Expectations vs Reality?

[KatharinaRosalie]

Can we have another expectations vs reality thread?
Went to hairdresser. I asked for a Claire Dunphy messy cut: https://www.hairstyles.my.id/2018/04/julie-bowen-hairstyles-modern-family.html

Just walked past a mirror and though oooh I really do look like someone famous.
Yes, yes indeed. : https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artist/rod-stewart/

😂 that made me laugh.

For me it’s shorts.

In my head I’ll look effortlessly chic, like Aubrey Plaza in white lotus.

In actual fact I look like a mottled Miss Trunchball at the beach.

Bought this Mango top on Vinted.
Expectation: cool, romantic, soft, flowy comfortable but chic workwear with navy suit trousers.
Reality : blousy, booby, matronly, ageing, fussy yet plain. 😦

Looks gorgeous on my tiny and beautiful 19 yo DD!

Sorry, pic didn't load!

When Posh Spice had her hair chopped in the 90s (Stop video), I asked the hairdresser to copy it. I was about 18 at the time, had a similar figure* and thought I'd look hot.

The result was more Deirdre Barlow. I will never have short hair again.

(*weeping for that lost figure now!)

I see what you mean, Beachcomber!
I always forget and buy another romantic lacy ruffled number, usually a long dress, because in my head this will make me look like romantic, elegant Pride and Predjudice character.
What I will look like is crazy woman wandering the street in her long nightie.

Tell me about it. When will I learn! Colour looked shit on me too. 😬

Love this thread!

For me it's hair products - make your hair have the tousled beach look - actually look as though I've been electrocuted

Too many to remember here - but this is my favourite kind of thread!

I LOVED Aubrey Plaza in White Lotus. She looked absolutely perfect in every scene. I think a big part of that is her dreamy figure - super thin but not boney or gaunt.

Agree she looked amazing! My new style icon, although sadly, my figure is nothing like hers 😂

Moons ago I wanted a pixie cut

they suit fine and delicate features

I don’t have fine and delicate features

what should have been ‘delicate,cheeky and elfish’ turned into jay from the inbetweeners

Shorts are the friend of very few women. You really need slim thighs and hips for them to work or else you end up looking like a strapping games mistress from the 1950s.

Love these threads.

Years ago, when it was fashionable, I bought a flat cap.
I thought I'd look cool, outdoorsy, effortlessly stylish, you know, aka Kate Moss late 90s.

I actually looked like I was a chimney sweep lad from the 1800s.

And the right leg proportions. Even when I was a size 8-10, they Trunchballed me, because I have a long body and short legs.

From time to time I forget how terrible wide-legged trousers look on me too.

I garden in an old long skirt, double socks & a headscarf

also have oversized overalls, flat cap & dumpy boots for wetter/colder days

so look like Compo & Nora Batty’s lovechild

or Vera (if I could just find a bucket hat)

my shawls are unashamedly Margaret Rutherford

but those are my expectations

maybe my summer outfits (Agatha Christiesque Penelope Keith at Woodstock) will have a bigger gap between expectation & reality 🤣

not sure I’ve ever moved past being a kid with a dressing up box tbh but fuck it the world can be bleak and it makes me smile even if I have to avoid mirrors

I complained about it before. I have a soft face, baby blue eyes and blonde wavy hair. However, I am also strong and muscular.

Wearling a tiered floaty dress today with my hair loose.
Expectation: Galadriel from Lord of the Rings.
Reality: viking woman, can carry an oxen under each arm, may destroy your village.

Back when the Parisian Chic threads began on here i followed them. I was inspired to buy a navy blue Hobbs trench. £££.

Sharp, clean, effortless, to wear on those wet Autumnal days. Belt worn casually tied. Maybe some sheer tights and heels, maybe a coloured scarf, maybe a whole new look for me ...

Reality: i looked like a dark depressing sack of pomme de terres tied up in the middle 🙄

And i'd spent so much on it 😩I ended up just flinging it on every day for the school run with skinny jeans, trainers and my bobble hat jammed on as usual 🙄 Looked worse than my puffer jacket!

Gosh I think my expectation vs reality is actually just myself. I'm constantly getting ready feeling great and thinking I've nailed it and then catch myself in a shop mirror or see a photo of myself something and realise that was just not the case 😆

Belted coats are A Lie. They suit about 5% of women. Even slim women look like they're in a dressing gown.

For a trench, I always knot the belt at the back - much more flattering.

😂😂 This post has made my day, thank you HeavyHeidi

Clogs. I imagined I would look like a sort of cool, boho, 70s hippy. Given I have a pixie cut I am not quite sure how the look was supposed to pan out, but it did in my head somehow. Actually I looked (and sounded like) a shire horse.

I’ve had a few Rod Stewart cuts too! Actually I haven’t been to the hairdresser for aeons as every time I come out (no matter which place I patronise) with a bright red face, stiff neck and a truly horrible mum cut.

I recently bought a leather blazer from eBay, thinking I might be Caroline Proust from Spiral. Sadly I looked more like Gene Hunt from Life on Mars.

I bought a long sleeve slouchy jumpsuit thinking I would look effortless yet elegant.

I ended up looking like I went out with my pyjamas on.

Oh what fun it used to be to have huge boobs. Now I look like Hattie Jaques. Trying to salvage my dignity I apply my favourite fake tan and get my highlights refreshed.

Wait why is Michael Fabricant standing behind that window?

Full length, tie waist wool camel coat from Long Tall Sally.

Expectation: classic, sophisticated, elegant winter coat.
Reality: Jedi dressing gown.

PP is right about belted coats. In theory I have a figure that should be ok in them, the reality is very different…