If you’re 48 or thereabouts please tell me where you buy your clothes?

[Littlemiss74]

After another failed shopping trip I’m wondering where do other people in their 40’s shop for clothes & how do you put things together? I feel so stuck. I want to look up to date but not overly trendy. Zara has some nice things but I just don’t feel I could wear alot of them, plus my body shape is not right.
I’m 5’3, size 12, bit of a tummy, not overweight but could definitely look better if I toned up a bit. I need to do some exercise.

On my recent shopping trip so many shops have closed down. We have Primark, Zara, River Island, White Stuff, Fatface, H&M & I couldn’t find anything that looked & fitted me well in any of those. Also I think some of the clothing is alot of money for what it is. I don’t mind paying a bit more for something that looks & feels nice and that will last more than one season.

I just want to look nice but am so tired of wasting hours trawling the shops to come home empty handed.
Please can anyone of a similar age tell me what you do?

Trousers - M & S
Knitwear - Woolovers, White Stuff
Tunics/Blouses - Joe Brown/Adini/Taking Shape/Mint Velvet
T Shirt - Seasalt, White Stuff, M & S

Vinted. I stick to good quality brands that I know suit me and have a £10 limit for a single item. I resell anything that doesn't work.

M&S and Hobbs

@Littlemiss74 you may want to catch this thread before it closes.

Scamp and dude, fatface, boden, John Lewis.

I'm 50 and get most of my clothes from Hush and Me&Em .

I have some bits from Anthropology and I like the outlet villages for some bits but I always come back to hush and Me& em as their clothes work for me and suit me .

Hush quality isn't what's it was and it frustrates me but fundamentally I can't find anything else that suits or works better for me.

Yes, I forgot about Jigsaw. Always nice stuff in there.

I like jigsaw too recently and have a couple of great dresses from them .

I’ve just received three dresses from Hush that feel much better quality than they have recently, but the t-shirts are so thin nowadays it’s ridiculous.

M&S, Next, White Stuff, Sea Salt

To some extent it's about where you shop, but that's not a main criteria, i think that cos last. The task you actually have might be harder depending on how you feel about it. Main points for consideration are your lifestyle, body shape, fabric preferences, style preferences and budget. Your answers to these THEN lead you to the shops that supply this. So, for example, my lifestyle is smart casual, body is pear/hourglass, cotton/wool feels best to my skin and I can look after it re ironing and careful washing, i like "dark academic" type styles, so i then know to shop at COS, Sealt for fit and flare shirt dresses, Arket, Toast (sales only!).

Wyse
TK Maxx
M&S
Monki
very occasionally - H&M - eg I bought some of their Vampire's Wife collab & another one with lots of bright materials in recycled fabrics
Westwood
Mary Katrantzou
Finery London

I also sometimes track down designers I like from Making the Cut or Next in Fashion or Project Runway and buy from them.

I also pick up bits and pieces in supermarkets eg a wool dress, some tunic tops.

Ive found the F&F range at Tesco really good. I dont often wear dresses but ive recently bought a couple from there and im really pleased with them. Otherwise it is a mix of M&S (esp if i have a gift voucher!) and charity shops.

I’ve hardly bought anything recently- I think I kept it down to six new things over A/W:

• jersey shirt dress- Fat Face
• printed jumpsuit- M&S
• denim jumpsuit- Phase Eight
• chunky cardigan- M&S
• side stripe trousers- M&S
• wide legged evening trousers- Hush

As others have said, M&S has been my first port of call recently. They’ve really upped their game, especially compared to John Lewis, who seem to have doubled their prices, and Boden, whose prices have gone up and style/quality has nosedived.

mainly M&S and Uniqlo, with the odd bit of New Look, Primark, H&M, &Other Stories, TU at Sainsbury.

Agree M&S has got loads better on decent basics. And as I try to aim for a reasonably minimal, fairly casual style, decent basics are the mainstay of my wardrobe. I'm aiming for Phoebe Philo, except if she was a size 16 and a bit skint.

Charity shops. I hate main stream stores! Everyone looks the same. Plus, I'm 48 dressing like a 12 year old... :-)

I'm 47 and working towards rebuilding my wardrobe around a few key things that I love and make me feel great. Not quite a 'capsule' wardrobe. In the past year, I've got things I love from:

• M&S (wide-leg crepe trousers, bomber jacket, trainers, boots, jeans, midaxi pleated skirt)
• Uniqlo (jeans, fine merino knits, knitted polos, chunky cropped jumper)
• Zara (fab orange linen dress last summer, high-waisted tapered trousers in the autumn)
• Cos (cropped colourblock jumper in neutrals)
• Blundstone boots

And there are a couple of things I've had for ages that I'm keeping and 'building' around

• Reiss long-sleeved top
• Jigsaw cropped wool biker jacket
• Seasalt denim dungarees
• Clark's tan brogues

So, all of those shops do things I like and that I think suit me and my age. I also see things I like in H&M, &OtherStories (but have never bought), Hush (am worried about review of poor quality), Whistles, Kin (John Lewis). I do 99.9% of my shopping online, using a 0% interest credit card so that I can buy lots and return what I don't like.

I used to buy a lot in Boden, but I've massively gone off it (and have just sold/ donated pretty much all of my Boden stuff) and their prices are now ridiculous

My go to websites are in order. Outnet, Vestiaire, Arket and Me and em.
I do however have a huge saved list on asos and just wait for the inevitable sales to pick up basics. I find their Asos design range really good for t-shirts

Forgot about massimo Dutti. I find their linen very good quality. Personally I am always disappointed with Free People and just find Reiss very overrated

Pretty much this for me too (I'm 41), plus LF Markey and Meadows. Anticipating the proportion of Toast/Plumo will go up and & Other Stories will go down as I get into further my 40s. Trying to quit Monki but I like their plain boilersuits (not print). Uniqlo for basics esp. men's jumpers and the JW Anderson/Marni/Jil Sander collaborations.

I'm 48 and used to get a lot of stuff from Fat Face, White Stuff and Debenhams, all of which have closed down in my city. I'm a bit lost now. I have vouchers for M and S and Next but each time I go in there I can't find a single thing I like. I'm going to start looking in John Lewis.

There’s a reason why I linked the thread above! It culminates in an enormous list of clothing brands …

Hush, Me&M, Whistles, Celtic & Co, G Star Raw for Jeans, our TK Maxx has gems sometimes (Nicole Fahri wool coat etc), Ugg, trainers from Veja which I know are a cliche but they are so comfortable.

Am 48 and another vote for M&S who have massively upped their game over the last couple of years. I would say 80% of the clothes I have bought in the last year are from there (and due to starting a new job I have bought a lot). Just yesterday I received my M&S parcel with two great pleated maxi skirts, a lovely merino jumper, lovely quality wide leg trousers, two linen t shirts and awesome pair of loafers. I am happy with them all and keeping everything.

45 and literally anywhere. Some t-shirts from Superdry, some from marks and Spencers.

Jeans from Superdry and Tesco, skirts from where ever I see a nice one.

Hoodies and thick Jumpers Superdry. Best I've found. Thinner jumpers are a bit tricky at the moment as I've not found a decent v neck jumper in years.