So what are we wearing instead of floral midi dress and white trainers this Spring?

[KrabiBeach]

Like many 35-55yo women I've been wearing a floral midi dress with trainers every Spring/Summer for the past few years. I always buy dresses with pockets and love the comfort, practicality and coolness (temperature-wise) on a sunny day. Easy to layer under a denim jacket, biker or blazer and wear with any white trainers or converse etc.

It was inevitable that such an easy outfit would become so ubiquitous that the fashion world declared it "dead".

I'm gutted but I am a follower of style. So yes, I know it's shallow but this is the Style board so.... What other outfits fit the brief?

One journalist in the Sunday papers suggested trouser suits are the new floral midi dress and trainers. But I don't think a trouser suit would work in a hot day like a flowery dress would, no matter how much you keep it casual with a t-shirt and trainers - it's still too hot surely?

If you're a follower of trends, what will you be wearing instead of floral midi from now on?

(Article for reference: amp.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/feb/10/john-lewis-declares-death-of-the-floral-midi-dress)

I wasn’t trying to correct you. They might well have disappeared from ‘fashion’ but I’ve always had a couple in my wardrobe.

Oh don't worry it wasn't just you Remus - enough posters have said the same thing for me to think I must have misremembered. It's happening more and more

Thing with Jobs (and let's be honest, all the tech-bros, I'm married to one so I know of what I speak) is an absolutely considered rejection of fashion.

Which is a bit wanky in itself.

I love the idea of that whole Jobs / Zuckerberg uniform. But in reality I'd get bored or my shape would change and I wouldn't look chic anymore. My shape seems to change several times through the year tbh. Not vastly different but I can't wear jeans one day and find I can't wear dresses the next.

I know precisely nothing about Jobs - I had to google him - but why is rejecting fashion wanky? Surely it's no more wanky than being a complete slave to fashion? And surely most people are somewhere on a line between the two?

It's the considered rejection that's a bit wanky @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, the idea that it's frivolity that has no place in serious- thinking people's life. And hence the adherence to an 'anti-fashion' uniform.

You can't deny that's a bit wanky!

I have it on good authority that he was a bit of a wanker but I did quite like that look. I'm not one for uniforms or any kind of signature style for myself - I'd be bored senseless - but I sometimes appreciate the aesthetic.

The shops seem to be full of matching patterned flowery things where there's a blouse + shorts or baggy-ish trousers. I can see that being easy to wear and layer up but they really look.like PJs to me.

Also, the shops are still full of long flowery dresses, so the death of that trend is not coming soon.

Yep. I had umpteen Jigsaw floral dresses and skirts which I wore with some pale pink converse and some pale blue converse.

I’ve still got 4 of them now.

That was back in the day when Jigsaw was good.

Also, the shops are still full of long flowery dresses, so the death of that trend is not coming soon.

I can confirm that, having spent several hours in the Metrocentre earlier on today.

It was just John Lewis who announced they were going against the trend for this summer and to be fair, since when has John Lewis ever been fashion forward? I think floral dresses look great in the summer.

Does anyone else struggle with a) being short and therefore looking very frumpy in midi/midaxi dresses b) being swamped by blazers and ending up looking like a child playing dress-up? Mini dresses and cardigans are my comfort zone!

Went to the shops yesterday,and there were about a million stripy shirts. I bought one! You could get an elephant in some of them though.

I love the Tech bro’s rejection of fashion

down with capitalism eh?! Down with buying the latest thing and following trends set out for us by marketeers….

…. oh wait

Dresses are so comfy and practical in summer, I'll be sticking with them. I wore them before they were ubiquitous and I'll wear them forever.

I never wore trainers though, they don't suit me and my feet get too hot. So I'll keep wearing sandals for walking and wedges for special days or nights out.

I saw that trouser suit article, the trousers were nice but I don't enjoy thrush so I'll stick with airy clothing in the warmer months!

I feel the same. Maybe I just need a pair of comfy light trousers with an elasticated waistband, but I find trousers so awkward to wear generally - I end up baking in jeans, and a pair of trousers that look really chic when I stand up will feel tight and uncomfortable when I sit down.

I am not getting this trouser suit thing for summer - has everyone forgotten the 40 degrees we experienced last summer. The idea is tailored trousers and jackets in that heat sounds crazy.

Think we are adapting to climate change - maybe as PP have said that the floaty summer dress / pumps / plimsolls was a European summer staple since the 50s in their hotter weather and as we are experiencing higher summer temperatures we need to adapt our wardrobes to something cooler and more comfortable.

That seems to be the current trend in stores, huge baggy shirts, elasticated waist band trousers and polyester baggy sleeved floaty shirts and top. All just so shapeless and depressing. Lots of friends recommend COS but again I find everything there is square and shapeless not flattering at all.

ha ha! Me too!

I saw a young woman in a cargo skirt yesterday, the kind that has a drawstring tie hem and on a lighter fabric. I had a very similar one in the 90s/00s.

I'm quite short & overweight so midi dresses don't suit me.

I'm wearing black leggings or straight / slim leg jeans with boxy T-shirts and trainers casually for now.
I can smarten up the outfit by changing the shoes and top if I want.

Basically I need to lose weight to look good but it's very hard as my metabolism is fucked by the meds I have to take!

The trouser suit isn't in any way a sensible replacement for a summer dress, is it?

I spoke to my mum about this yesterday and she says she dressed me in shirred bodice summer dresses she made herself in various lengths depending on how fast I was growing at the time, and white plimsolls as a child.

She says it's a standard summer perennial and suggested that "Audrey Hepburn or somebody like that " may have started it.

I really can't buy online at all these days with this stupid oversize trend. I was an S in one Zara shirt and an L in another. Need to try everything on to see how it hangs, but the shops have no stock and no usable changing rooms.

Cheap fabrics are fuelling the oversize trend. I've lost count of the pretty jumpers I've immediately put back on the rack when I've seen the ludicrous bell sleeves.

If it actually looked good we'd be seeing cashmere jumpers in this shape but that ain't happening!

Who dictates our fashion world? Great styles stay longer because they are so good! We are not teenager-minded where fashion is desparate and fickle and throwaway.

You will look and feel good wearing what you feel looks good. If beautiful dress with sneakers look great, wear it!

F*k the dictators of fashion who live in a permanent "teenage" state of mind. They are so passe!😜