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'm also a naysayer on leather trousers. I suppose because they're just not a thing I like and I don't see the point of them. Unless the wearer is a biker it looks a bit contrived. Bikers of all shapes, ages and sizes do look good.

On these links Kate Moss and the Karen Millen ones are the best. The others are mostly underwhelming. The tight black shiny ones, whether real or fake, make everyone, regardless of age, shape or size look like a black pudding.

Black trousers 1
Black trousers 2

Your links are from about 10 years ago @NatashaDancing!

I like leather trousers, I'm not a fan of flowery dresses as you are, I don't denigrate flowery dresses though, I just know they're not for me. They can look great on other people. I'm not about to post a flowery dress montage and say how bad it looks.

It's just not my thing.

And that's ok!

I googled leather trousers - those links were amongst the first that came up. I didn't look for links that were 10 years old. I don't think anyone on the links looked particularly good, although the compilers of the lists must have done. That's not "denigrating" them. The tight shiny black ones remind me of the casings on black pudding. That might be denigrating them but they do.

To be fair that photo of the brown trousers and blazers looks good. I think my bad reaction to leather trousers on this thread is partly in response to the poster who was going on about her stylish 83 year old mother wearing them and not being an "aged frump" or looking like an "ex primary school teacher"

I’m really pregnant and I’m still rocking my leather trousers. I always dress them down with excellent sneakers and team them with a boxy tee, smart coat and very good hair. Makes me feel really put together. Even if I’m just wearing my Dad’s old skinny 70s band tees (which are my fashion pride and joy.)

Are you an ex primary school teacher by any chance? That would be pleasing.

Ahhaha! Thanks so much for the laugh! 😂

I can't bear ''Fashion'' leather trousers- However, Bikers of either sex who wear the proper protective ones, that's a different type of heavy gauge leather , more like padded armour to protect against abrasions if they should be in an accident are very different.

Still wondering what an ex Primary school teacher looks like- I'm imagining someone like Miss Honey from Roald Dahl.

There's no getting around the fact that places like Seasalt, Toast and Hobbs are aimed at older women but what does it matter?

@Emotionalstorm exactly! what does it matter. Also, I'd love every one of the sneery posters to reply what outfit they choose for food shopping. If indeed they actually do normal things in life such as mixing with us sahm, ex school teachers, frumpy middle agers in a supermarket or a Spar etc 🤣
I went into the white company yesterday and had a fleeting thought if this was an accepted store by MN to shop in. I dont care as its my style. Also Tommy Hilfiger would that be classed as Kate Middleton? 🤔
I'm positive a lot of the comments on here have made some members feel absolute shit about themselves for buying and wearing whats been annihilated in this post.
Some items could have taken a while for someone to save up for too. I suppose there's no point in pointing this out to some of you though.

I think what we're seeing on this thread is an adult equivalent of Barbie. Fantasy styling. We all like to think we have great taste and when you're fantasy styling, you're likely to be more savage than in reality because you're having the fun of picking things apart and explaining in detail why what you like is so much better.

It does explain why professional fashionistas can be so bitchy about it all. Think of all the fun of this thread, and now imagine it's your job!

I'm fine with my taste being mauled on here. I've never liked Boden, Toast or even blazers and I don't need to be everyone's cup of tea. Nobody does. Nobody is!

Half the time, my ‘style’ is dictated by ‘is it clean? Will it do? Will it drive me mad by lunchtime?’ That especially applies at work. I do favour a look that is almost a uniform in my job (therapist) which is to say a lot of linen things and layers. It very much depends on what I’m doing and the weather as to how dressed up I get, and I think that’s true of anyone who isn’t professionally photographed all day long. Not that she represents in any way an aspirational ‘look’ for me, but the current princess of Wales would not look so immaculate if she had to take most of her combos on a packed commuter train for an hour. 😂

exactly! what does it matter.
I am confused op. It clearly mattered to you enough to start this thread. You said you were thinking of sending back a dress you liked because your husband had asked whether Seasalt was for older women. You sounded upset at the idea. You seemed to be looking for reassurance that he was wrong and that it wasn't, in your words, 'an OAP website'.

If none of that matters what exactly has this thread been about?

Or are you saying the thread has made you change your mind? If it has, then that would be really interesting

To be clear, I have no objection at all to shops such as Seasalt catering for older women. Why would I do that? My objection is that, in my personal opinion, they do it badly.

And in my personal opinion their clothes are well made, but not always to my taste.

You must have been very unlucky.

I think they sort of fill a gap shaped as ‘what happens to the woman who loved Laura Ashley clothing in its 80s heyday?’ Seasalt is kind of her older, more grown up, sister, who likely has an allotment and a dog to walk and for whom a big ruffled lace collared blouse is not exactly practical attire, yet who also still looks sideways at a long floral dress - so now wears a shorter floral tunic instead. Nowt amiss with that.

You must have been very unlucky.
I don't think it's unlucky that, to give just one example, I've never tried on a pair of Seasalt trousers that didn't double the size of my arse. I think that's down to the way they're cut.

Granted they do a lot of cotton and linen tops but I've never found one that draped nicely or had any real movement to it.

I find them a very frustrating shop. I like their fabrics. I like a lot of their colours. I'd like to support them. Whenever I look on their website or visit a real shop, I always see things I like. But when I try them on, I'm disappointed. Every single time.

I've a feeling they assume that, because I'm an older woman, I'm not interested in fashion or in the way clothes are cut and the way they hang on me; that I'll be so grateful to find some natural fabrics and summer clothes with sleeves that I won't notice or care. Well I do notice, so I don't spend my money there.

That said, I do have their Janelle coat. I don't like it but I'll give them their due, it's the most effective bad weather coat I've ever had.

for you and your body shape I imagine but I guess for others it works. I myself don't buy from there as it doesn't work for me. I wouldn't go as far as to say "they do it badly" for everyone but it's not for me.

Nope, I'm in a mean mood today. I think they do it badly.

Not for me they don't.

as I said in your opinion which you are entitled to but some women think they do it well.

Maybe you need the freedom of wearing some Seasalt clothes and of not giving any fucks 😂😂😂

To be fair, I don't have an allotment, or a dog, and I don't live or aspire to live by the sea or in the countryside. In fact I can't think of anything worse. So maybe that's the problem. But it's also partly what I'm driving at when I say shops cater badly for older women, because so many of them assume we're a monolith when in fact I'd wager that all we really share is a preference for better fabrics.

I'd kill for a high street shop that catered for older women's bodies but that also acknowledged that some of us enjoy fashion and like living in cities. Cos hit the spot sometimes but I think they're losing it now. Whistles managed it for a while but then they went to the dogs.

I don't. I have a pair of wide leg linen trousers that fit well and a pair of navy jeggings that look like the could have done from any shop that sells jeggings. I also have a couple of midi dresses that don't look very Seasalty, and they fit me very well also. (5'7", slim, no boobs)

It mattered at the time when i was feeling shit about myself that he didn't see me as "old" as that's how I interpreted his comment, I was wrong but it still made me feel rubbish and he realised that. Whats happened on the thread is completely different now with women being disgusting to other women with lower self esteem and who don't have the confidence like you to say 100% that you really truly don't care. So now after reading every comment I don't want to care what anyone thinks. I need to learn to embrace me as I am, dress for my body and restrictions and stuff everyone else. So the thread has really opened my eyes. X

@Floisme can you explain what you mean by wanting to wear a top with movement to it? I don’t know much about fashion and I’m interested to find out.