Could THIS be the Greatest Toast Thread Ever?

[ilovecherries]

An opportunity to discuss styling all those clothes we have on temporary loan.

@PretLea - ah! I was admiring the Whistles cashmere but haven't ever tried it. I think @Saurus72 is the person to ask!

That's a familiar but baffling phenomenon @Laska2Meryls and I've done it too. Some of it is fomo, some of it regards an imaginary me i think i will be if i wear the thing. I've been better over this last year though with only one cardi i think i shouldn't have bought and the stack check dress that was just very wrong for me.

Thanks for the reassurance over the repair, lovely Toasties! I trust your eyes more than DP's, who got so fed up of being asked to inspect the patch he dragged me out to touch grass eat pizza. So now the dress is in the wash, hopefully to emerge ready for more outings, and even if not I will try to remember it's served me well over many years (and I think came from a particularly bonkers JL sale originally).

Interesting to read of people's experiences in the secondhand trade. I buy/sell many books, sewing/knitting supplies and perfume but only occasionally have clothes to pass on, which tend to go on to Vestiaire or Thrift+ if not to a local charity shop. As a prospective buyer I get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of offerings to sift through. How do you all find the good stuff on the large platforms? Perhaps they're just not suited to someone wth a fairly narrow fashion palate and specific wishlist? I do set up reminder alerts for these wishlist items but almost never get a ping.

@PretLea Re:sizing for Whistles cashmere- generally I find it TTS, veering towards generous. I’m a curvy size 14 and have Medium.

How do you set up alerts@clowniform ? I've seen it mentioned but I've never understood it.

Sorry I haven't been on here much. I have been keeping up with the thread and like others feel it's a really lovely thread to be on. I have been feeling really crap about myself though in recent weeks as I have put on weight and am now a stone heavier than I was this time last year, and at that point I was already a stone heavier than I wanted to be. So for me to be around 12st 5 it is really out of my comfort zone and as I'm at the menopausal age and stage it's just so hard to anything about it.
There's quite a few of my Toast items I can't wear at the moment as they don't fit and I don't feel good in the ones I can fit into!!
Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a pity party, but just an explanation on why I don't have a lot to offer at the moment!

@dudsville its so annoying isnt it ? I also have been guilty of buying for my imagined life .. you know the one where I meet friends ( the ones that I dont have!) for Lunch in Art galleries and Country houses .. Then I get annoyed with myself for even owning those clothes. At least I dont have to think about work clothes any longer.

@AFingerofFudge dont beat yourself up.. of course you have relevant things to say even if you are not quite where you want to be atm .. I suspect that I am a fair bit older than you -several years postmenopause and I too am now over 12st- and at least 1.5st more than id like. ) with a few Toast things that are now a bit tight over the bust .. its annoying that losing weight is so much more difficult now .. but I am trying - after so many years of yo yo dieting to just be more accepting of what I now am as well as my aging ( thats quite a hard one, but I keep thing ' well I am this old because I have survived!), trying not to over eat, and eat healthily bit not 'actively' dieting .. and to enjoy wearing the best clothes that I can.

My biggest problem with Toast recently is accomodating my bust but I think that is Toast's new sizing fault not mine!!

On Vestiaire there's a specific 'alert' menu where you can set them up. On ebay you have to search for something, then save the search, then it gives you options for text or email notifications. Not sure about other places sorry.

Thanks @Saurus72 for this, very helpful. I might try pop into my local store, but not sure if they’ll have much of the sale stock out. Thanks @faustina for pointing me in the right direction.

I really struggle to put outfits together. Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of clothes, all Toast, but to me, nothing seems to gel together. I also am wary about incorporating items from other labels (like Whistles), because I worry that they won’t go with what I have already. I need all coherent design styles so I know they won’t clash. This sounds ridiculous to me as I’m typing, and I’m not sure this will make sense to anyone here (you all seem to well put together :)). So even if I do find items from other stores I like, I tend to shy away from them sadly. Just comes down to lack of confidence and know-how maybe?

@PretLea Honestly, one of the reasons I like dresses so much is that I find it so much easier to feel put together. I’m probably more of a classic dresser, not high fashion (eg, I wear heeled knee boots with Toast dresses, as opposed to chunkier ones because I just can’t make them look good) so adding in a few different pieces from other shops helps make Toast more ‘me’ IYKWIM.

@Saurus72 I also feel a lot more comfortable in dresses. I suppose it’s just in the depths of winter…but I’ve learnt a lot on here about keeping warm with dresses on too (tights and other base layers). I do seem to keep buying trousers, but then I don’t have many top bits that go with them. Something to keep in mind at the next sale.

Thanks @clowniform I wrongly presumed this was a google thing!

And yes @Laska2Meryls I certainly have enough of the fancier end of things to last me a life time - I still work but retirement is close enough that I do not need to be buying nicer work things - and then of course the pandemic lowered the standard. I do sometimes pop on a nice dress just for the fun of it. I saw an irritating video once of a woman doing her makeup to go out. She put on a ball gown - I think I was looking for tips about how to do makeup at my age, which is silly as I just don't wear it and that's really fine by me, but anyway, she popped on this ballgown and went out to eat burgers! That's the bit that stayed with me. One of my grandmothers was very glamorous in her youth, poor but glamorous. I'm trying to evoke both of these women by wearing the nicer things, and it is fun.

@AFingerofFudge you also have my sympathies. I'm very peri (in my 50's and periods are rare surprises) and I gained 2 stone with the pandemic. Through incredibly, incredibly hard work over the course of about 18 months I lost one measely stone. That felt so unfair so I stupidly gave in and didn't maintain that loss. Recently I've had an illness that means I can't eat anything nice, so I'm taking advantage of it and am working my way back down again. But it's nothing at all like it was when I was yougner when it seems you skip a meal and boom, everything is ok again.

@PretLea I struggled to mix Toast with other things outside of toast-like shops. Perhaps post us a pic of some of your toast things and we could all play around with sugestions of items that might pair well?

I wore those clay denim trousers again today - love them so much. And I popped into a toast shop. The men's denim jacket is huge and th ewomen's didn't suit me. I didn't see anything I liked except for the cardigans - I wasn't even tempted by the indigo version of the clay trousers. ALso Arket have sold out of the ecru trousers I'd ordered so I'm now going to covet the toast ones. Thankfully they weren't in stock in the store.

There’s a Thorn Green linen short on Vinted if anyone was looking for one- size 8. I think a few people were miffed to miss out?

Shirt I meant!

I recently went shopping with a relative and was quite taken aback by the levels of dislike for Toast when she unexpectedly decided to pop into the shop with me. She left quickly calling it ‘crusty and old’ whereas as usual my eyes were joyously swivelling in their sockets trying to take in the beautiful colours and textiles all at once. It left me wondering whether I am a bit frumpy ( I adore cardigans) but equally I don’t really care if I am because I know what I like and I’ll stick with it ( I’ve loved smocks, Mary Jane shoes and cardigans from the age of 12 and I’m not going to change now). I suppose I’m just quite surprised at the marmite reactions Toast provokes in a way you don’t see in rivalry/differences in personal style between other brands. Has anyone else noticed the same?

@Noodle421 my mum is the same, can't abide TOAST and has described me as drab!!

Whereas I feel SO at home in a TOAST shop. And in any bookshop.

@dudsville here are some photos of my wardrobe at the moment. Less than a year ago I cleared out everything and started from scratch. Any advice would be much appreciated.

i can’t remember who asked but a 10 Hal jacket has just been uploaded on Vinted.

@PretLea .. what I am impressed with is the amount of space you have in your wardrobe! Here are mine.. ( and it is mostly Toast ) and there's another cupboard with ( mostly Toast) dresses and jackets downstairs, along with a chest of drawers with one drawer full of ( mostly ) Emma tees ! 🤦‍♀️.. The shame

Thank you ! I think it’s sold already

Well priced nice items go so quickly on there…

@Laska2Meryls I have this thing about needing a lot of space, but that could also be said about my house in general. Having said that, I could absolutely do with a drawer full of Emma tees!

I have been collecting them over the years @PretLea .. Also buying the chalk ones in the sale and dyeing them the colours that I want and that Toast haven't offered ( like dark green, duck egg blue, a 'thorn ' type green , and red)

They have lasted really well and all pretty much still looking good after many washes and wears ..

Thought this looked like a Hal jacket although it’s not attributed as such is it?

https://grahamst.co.uk/outfits/2023/8/9/out-of-the-blue