Can we talk about clothing brands and target demographics?

[CrkdLttrCrkdLttr]

Because I’m thinking about the brands that form the core of my ‘going out to meet other grown ups’ wardrobe, and laughing at the Margaret Howell mail shot I’ve just opened. (Socks and sandals photo.) Beautiful young model, and each garment will be wonderfully well made - but I know no one under fifty who wears MH. That’s fine - but I wish the marketing acknowledged the fact.

When a brand does make an effort to engage with the real buyers of its clothes I’m full of awe and gratitude - Raey at Matches is usually great at this.

Studio Nicholson hovers somewhere in between. Again, everyone I know (in the UK) who wears their clothes is older and richer than me, probably in a creative profession. Not a wispy 20 year old.

I never used to care. But I’m wondering if marketing is the reason 99% of the middle aged and older women on MN exclaim that there are no decent clothes for them. There are - but not every brand tells you so.

Update on the Batsheva Laura Ashley dress.

It arrived, it is beautiful and more wearable than expected. It is unfortunately too tight around the bodice. Fortunately Net-a- Porter has it a size up and bizarrely, although not a sale item, at £15 cheaper than Coggles. This dress fluctuates between £225 to £290 depending on which site it's on.

buying something for the name alone

Oh! I’ve completely misrepresented myself if that’s the impression I gave.

I meant that that particular brand makes wonderfully thick, soft, buy-forever knitwear in gorgeous colours - but is prohibitively expensive.

I love the items I have - they’re wonderfully pretty and delicious to wear and wash easily and well. So I’d be pleased to find other pieces at a price I can manage.

Obviously, obviously if that isn’t a look that appeals to someone else, then the clothes aren’t worth thruppence, for them. I’m really much too old to care about any designer name in the absence of proven value. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I'm not sure orange cashmere shorts would appeal to anyone 😄 but who knows?! Maybe it's exactly what someone out there requires 😬

Well some body bought them !

@CrunchyCarrot I’m so pleased about your Plümo dress! And hope you’ll have plenty of visitors to admire you in it.

Despite the fact you can knit your own, so may not be planning any extravagant knitwear buys, I thought I’d share La Fetiche with you. I’m a bit (more than a bit) addicted, and can spend happy hours poring over their clothes, even though I know the website almost by heart now. I find gazing at their beautiful colours and knitted designs incredibly soothing …

Christ.

This (pink trousers) La Fetiche photo has a definite Kaffe Fassett vibe, to my eyes, at least.

And, if I hadn’t spent my 30’s in black or grey suits, I’d have wanted to live that stage of my working life in these glorious tweeds.

I would totally have worn orange cashmere hot pants, once upon a time, had I had the funds. One of my favourite ever items of clothing was a pair of skin tight low rise orange flares, that I wore back in the nineties. They were amazing, and made my arse look fantastic. 😁

I never had orange cashmere but I did have some green corduroy hotpants, complete with bib, circa 1970 - they were one of the first things I ever bought with My Own Money. Sadly no photos have survived.

I love popping by the S&B section and reading threads like this one. It's amazing to me how excited and knowledgeable you all are, and how thoughtful you are, about clothes. I have no business being here, but it's glorious to know there are sensible articulate women getting such pleasure and depth from clothing.

I'd have happily worn the orange flares (still would!) Just not orange cycling shorts which take me back to the 80s but not in a good way 😬

I saw the heading 'Clown pyjamas' and my heart sank but they're lovely. I have been hankering after bloomers for a while.

I've also been hankering after a pair of boots that I've been trying to get second hand for ages. I got some and they were IMO perfection, but they were far too big for me. I bit the bullet yesterday and was just about to click Pay, when I thought I'd search for a discount code. Got nowhere with that. Did a search for 'Make Style' and found some on a web site with £50 off in the sale. I bought them. They've been shipped!

I've been following Plumo since the early 00s. I bought loads of stuff from Topshop in the 1990s. I have an unworn blouse somewhere but I altered it. The colour was not me.

The Toujours site made me think of Wealth of Nations if anyone remembers them.

Oh my! Guess how much these knitted pants cost...well the price is in the picture so...

Most expensive pants ever!! 😱

The sandals are beautiful. Most feet aren't.

I love those knitted pants! If I had £560 spare, I would buy them just to wear under a massive jumper (preferably also from La Fetiche) while lying around the house at weekends. My bum is not tiny and perky but in a situation where no one would see them except my family it wouldn’t matter. Although would you feel obliged to wear actual proper pants underneath? I think I would feel weird wearing wool without pants. Having looked at the website to settle this question I have now discovered that they are bikini pants and there’s a matching top. I would wear that bikini to stay in a treehouse on a loch in Scotland, because Scotland is the natural home of wool bikinis in a way that, say, a Greek beach would not be.

The sandal is breathtaking, @Enheduanna. And looks so familiar. I also see these exact same earrings every time I open a jewellery website or step inside a jewellery shop.

@CrunchyCarrot I don’t imagine a single person who owns them (mis)interprets them as underwear … They probably would use them for:

1. Idling on a rocky Marseille beach where a thin bikini might leave you scratched and bruised.

2. A spot of gardening.

3. Lounging on the sofa with a good book.

But who cares? I just love the fact they exist.

They are gorgeous.