They've gone all in on the viscose dresses! I count 5 in the new drop. Even the natural fibres are denim, poplin, cotton twill, none of which I wear either. AW is the season when I used to have a wishlist a mile long. This drop, nothing.
I could sit down and howl for the loss of original Toast, the first 10 or 15 years of collections. The fabrics were warm and inviting, fluid and tactile, cut in styles which moved with the body, and were given shape by the wearer. Fine and heavy gauge corduroys, cotton velvets, soft wools, traditional suiting fabrics tailored for women, silks and linens in the summer. The quality of materials and craftsmanship was superb, and they did their own quirky thing, outside of mainstream fashion. I loved so much of it.
Then along the denims, cotton linens, cotton twill, the dreaded poplins, and now ever increasing amounts of viscose. Cotton in the knitwear! Cold, stiff, harsh, uninviting fabrics, cut to hold structured architectural shapes, irrespective of the body beneath. Clothes to conceal, and clothes which follow fashion. There is almost nothing left of what originally drew me.
The ethos and atmosphere of 'woman, clothed' is now a fundamentally different offering to original Toast.
If I could only have those early years clothes back again ... sniffle. I'd buy everything again. In triplicate.