and beautiful. I adored the wedding dress but the Stella McCartney for the party I just felt it was the real her,

Princess of Wales. She always looks lovely, don’t get me wrong left to her own devices I think she’s a functional dresser, always “nice” but not a flair

Victoria Beckham is so planned and styled and she feels like she has sat down and workout out what look she wants, put the outfit together with help from other people and isn’t altogether comfortable in it. She doesn’t dress appropriately for an occasion either. Obviously her clothes are beautiful but the look is too contrived

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/02/2023 12:53

I think somebody can absolutely be stylish without being in fashion.

StephenDedalus · 26/02/2023 12:53

I totally agree with you @Authorisatingarchibald 100%

safeplanet · 26/02/2023 12:55

I think MM looks really natural & effortless, don't see contrived at all. I think she did a good job of looking appropriate & stylish. My mum & I love Queen Maxima's style, very colourful & bold.

Blip · 26/02/2023 12:59

Fashion to me seems a very capitalist consumer driven encouragement to buy things to fit in with what others think you need to be wearing next.

Style on the other hand is about knowing what looks good on you and not being dictated to.

MarshaBradyo · 26/02/2023 13:01

VB has the added disadvantage that she’s dressing for an idea of a role

So you look at her ‘creative director’ look and it’s so obvious that it’s trying to be that person

I prefer PoW to MM for style I think the former has that height and slimness that works well for chosen outfits but

NatashaDancing · 26/02/2023 13:08

Authorisatingarchibald · 26/02/2023 12:50

thats so interesting. I feel that Meghan looks amazing all the time, especially in those first pictures of her and Harry where she’s in the jeans and white shirt and flats she just looks incredible. Even the pictures of her and Harry on safari she’s wearing denim cut offs and a hat and again, just looks so comfortable and natural and beautiful. I adored the wedding dress but the Stella McCartney for the party I just felt it was the real her,

Princess of Wales. She always looks lovely, don’t get me wrong left to her own devices I think she’s a functional dresser, always “nice” but not a flair

Victoria Beckham is so planned and styled and she feels like she has sat down and workout out what look she wants, put the outfit together with help from other people and isn’t altogether comfortable in it. She doesn’t dress appropriately for an occasion either. Obviously her clothes are beautiful but the look is too contrived

Markle is so contrived and unstylish, it gave me pause when I saw her featured on Max Mara's website in one of their icon coats. Ridiculous I know , as I love Max Mara coats (fortunately her one isn't mine)

Obviously both Kate and Markle must have planned what they wore to the funeral, yet even there Kate looked elegant, appropriate and effortless, Markle looked "look at me" (and I'm not a Royalist)

StephenDedalus · 26/02/2023 13:08

I think the PoW is an extremely dull dresser given her money, access to clothes, age & figure.i get that she has a 'role' to fulfill but other European royal houses manag this with so much more flair. She dresses at least 20 years older than her age

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 13:10

Royal fashion is super-boring.

I did quite like the PoW opera gloves at the BAFTAs. It was quite dramatic.

Her hair is is so tame. It lets everything down.

MM is going for the stealth-wealth look. Also v boring.

OP posts:
RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 13:12

I actually quite like VB. I think she's more self-aware than people give her credit for.

OP posts:
RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 13:14

I know a few people that have worked with VB and I always hear good things.

DB on the other hand, 'Can't walk and talk at the same time.. '

OP posts:
safeplanet · 26/02/2023 13:14

Kate's hair was good at the Baftas, I don't like the fat curls.

Authorisatingarchibald · 26/02/2023 13:15

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 13:14

I know a few people that have worked with VB and I always hear good things.

DB on the other hand, 'Can't walk and talk at the same time.. '

Of that I have no doubt, everyone know knows her has time for her, she’s meant to be lovely.

safeplanet · 26/02/2023 13:16

Markle is so contrived and unstylish, it gave me pause when I saw her featured on Max Mara's website in one of their icon coats. Ridiculous I know , as I love Max Mara coats (fortunately her one isn't mine)

well Max Mara coats are a bit contrived! 😁

NatashaDancing · 26/02/2023 13:17

RhadamanthNemes · 26/02/2023 12:49

@NatashaDancing

You too always hang about on S&B, I really enjoy your contributions.

BUT, you are a fucker for the 'ole 'Style V Fashion'.

You are convinced that Style is divorced from Fashion.

Explain yourself!

I've explained how I dress. Most of my clothes would fail the MN test of "is it on trend" "is it fashionable" yet I regularly get strangers telling me how great something I'm wearing is.

When was a proper felt hat as every day wear last fashionable?

My husband has a photograph of his mother dating from the early 1950s wearing a dress, which other than a different pattern, looks exactly like one of my Palava dresses.

Swipe left for the next trending thread