My DH suggesting I'm "getting old" because I've ordered from Seasalt

[WoofWoofBeachLife]

I saw a lovely wee dress last night on Seasalt, I have some money saved for a clothes makeover and decided to go for it. My DH said last night it was nice but isn't Seasalt for older women 😆 I'm 51 in July and I don't think it looks like an OAP website. Now I'm thinking, shit should I send it back?
I just want a few quality pieces I can add to, I've not bought myself anything in a long long time due to illness. We are going shopping to a shopping centre on Sunday and I'm reluctant to browse with him hovering now x

I just looked at that instagram link - and it doesn’t make me want to buy their stuff! She looks clean and tidy - well groomed, nice hair etc but not really stylish; very, very safe and just like most of the women of her/our age that I see around.

Don't follow too many style queens on Insta. I quite like The Silver Kat's minimal style but am unsure if it's because she is just very attractive anyway. Probably wouldn't look like that on me. Kate lonsdale (@thesilverkat) • Instagram photos and videos

I agree it wouldn’t make me want to buy something from Seasalt - and I actually like quite a bit of their stuff. I can’t put my finger on exactly why it puts me off, though (although I suspect I’m a few years younger, so maybe have a different style)

As proof we’re all different, I don’t like The Silver Kat’s style at all - I find it quite plain and bland.

I totally see why you would say that @LorraineInSpain . I tend to the plain and minimalist. I like Muji, for instance. I look a fright in more trendy or "embellished" clothes, though I can appreciate that on others.

I need colours and patterns, or I’d look like I had just left some kind of fundamentalist religious commune.

I do actually appreciate people who can pull off the plain and minimalist look - I just can’t!

😁I do colour, but apart from that I probably do look like I have stepped out of some cult from Waco!

This is actually brilliant and shows it is how you wear things that counts. All seems to really suit her and you wouldn’t really know where a lot of the items are from.

What's wrong with looking "safe*?
I don't want to look "edgy" (whatever that means)

There is nothing wrong with looking safe. It’s not an insult-but it’s a certain look I wouldn’t describe as stylish or original. But on these threads, people seem to get really offended if something is described as safe or mumsy. Someone can look perfectly nice and the look can suit them but it’s a look you see on any high street and that’s why some people don’t like it. I love in hiking leggings most of the time because they’re comfortable and suit me-I don’t particularly care if someone thinks they’re frumpy. But I’d never come on a forum like this and ask if they’re stylish.

@CatfoodOzymandias I like that style too but I think it helps that she's tall and slim. Some of it wouldn't suit me at all- but I like the style. I think we all have to factor in figure, cost, whether you've got big boobs (I have to factor this in all the time) colouring, lifestyle too -

Could someone who doesn't like "safe" stuff give a link to something they do like?

I wasn't crazy about the earlier Instagram, although I thought she looked good, but it wasn't what I'd call "safe". Possibly because I'd have looked like shit in almost all of it, so it can't be that safe!

Shopping day today, tbh if I had viewed that link earlier, I wouldn't have visited the seasalt site. I only viewed the first 2 outfits and stopped it when the white trousers came out. The items chosen don't do anything at all for me. Maybe it's the ladies overall look and style but I agree, it does look so much older and not in any way my style at all.

@WoofWoofBeachLife - agree- it's not mine either- it's a very put together look- and would suit many older women - but for me it's all a bit too 'tidy' - and I'm not a white trousers woman!

as we've both said it's more about individual items rather than a specific brand.

Exactly. That link at best shows things you want to pull off in your 60’s if you want to look 60. Compared to her other looks its incredibly aging.

Definitely frumpy no matter how much moving around and putting a bag over one shoulder. It doesn’t make the clothes look any better.

Shapeless was the word that sprang to mind

How do you define "safe"?

I buy a lot of Seasalt but the stuff in that link is not what I would buy, it was far too neat and matchy matchy.

I don't have an Instagram account so I can only see parts of Emma Paton's account before it tells me I have to log on.

The Seasalt outfits apart from the short patterned trousers and matching top (which are awful) are very well put together, safe, practical and almost invisible. I wouldn't notice her if I saw her in Waitrose or at the table of an art gallery café etc etc. That's the vibe they have - and that's fine.

Below the Seasalt promotion she has a link to dresses which are much more interesting and are very much my sort of thing. I don't recognise any of them although a couple might be Meadows, in which case her budget is between £150- £250 per dress. The navy sailor dress looks very similar to Laura Ashley sailor dresses I wore as maternity dresses 33 years ago.

I assume the Seasalt outfits are paid for promoted content because they look very different from the dresses she has in her wardrobe.

So far as "edgy" everyone on here hates Batsheva - in real life I've had so many compliments for my Batsheva dress. I don't know if Eponine, or & Daughter (when they did dresses) or Palava are "edgy" but at the moment I wear a lot from them.

Eponine dresses don't look like anything else. & Daughter were full on Shaker/ Quaker. (They get lots of compliments too, the oddest being from my GP who was arranging emergency hospital admission for me but took time out to tell me she loved my dress) Palava initially look very safe and retro but the patterns and prints , some of which are more like paintings than prints, are also like nothing else.

The blue jacket Emma is wearing in one of the dress pictures is a bit like a Baum und Pferdgarten jacket I have.Baum und Pferdgarten jacket

I don't understand the really nasty comments about Seasalt. The clothes are generally pretty, practical and in natural fibres. They don't quite float my boat and I'm not sure exactly why. I suppose because I prefer clothes that stand out a bit more - even if some people will think they are awful. But if all my clothes were destroyed in a fire and the insurance company gave me Seasalt vouchers to replace them Seasalt would be far, far, far better than many other brands that get punted on here and I'd have no problems about wearing them.

@JenWillsiam thing is I'm 61 but want to look 45 ! Hence the maxi dresses and leather jacket etc - lol

Definitely avoid sea salt!

it was far too neat and matchy matchy
Yeah. I think if she mixed it up with other items it would look better.

I like the shorts.

I think a print top and print bottom-especially large floral prints- can look twee. But mixed up might not be too bad.

I think she looks really good but, as you say, she's very good looking and has great hair. She'd style well most things.

I've had a few Seasalt things over the years (starting in my 40s). I've also sent a lot back. There's something slightly off about the cut for me but it's all really well made. And you get quite a bit back for it on eBay as it's popular.

What's your beef with leather trousers?

I love leather trousers.

Lots of women look good in leather trousers...

Leather trousers, Mum boots and a blazer!

@JenWillsiam - actually I have nothing from there-.but I've failed the style test- as I do have a fair bit of FatFace, and Wallis (RIP) and M&S -