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.

This thread is encouraging me to look at much nicer clothes. I was stuck in a rut of buying H&M, Zara, Arket, Oliver Bonas etc, and looking at slightly more expensive shops but not feeling terribly inspired. I have spent hours this week on the websites linked and discovered that if I was considering stretching my budget to buy something for £200 in Whistles that isn’t particularly interesting or me, I would be just as well stalking the sales properly and splashing out on something not much more that has great design, fabric or both.

That reminds me of the Jilly Cooper book where it all starts with the heroine getting caught stealing roses in a see-through nightie.

I salute your spirit, Flo! I absolutely agree, what a waste of life it is to think [must hide this part of the body, must highlight this part of the body; must wear this colour]. I also think, depending on where one is from and what kind of parents they had, - girls learn to be so kind and nice, and follow the rules and then they- we - seek rules, and feel so self-unsure. All of these doubts, and looking for the rules of what goes with what, we lack self-confidence and training [I do], despite always being evaluated and evaluating how other people dress [much more than men]. End of my tirade.

🙏🏾@TooExtraImmatureCheddar - My work here is done.* It’s something I’ve been striving to share for seemingly my entire adult life.

*And I can grudgingly return to the legitimate occupation I’ve been avoiding all day.

I don’t mind the odd snarl, @Enheduanna . Although 💡I do have a gigantically oversized thick white cotton shacket that’s ambling towards the ‘only fit for gardening’ cupboard - I’d wear that over my woolly pants while interacting with Mme Hardy. #Livingmybestlife

If I order something from a french site, do I have to pay tax not included in the purchase invoice?

how … people come to choose their clothes, and how brands intervene to shape our choices

I've always been a girly girl and had a mental picture of what image I wanted and that was always very feminine and pretty for clothes.

My style icons ranged/range from feminine and elegant (Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn); feminine and bucolic (Laura Ashley/ Tess of the D'Urbervilles/ milkmaid); feminine and oddball (Stevie Nicks and later Maria McKee and Natalie Merchant) Whilst Stevie Nicks' wisps of lace and tatters isn't day to day wearable there are heaps of mid 1980s videos of Merchant, with 10,000 Maniacs, and McKee, with Lone Justice, wearing droopy, pretty, granny dresses and flat boots which looked fabulous then and still do now ; or feminine and dramatic (Scottish Widows floor length, swishy, highwayman coats and hats)

Annie Lennox and Chrissie Hynd for example are very stylish but not a style for me.

I think it depends.

I bought a dress from Lilith (French site) and had to pay customs duty. The replacement Batsheva Laura Ashley dress from Net-a-Porter is being shipped from Italy, but the site said specifically all duty was included in the UK price.

They are lovely too. (clearly the warnings about flat pumps being terrible for your feet have been ignored for centuries)

Oh how lovely those shoes and sandals are.

The La Fetiche site is amazing- I knit to a very high standard, too, and it's full of inspiration.

All this talk of knitted swimwear is making me think of Billy Connolly www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bwzw0f

Awesome thread... just reading along for now. Loving the classical references, and the respect for textiles and their creators.

@NatashaDancing your tastes are very similar to mine. Have you come across Rain Sisters? Latvian company that make the most dramatic and fabulous waterproof coats that fit your long swishy highwayman vibe. Everywhere I go in mine, strangers stop me and compliment me on it.

Who posted that deToujours website?? Own up!
It's all amazing, and the knitted underpants are only £80!

"only" 😁

I have about a dozen Palava dresses. I really like them but I expect other people will think "what the hell is she wearing?"

Quality is excellent and all made in the UK.

Not until a few days when it was mentioned on here- by you? Agreed they are beautiful.

Wasn’t me. Glad they are getting known though!

I’ve bought Palava cardigans for dd, and they are lovely quality.