Here are some going out tops if that's still a thing

[Raggammuffin]

I've spent my whole life trying not to look scruffy as I'm only 5'1''. The photo attached was like my outfit last night, black jeans though. Bit uptight and dark compared to the floaty whites I saw around me.

Last night I had the slight sense of my outfit being wrong. I'm not usually conscious of that, hello 50s. I was in a bar with a restaurant, a casual place but in an expensive villagey location.. I did notice that a lot of the mostly younger women were wearing cropped tops under oversized clothes it seemed to me. Huge shirts over tanned bodies. I'm 5'1'' though, I'm not fat but not skinny. Anything over sized does nothing for me. Anyway, do any of these tops look good? Put it this way, my daughter never pinches anything.

green shimmery fine knit top

royal blue satin finish v neck top

I like both of these and could imagine reaching for them both a lot when I go out but are they a bit dated? I don't mind looking classic but I don't want to look dated. I never worried about looking dated before, i just trusted that my eye would be turned off, but not so sure now. Btw, it's not like I think all the 30 year old women were dressed in the most flattering way. A lot of them don't look their 'best' imo but there was definitely a look and I felt too dark, too 'fitted'. I don't know, I'm bound to be moving in to the Gerry Webber stage of my life.

I think I love @RandomersAssociation.

The thing is that jeans and a nice top at the moment means baggy, increasingly low-rise jeans from the noughties plus a backless handkerchief top or a corset top. Cowl-neck sparkly camis, which were the epitome of dated only a few years ago, are now all over Zara. A crew-neck fitted hip-length embroidered cardigan over jutting teenage hipbones and low-rise flared jeans is also the height of cool.

Counterintuitively, this is good news for those who hate the oversized look, as it translates to straight or wide or flared jeans, a fitted silk cami (as much like lingerie as you can handle), and a blazer or even a fitted cardigan. Oversized everything, especially shirts, is still very cool, but a fitted top half and looser jeans is back.

Gosh yes it is very obvious that clothes are a very individual choice!

It’s so funny that basically the fashion that really suited me as a teenager in the 90s and that I would wear without blinking -

I’m 5’1” but (was) v slim and long in the body, pear shaped, so fitted top and baggy bottom was the perfect shape for me back then.

these days with more of a tummy than I’ve had in the past, I wouldn’t wear handkerchief / tie in the back tops etc but the wide leg and fitted (with more coverage) tops are great for me.

I can’t stand however the oversized open shirt over vest look - I think it does absolutely nothing for shorties and makes you look much bigger than you are.

a blazer or maybe short cardigan over a slim fit top is way better.

also - crop tops don’t work on short women either (unless teenage) as I think they serve to emphasise our lack of height and make one appear stunted. 😅

Well, I’m 5’2” and crop tops look good on me, but I’m an hourglass shape with legs proportionate to my height. I agree with the person who suggested a vest tucked into wide-leg trousers and a crop top over it suits me. It just depends on your overall shape, not just height.

With dark jeans I tend to choose blouses like this: https://www.zara.com/uk/en/blouse-with-ruffles-p09878156.html?v1=290431139&v2=2290933

a completely different style that I also like: https://www.zara.com/uk/en/printed-kimono-shirt-p08450154.html?v1=287651654&v2=2290933

and this one,

I've been reading S&B more often these days, trying to get my head around the angst that so many women seem to feel about clothes flattering the figure, looking neat (or not scruffy), and terror of spare fabric floating around.

I've come to the tentative conclusion that it's an internalised directive to look slim and, if one is not slim, as not-large as possible. Not only is this unnecessary, it's directly opposed to the way fashion's going at the moment - unless you favour the skin-tight, barely-there aesthetic. That's going nowhere, but then you wouldn't be reading 'jeans and a nice top' threads!

I'd wear anything @NatashaDancing and her fashion-forward pals post, if I could afford it and had somewhere to go. I'm tall and wide - not curvy wide, just rectangular. I'm also old, broke, and only go 'out out' once or twice a year. In real sizes, I'm a 20/22 but everything I've bought this year has been in sizes 12-16 (yes, this is getting ridiculous!)

So my oversized shirts are labelled 12-14. They're less oversized on me than a skinny 17-year-old would wear them, but work perfectly. They only touch my body on the shoulders. They move when I move, giving a sense of flow, and they're a bloody dream to wear.

Floppy sleeves aren't a problem: they look nice, there's a huge variety of styles to experiment with, and you'll find that most of them have a tab or similar apparatus to hold them back if you're doing the washing up or something.

I've got no issue with wide-leg trousers: yes, they make me look even more rectangular, but the point is that it doesn't matter. Skinny trousers make me look like a parsnip - in fact, they make everyone parsnip-shaped, except 6ft women with tiny hips! Wide legs have movement, are comfortable, and don't make you look as if you're afraid of taking up space.

You may have noticed that the coming silhouette is sort of trapezoid, with plenty of air between you and your clothing. One of the joys of 2020s fashion is that pretty much anything goes ... but things start to look dated anyway. And the longer you cling to a sense that you must be tightly clad, the sooner you will, I think, look old fashioned.

The beauty of all this is that you can just stick something loose over whatever you were wearing, and you've more or less solved it 😄

Gawd, I didn't realise I'd written an essay!

Those are both nice. <sits on buying finger>

I like this. Abélia Blouse - Rosewood - Viscose - Sézane (sezane.com)

I enjoyed your essay @GarlicGrace but I draw the line at looking trapezoid!
😁

A⭐️

😂 Thank you, Miss.

Yes to skinny jeans and looking like a parsnip 🤣

You've said you are tall and wide though. I assume you have a good set of shoulders that your clothes hang from as well.

Being short with narrow shoulders, acres of fabric not touching you anywhere at all looks ridiculous.

Just remembered I’ve got a silky kimono from All Saints that I wear over a vest. It’s loose, but not huge. Unfortunately, it does work better with skinny jeans, but I’m going to try it with combats or a black tube skirt too.

Does anyone have any pictures of the current crop top/oversized shirt look? What goes on the bottom? I can’t pull off cycling shorts but I’m wondering if I could have a go at this look….I’ve been abroad all summer so I’ve not seen it in action!

I’m 50s and I think wearing dark fitted jeans, dark fitted clothes is very dated

i have gone the other way and start wearing baggy light coloured jeans with fitted short (but not cropped) top for casual

als love wearing denim front split midi skirts right now

and dresses for going out. I personally don’t suit the big flouncy flowery dresses many women wear, but love a dress and trainers/boots look

i find that dark skinnies and a fitted dark top look very dated on me now, can’t get myself to wear it anymore 😁

same with leather shoes with a bit of a heel …. Even for going out I wear chunky trainers now 😁

There probably is something in wanting to look slim. The reality is that, as 5ft1, if I wore a loose top and wide legged trousers, I would look twice my width.
And I hate flaunting, I don’t want to show too much or wear skin tight or look too young personally. Most of the time I’m at gigs, dancing so don’t want to feel self conscious.
But I do like fitted because I think it’s most flattering for my height and build. And it’s what I feel best in.

But I just wish there were clothes that suited me more that made me feel a little more with it than looking like a parsnip 😂. I’d opt for clothes I think suit me over keeping fashionable anyway, if I had to choose one or other.
But I am going to try to find a shirt over a cami or vest … or a vest under a crop top … I think that might be worth trying. This thread has been interesting to read - and has made me want to be a bit more adventurous.

I’ve seen a few of those denim split up the front skirts and like those. Likewise I do like the floral bomber jackets as well.

Every mum fitted Jean on me looks awful, makes me look a lot bigger and just gathers and bunches up. I think there is too much denim when you’re short.

Has anyone found petite fitting clothes that they think of as not dated? I’d love to see some suggestions … this thread is really making me rethink what I wear

@GarlicGrace i think you are right

loving this dress at the moment, it’s like wearing air

https://www.anthropologie.com/en-gb/shop/daily-practice-by-anthropologie-free-fall-drawstring-midi-dress?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=044&searchparams=q%3Ddaily%2520practice%26sayt%3Dtrue&type=REGULAR&quantity=1

I also think jeans and a nice top are dated. If you're keen to hold onto that combo, high waisted flared jeans with a loose fitting blouse tucked in looks really good if you're petite.

I'm 5'0 and in my 40s and I wear loose dresses with chunky boots regularly. I don't think it's unflattering at all actually. So comfy too.

I don't understand why people are not allowed to want to look slim, or be slim if they really are, without all the suspicion of their motives and methods. There's another thread now about how many Europeans are slim, but deeply miserable, starving and unhappy.🙄

I wear wide legged trousers and jeans all the time- they suit me because I am tallish- but I am not keen on being wide all over. I think there should be options between skin tight barely there flammable Boo Hoo dresses and expensive boho floral sacks. Admittedly, I am finding them hard to find.

Going on Vinted to find old Cos for something more structured and less boho!

100% lentilweaver

I think that's often my problem, @Lentilweaver . Finding something in-between bodycon and very loose, fussy clothes with massive patterns. Some nice options on here, but for those of us barely over 5ft, fit can be a bit hit and miss!

A couple of years ago, I had some nice semi fitted going out tops from Esprit of all places, in cotton or cotton blend, but now they have gone polyester or unflattering sacks.

I used to love Esprit for coats but it's a bit hit and miss. Although I was in one in France the other day and there was some nice new season stuff. Cold weather stuff always looks good when you're coming to the end of a rainy summer though!

I like the Sezane Abelia blouse you've linked to, @Lentilweaver, but it would gape on my 32F chest, sadly.

As I've got older I find I tend to be drawn more to bigger, bolder prints for going-out stuff, not sure why. I like a dress for evening but am heartily sick of ditsy/animal-print midis. I like wearing 7/8 wide-leg jeans at the mo (any recs welcome, particularly for heavier-weight ones) and will wear those with a silk shirt for a night out. Despite my statement above, I don't mind floral midi skirts - I also have a couple of those (with pockets, cos I'm a millennial...).

Tbh OP I think the best advice I can give you is to flip your idea of what constitutes "going-out clothes" and just go for what you're drawn to and find flattering! The rules are much more relaxed now.

My other advice is to use Vinted as an experimenting-ground - you can try things out for not much money and then buy more of them/the pricier versions of you like, once you've found what you want.

Finally, do you follow Wearsmymoney on Insta? I don't follow many fashion people but I find I like about 70% of what she posts, which is pretty high for me!!