What brands might/should I like...?

[Givealittlebit]

So I'm a big lover of Vinted, but I'd like to start investing more in better brands and better quality clothing, rather than cheap fast fashion type brands
Problem is I don't know where to start! Im early 30s, just had my third baby, size 12ish, and not really sure of my own style anymore beyond practical and comfortable. Where do I start? Im hoping some decent clothes might go a way to helping give me back a little self confidence whilst I figure out who I am again.

So what brand might work for me? Im typically a jeans and jumper person, but would like to look more put together. I've got a couple of bits on Vinted from vero moda which I like...

There’s no such thing as a brand you ‘should’ like! And I’ve no idea if you’ll find any of these suggestions appealing - but some of them may be new to you. (Assuming you might look for them pre-owned or in the sales, so not the cheapest available, nor High St.) Variety of styles to explore.

Community Clothing

Goodhood Store

i and me

Margaret Howell

Miista

Realisation Par

YMC

Small bump, as I’m sure you want other ideas …

I'm a similar age and size and really like mint velvet, me & em, all saints, reiss, whistles, & other stories - essentially more high end high street stuff which is nicely made, nice fabrics but a bit overpriced brand new. I've gotten loads of bits with tags on from Vinted better than half price.

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There's no should. We need more information. Surely it depends on your preferences and your budget. One person's fabulous boho dress is another person's hideous floral sack. Do you like sleek minimalist or the floral oversized look or somewhere in between?

I don't like several of the brands recommended on S and B, because I like very simple, basic, fitted, severe clothes. After an earlier post on here, I realised my style icon is Caroline from Killing Eve.

If you like Margaret Howell & MHL, you might like Toast, Agnes b, Isabel Marant, Plumo. YMC etc

Do you like this? It gives me the screaming heebie jeebies, but if you do, posters can steer you in that direction.😁It's a "good quality" brand. But not to everyone's taste. Blossoms Gingham Cotton Shirt Navy Brown | YMC | You Must Create

@CharlotteRumpling , the only thing that has going for it is that it is cotton.

The thing about brands like YMC (in my original list) is that when you encounter people wearing them in real life their confident, deliberately ‘un-sexy’ style makes everyone in uptight body con look strangely 20th century.

The thing is, just to emphasise we all have different tastes, I really like it and so must the mother and daughter team behind one of my favourite independent shops, Frontiers.

Frontiers introduced me to Samantha Sung, Edina Ronay, Pazuki, Sideline, Baum und Pferdgarten, LF Markey, NRBY, Ganni, Rixo and YMC.

Frontiers

Community Clothing has revamped its website! I see they are doing bras and knickers made in Wales. I've ordered some.

Yes, I saw! Meant to mention elsewhere but forgot.

I guess the revamp partially explains the jump in some of their prices. But if a slightly funkier website increases custom I guess it’s all good.

I’m not really familiar with Frontiers, @NatashaDancing - but Young British Designers had a similar influence on my browsing many years ago. Introduced me to so many designers, or made available brands that only had a tiny, obscure website with three photos and no apparent way of buying.

Yes, we all have different tastes and budgets. That's why there is no point suggesting brands without having more information. I shop across brands because no one shop has everything I like.

YBD is obviously an influence on the owners of Frontiers. YBD has some great stuff.

@NatashaDancing , I can see that the YMC shirt would appeal to some, but for me I don't like the big collar or the flappy cuffs, and I'm not keen on the colour or embroidery. I'd imagine someone quite confident wearing it.

I like some of the YBD new in stuff.

Absolutely agree that people have different tastes and that it's possible to like some stuff from a brand.

The new in stuff at Community Clothing looks ok, but I think I'd need to see them and try them on. I know CC is recommended often on S&B but I'm not getting it. Maybe I should order something , I'd probably be a convert.

I am always amused by the characteristics attributed to people on S and B, depending on their tastes.
If you wear loose clothing with huge collars and sleeves, you must be very confident and outgoing.
If you like even a slightly more fitted look- not even body con- you must be trying to look "sexy" because there are only two possibilities. Here's your scarlet letter😀

Irrelevant to the OP's request. But I have noticed this on S and B lately. The idea that clothes say so much more about a person's personality and intentions than they perhaps actually do.

because there are only two possibilities

Or, possibly, a person writes a MN post in the midst of their real life, so jots down the thoughts that spring must immediately to mind? Possibly if the same poster were writing a postgrad dissertation on the same subject they might expand on their theme and explore many more facets of the question?

🤷🏽‍♀️

Oh, entirely possible. But this isn't the first time I have noticed this. Cheaper high street clothing comes with a massive value judgement about the kind of person who wears it. Beyond just a simple differing of tastes and budget.

But I mentioned body con. That can come at any price. I wasn’t actually thinking of any relative difference in cost between the two styles - my sole point was that to me one looks more ‘effortlessly’ contemporary (because less intended to ingratiate the male gaze) than the other.

@CharlotteRumpling , If that was directed at me...
With body con, it depends on the outfit. If I saw someone in body con and high heels doing the weekly shop in Tesco, I'd think she was on the way home from somewhere, or unsuitably dressed. Someone in a vest and leggings, depending on whether they looked fit, I'd think maybe they were on the way to the gym or happened to want to dress like that.

With If you wear loose clothing with huge collars and sleeves, you must be very confident and outgoing., it's more a case of if I was feeling chipper I'd wear something like that, but on a day like today I feel I'd wear something unremarkable because I'm feeling a bit meh and don't want to stand out.

I don't wear anything deliberately for other people or for the opposite sex, I dress for me.

It's so individual isn't it. I have been trying to do the same thing as you OP. Over the past year I've bought exactly two perfect items from & other stories, one of them via Vinted after trying it in store because it was so overpriced. I find a lot of similarly nice high street brands often recommended on here sound great, but then in reality nothing works with my body shape and/or budget, or they have very dressy or formal items which I like but don't need. In the end, I buy most things from Zara, Mango and M&S. Not exactly high fashion but I find lots there I love and will actually wear...

The new in stuff at Community Clothing looks ok, but I think I'd need to see them and try them on. I know CC is recommended often on S&B but I'm not getting it. Maybe I should order something , I'd probably be a convert.

I recommend CC whenever posters say all they want are well made basics and that they don't mind paying a bit more for quality. I've bought their jeans and work trousers and I'm very happy with them. I've seen their pea coat (not on sale at the moment) and raincoat and they looked great quality. Last year I was going to order their lambswool cardigan but got seduced by Uniqlo because theirs were half the price - but also turned out to be absolute shite so I got my comeuppance.

I sometimes think of CC kind of wistfully as the sort of company M&S might have turned themselves into if they'd held their nerve and kept their manufacturing in the UK: not a world known brand with the clout to hire Sienna Miller or take out a double spread in Vogue, but reliable and well respected.

Thanks @Floisme . I have no complaints about M&S and never have, and what I've bought there has lasted well, but I rarely hanker after anything from there. The CC looks a bit M&S-y to me, but the knitwear looks excellent for the price, and the other clothes look like they would last a very long time.
The menswear at CC looks spot on, but I don't need menswear.

I like Muji. There's not much choice but what there is good. I occasionally find something I feel 'I must have that'. I like Uniqlo, but only for basics.

What are the jeans pockets like on the Community Clothing jeans? I love my Levi's but the front pockets being so shallow annoys me.

@NatashaDancing , Frontiers looks great! Thanks for the link.