How to dress like a frazzled English woman?

[MademoiselleFrenglish]

Looks like the latest trend is the "Frazzled English woman" and I for one; am ecstatic.

Bridget Jones, Love Actually and the Holiday seem to be the inspo, so tell me, what are your tips for being frazzled English women?

So far mine are:

• not brushing my hair for 24 hours
• only having enough time to put on mascara and nothing else
• wearing my one scarf that's far too long for me
• having my long socks peak out the top of my boots because it's bloody freezing
• forgetting my glasses and spending my day squinting seductively at my computer screen

Emma Thompson’s character in Love Actually springs to mind.

Julia in Motherland does it brilliantly.

Another frazzled English woman checking in! My look involves:

• dungarees
• windswept, frizzy hair
• muddy wellies
• slightly muddy everything, actually, due to frequent dog walking
• waterproof coat, with hood
• short, bare nails as I don't have time to file them let alone paint them, and anyway they chip in seconds if I try
• cross-body bag to keep hands free for kids/dog/shopping
• always slightly out of breath and always rushing everywhere!

Have you checked your front door? Hugh Grant is there waiting to fall in love with you, you're his dream girl.

Note to self: must try harder.

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🤣

The glorious Fiona Shaw is such a woman!

Such an Irish woman @Stresa22

Fiona Shaw makes me heart skip but she is Irish.

That said, she does British brilliantly in Killing Eve.

Oh dear, yes, she is Irish. But Elspeth Lomax was my introduction to her and I’ve loved her ever since.

The term seems to have been coined by Americans who have just discovered the joys of English chick flicks, so I will allow any non-English women inspo.

I think the criteria is really just "incredibly beautiful but knackered woman who looks good with mud on her face, weetabix in her hair and owns really ugly glasses"

You need the skin too

Skin that's used to rain

I always look a bit scruffy. Doesnt matter what I do. I am not sure why, because I will get dressed, look fine and by the time I walk out of the room something will have happened - sock elastic goes, button goes loose, I have a random stain on something, a bit of hair starts sticking up. If I was to look non-frazzled I would need a complete styling team following me and doing touch ups every few minutes. Good thing I lean into my look.

@Atethehalloweenchocs I'm very similar. I can manage about 1-2 hours max before my makeup smudges, flyaways appear, dress gets creased, food gets dropped on said dress. As long as we remember to wear holey cardigans and put our frizzy hair up with pencils, people will think we look this way on purpose.

Skin is dewy and flushed because it rained and you're rushing around, red sniffly nose

Hair is unstyled in natural colour, slightly greasy roots, frizzy

Bright yellow raincoat, sporty backpack
Brown/grey/cookie and cream woollen coat with 7 thousands layers underneath in mismatching colours.

Black thick tights with knee length brown leather flat or low heel boots and a knee length denim or corduroy skirt.

Condom hat and super long skinny scarf

Frosty Pink lipstick and little dangle earrings

Small crossbody bag

Dog hair ... that is all the accessory you need.

I can scrub up well enough but recently seem to be drifting towards this very aesthetic.

I call it my "never sure whether it was a good decision to buy that cosy dress with pockets from Edinburgh Woollen Mill on a random garden centre visit" look.

Oh yes and see my user name for hair inspo.

Cardigans are key to this look. Preferably cardigans that have been passed down in the family for several generations. At some point they have also been used for lining the dog basket, but a quick wash and they're as good as ever!

hahaha. That genuinely just made me laugh out loud! I’m all set then. Plus a plethora of slightly worn cardigans. Natural hair, natural teeth, check, check. Worn Barbour and mud-spattered wellies whilst accompanying aforementioned furry spaniel beast across windswept, rainy English fields…. I’m totally on trend! (For the first time in my life!)

A frazzled English woman usually smells of something you can't quite identify. It's a combination of sensible soap, a classic Parisian scent and wet dogs.

😂 I genuinely own a cardigan passed down to my from my great-grandmother!!! (Not sure the dog has ever had it but she’s stolen most of my clothes at some point or another!)

It doesn't involve any polyester whatsoever

I don’t know… Pretty sure Bridget Jones wore quite a lot of polyester 🤔

I always wondered what my style was. Seems I have found it.

YYY to dog hair. It's essential and should be strategically dispersed to suggest you tried to get rid of it but only had time to tackle what was immediately visible. Golden retriever hair of course.

Your handbag should contain a huge number of random items related to dog walking and care, weather, children, old tickets from trips to museums, art galleries, and other cultural attractions, and old shopping lists featuring the kind of stuff you'd buy for a fantastic charcuterie board or very boozy brunch, preferably both.

Above all though, your handbag should not contain the one essential thing you are rummaging for. Rummaging is important.

You might also consider buttoning Mondays and Tuesdays on your tasteful blouse. This would be peak scattered and frazzled.