Observations from the capital

[Ridingaroundonbuses]

I’ve yet to see anyone with one of those Uniqlo bags that have gone viral.

Longchamp Le Pliage bags are very popular and I have seen numerous people with them.

I have not seen many of anyone decked out in obvious designer gear. I’ve seen plenty of people with designer bags.

People dress how they want and I have not seen any noticeable trends other than to say people are dressing for comfort ( trainers).

Surely Le Pliage are used by all sorts of people. I live in London and see them everywhere (on Londoners)- they’re very practical.

My teenage daughter and her friends wear tiny dresses (D&G style) with trainers, or massive jeans and trainers with tiny tops. PMSL at earthworm, that’s definitely a look you see around 😂

@Pigtailsandall It’s nothing to do with deliberately ignoring or misunderstanding. You’re just talking about adapting one’s clothing to the occasion. Everyone does that, to a greater or lesser extent, whether in London or Leamington Spa, Dalston or Digbeth.

Like @NatashaDancing says, some people on here just want to sneer at out of towers. It’s fucking annoying.

Probably.

There’s probably a special ‘Raincoat for real Londoners’ and ‘Trainers for people who live in the’right’ bit of London’ and the chinos have to be rolled up in a particular way (the Real Londoner Roll) and your T-shirt has to be tucked with the Real Londoner Tuck. And make sure you have a Real Londoner bag and not a Longchamp.

I did read once that if you live in a particularly chic bit of London (Beauchamp Place near Harrods springs to mind) and want to not so humble brag, the done/clever think to do was to wander to the shops in your pajamas - hence telling everyone you were ultra local.
Me - I'm just a slob.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
Seasalt raincoat - bought this year due to my old one not coping with this year's torrential rain.
Deeply unfashionable Radley bag.

I'll stick our like a sore thumb.

I'm a Londoner (in that I was born there, grew up there, went to uni there) and therefore my friends and family were also predominantly Londoners and just normal people livong normal lives. I live just outside of London now. I am not in awe of Londoners. There is this weird view that everyone from London dresses well or differently but it is bollocks. All ages and cultures live/work in London. Some will be professionals, some on minimum wage, students etc and everything in between. If I sat on a train and looked at people it would be very hard to tell who was/wasn't from London (apart from those who are very obviously on a school exchange/backpacking etc).

But I don't really get the point of this thread then? They crop up regularly (as do the "What to wear to theatre/dinner/sightseeing/etc in London") so clearly people a) feel like there's a dress code or similar to being/visiting London, and/or b) style and trends are distinguishably different in London and want to discuss it, right? Then people share their observations and by page 2 in always gives down the "you Londoners think you are so much better". Its a total no-win for anyone in London because as soon as you contribute and say anything, people get offended. All a few PPs and I said is that daytrippers are usually distinguishable from Londoners because crossing the millennium bridge daily,the daytrippers are usually in sensible shoes whereas I have (for example) started wearing heels to work again. If I went to visit a friend at another city, I'd pack more "sensibly" because I wouldn't want to lug heels for the sake of one dinner outing or similar, and I certainly wouldn't wear them for being just out and about town. So yeah, I can see some differing trends. I don't think that's sneering. I have no idea how you dress in your own town for a lunch out etc, but I'd imagine it's a little different. I just feel like lots of people default to indignant very fast in these threads as soon as someone points out that Covent Garden might possibly house more tourists than Leytonstone and therefore not be the best representation.

The demographics of London, and probably most big cities, can be different to other places - a younger population and generally more multicultural. So that's why you might see different and more varied fashion in London.

I love people and fashion watching in the city centre where I live (not london) - the students (that come from all over the world), tourists (ditto), locals, people there for business. Much more interesting than other places I've lived which were very homogeneous.

I think people ask because they like thinking/talking about clothes. And going to the theatre or a nice restaurant is still quite a treaty event for lots of people.

I live in Birmingham. People mostly dress very badly - the city centre is a sea of grey jogging trousers and earthworm leggings, for the most part. People watching in London is more interesting because it's much more mixed.

Yes, I’m talking about the women you see walking down the Kings Road. Not visitors to London, or mums in the suburbs. People wearing gorgeous clothes.

It's the daytrippers are usually distinguishable from Londoners bollocks which annoys people. Largely because it's bollocks.

The question of what do I wear to the theatre etc is a different question is presumably driven by uncertainty because the person asking it isn't someone who goes regularly to the theatre etc.

As someone who goes regularly to the theatre, opera, ballet, concerts, restaurants in London and other cities the answer is pretty much whatever you like but don't go OTT as no one wears evening dress (although every time I'm at Covent Garden in the evening I have seen a small number of people in evening dress and on the whole the audience there is not scruffy)

But instead of saying that the "real Londoners" pile on with their pointless posts about how different "real Londoners" are and "no one dresses up in London" (as an aside The Ritz is in London and even if it's heaving with nothing but day trippers, people do not turn up there in scruffy jeans so the "no-one dresses up in London" advice is actually unhelpful and inaccurate bollocks in some situations).

As someone else said , sitting on the underground or the InterCity train to and from London between the provincial city I live in, I haven't a clue who is a "real Londoner" or who is "a daytipper" (absent an obvious guide book to London).

And going to the theatre or a nice restaurant is still quite a treaty event for lots of people

That is an excellent point. Yes it's good advice to say don't wear a ball gown and a tiara.

It's appalling advice to bang on about "no one dresses up in London" if that intimidates a poster from wearing a dressier dress/ trousers/ jump suit that they might otherwise wear and enjoy wearing.

Ok, let's agree that @NatashaDancing dresses the same for opera, day of trampsing around a major city and any other activity. Fab. It clearly annoys you that I can usually spot the difference but if you insist, please be the exception to the rule. I don't think it's sneery but if you think it is, I'm ok you thinking that.

You might be able to spot the difference - the point is, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Or, it shouldn't.

I was in London last week. I wore:
leopard print skirt, graphic t-shirt, trainers
leopard print silky wide legged trousers, different graphic t-shirt, trainers
dress, trainers
satin skirt, graphic t-shirt, trainers
The only way imo that you might be able to tell whether or not I was a tourist was because we needed Google maps to navigate the area around Liverpool Street station.

And that most recent post was actually your most sneery so far imo.

Ok, let's agree that @NatashaDancing dresses the same for opera, day of trampsing around a major city and any other activity

Eh? That's not actually what I said. Are your spotting day trippers skills as good as your reading comprehension skills?

I think people ask because they like thinking/talking about clothes. And going to the theatre or a nice restaurant is still quite a treaty event for lots of people.

Yup. Most of the 'What should I wear for a trip to London?' threads I see are from people who are going somewhere out of their usual comfort zone: theatre, opera, restaurant in Wimbledon Village, bar in Mayfair, afternoon tea at the Ritz type of thing, or maybe an event somewhere uber cool. Or yeah, maybe they just want to dress up a bit - because a trip to London is still a treat for a lot of us - but don't want to look out of place. A few pointers about what most people tend to wear to those kinds of venues - whether said people are tourists or not isn't really relevant - is helpful, as are tips about the current weather, conditions on public transport etc. What isn't particularly helpful is guidance about what Peckham women wear to the supermarket or what solicitors are wearing in the City.

Exactly @Floisme
People either want a bit of reassurance, or they just want an excuse to talk clothes.

And every 'Real Londoner' on here wears different things anyway, so it's not like they've got the actual lowdown on 'What one must wear if one wishes to fit in on the tube' anyway. It's just silly.

or they just want an excuse to talk clothes.
Yes, I think maybe some Londoners don't realise just how big a treat a trip to the city can be for some of us. And chatting about what to pack and what to wear can be as much a part of the preparation as checking out what exhibitions are on.

I was in London yesterday. In Oxford Street there was no way of telling who was local and who wasn't.

However, in the city it was pretty obvious who the working population was and who were visitors. All the men working in the city seemed to wear the same uniform of navy blue suit/trousers, white shirt and brown shoes; and the women wore dresses. Some wore heels.

The visitors were dressed very casually and all wore very comfortable trainers designed for a lot of walking.

Not to be pedantic but to me Wimbledon Village (used to live and work near there) to me isn’t “gong to London”.

Going to London for me is West End maybe City. City was always really for work until it got trendy like Shoreditch. Some people I know dress more dressed up for eg theatre in west end and more edgy for eg Shoreditch.

A year ago an out of towhee friend of mine met me to go to a cat cafe in Bethnal Green and market (near London fields). She was in a sort of slouchy short sleeved top with skinny stretch jeans, Nike trainers with bright pink (really nice!) and a sort of sheep/teddy cream light coat. But it was early autumn i think where it can be hot but chilly. I wore similar or a midi dress. My friend I don’t think she’s really into midi dresses and is quite sporty in looks. As we ended up walking a lot our comfy trainers were needed!

I had a specific reason for mentioning Wimbledon Village - let's just say I've never felt so out of place in my life!

I forgot about BraStop - they certainly used to stock 28s and a reasonable range of brands but I'm not keen on shopping for bras online.

Ha ha sorry - wrong thread! Time to get off S&B I think!