Your top gripe with buying clothes at the moment?

[Clotheswoe]

Mine is that often when trousers are described as 'high-waisted', they are not at all high waisted on me. They just aren't hipsters!

The capsule wardrobe is definitely something I'm trying to adopt too. If you can recommend certain styles/retailers you're managing to find work well for this, I'd be very grateful

I bought a jumper in the Sahara sale (still £99). It was described as 'merino and cashmere'. Should have read more carefully, 23% merino, 7% cashmere, the rest man-made fibres. Seasalt have begun mixing nylon in with wool for their sweaters and it gives a nasty gleam and jumble quality after a few wears. Poetry sweaters are lovely but so many need dry cleaning.
My other problem is trousers. They are invariably too baggy on my thighs. It's most likely my shape that's the problem but I look so much better in trousers from a few years ago that don't fit like jodhpurs. Moan over.

I've also started tracking the items in my wardrobe by category/brand using the Whering app, so it's easier to know what I have altogether and what might be missing and only buying what I genuinely need (rather than on impulse). It's much easier to put outfits together and it's really amazing the sheer variety of different outfits you can create with just 15-20 carefully curated items, as long as they all go together, are good quality and the colours don't clash.

Following https://www.youtube.com/@UseLess_dk really helped me and I really like her style, which is very similar to mine, except mine is more romantic, whereas hers is more casual and edgy. Here is one of the capsule wardrobe docs she puts together and all the outfit combos you can create out of a very small selection of clothes https://www.uselesswardrobe.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Spring-capsule-2023.pdf

In terms of brands, I have now narrowed it down to just a few - Cos, Arket, Poetry, Massimo Dutti, vintage Whistles (as the quality is no longer the same), Everlane, some &other stories, vintage Jaeger, Scottish cashmere and wool and that's it. You can always go higher end with the likes of Toteme, the Row etc but that would come at a premium price point.

Who What Wear are a good source of inspiration for classic, good quality clothes that don't go out of style https://www.whowhatwear.co.uk/best-classic-outfits/slide9

I can also recommend a book The Curated Closet, which will take you through step by step, how to curate your capsule wardrobe https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31763139154&dest=gbr&ref_=ps_ggl_2039220669&cm_mmc=ggl--UK_Shopp_Tradestandard--product_id=UK9780753545850USED-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAiAiP2tBhBXEiwACslfnuudRfSoswBp4xilzeM1F-1RLGeXLZocdMofp05L6Ds_xd0DE00d_RoCB44QAvD_BwE

‘Slub’ cotton t shirts - aka cheap, thin & shows your bra. What’s worse is that they can’t even be bothered to cut them square and they’re invariably cut on the slant🙄

You can get slub on thick t shirts too!

Seasalt have begun mixing nylon in with wool for their sweaters and it gives a nasty gleam and jumble quality after a few wears.

I got a jumper from them last year, 80 lambswool:20 nylon. I haven't even washed it yet but it's bobbled awfully by one sleeve and to a lesser extent, at the back and side.

I find that I'm always looking out for something else

I bought a straight cord skirt but then my tops are too long or wrong colour

One I bought is v -neck so too revealing for work somehow

I did tuck a blouse in but my waist isn't that great, if it hangs out it looks odd etc

Jumper on its own is too hot

Nylon flares - the stitched seam down the front gives me the ick. In fact, any stitched crease on trousers upsets me 🤣

https://www.marksandspencer.com/ponte-utility-wide-leg-trousers/p/clp60627095?extid=ps_ps-pla-pmax_ggl_ww_ch__-UK-_-_bau&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAiP2tBhBXEiwACslfnjo1sJkE-uRgJ-HtUXRwnKhF3gSwpyD-lMg8DTFOB2ah2vO-y41YSRoC1GQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

How short tops are. I’m long bodied and short legged, I’m also fat - but shops seem to just make clothes wider for bigger sizes, when they need to be longer too.

Also, I may be fat, but I don’t have massive boobs or long arms. Sizing and shaping at all dress sizes is just totally inconsistent and frustrating.

I have a phobia about women’s nighties! 😂

All those hearts and cartoons and silly words. So infantilising. Primark is the worst but M&S a major offender too. I don’t want to go to bed with a 100 red hearts on me and Mickey Mouse and “Love the Morning” or “Give me Coffee” or some such inane nonsnese scrawled across my chest.

Alternatives eg at John Lewis, a plain navy shirt. The third design is one screaming with large colourful flowers all over.

As well ALL OR MOST in “mixed” synthetic cottons which always feels weird in bed. Occasionally M&S do cotton but it’s usually a fairly rough cotton.

Maybe this year ….

Basically what’s been said

Quality has just gone downhill and prices gone up

Size availability

trying to avoid plastic - everything is either got sequins, PU leather, fleece, fake fur (I wouldn’t wear real fur either btw) or polyester

Cannot find a decent pair of flat knee high leather boots for a decent price

More importantly though the lack of teenage wear for boys after age 12. It’s not lack of availability just lots of retailers don’t make

I tried on my 22 year old son’s bomber jacket last week. I looked so 😎 in it ! I trie on a woman’s bomber jacket type (admittedly M&S) and I look fat n’ frumpy. Perhaps 🤔 I should start looking at some men’s clothes?

Seriously, a clothes fanatic told me that when the clothes industry is cutting costs the first thing that goes are the designers and second the “cut”. The cut basically becomes more standard and generic - to fit as many as possible.

I do buy in M&S occasionally but what I notice is that I might see something very nice and rush over and try it on and it’s just so unflattering and boxy (I’m curvy and big boobed) - and I think it’s for this reason, the lack of cut.

The price of bras. Especially sports bras. Why am I penalised for having breasts?

The pain and digging in of bras in larger cup sizes. My tits aren't in my armpits, so why the fuck are the wires there?

I've had to stop buying wired bras full stop. Even then, the non-wired ones cut into my ribs. The wings are too stretchy on modern bras.

Totally agree! Jigsaw and Hobbs have always been expensive. I graduated in 1995 and certainly wasn't buying clothes from places like that when I was a student!

H&M is terrible with the snoopy and Disney 😬

@FluffyFanny & @canyon2000 Agreed twice over. Graduated in '93, no way was i going anywhere near Hobbs or next! yikes. My go to's were: Mark One, C&A, Jeffrey Rogers, 'Saxone' for shoes, Wallis (if i wanted to be a bit glam!) including dare I say, the odd top from Mr Byrite (I loved baggy stuff).

yes they’re everywhere @CheeseSandwichRiskAssessment !
though reading back I do think I got a bit carried away with my cri de couere! there are worse things …

Each to their own! My small uni town didn’t have any of those shops you mention, and there wasn’t a student culture of going out, drinking or clubbing, but people did dress up!

Mr Byrite-that’s a blast from the past!

Dolcis and Barretts as well for shoes. Do they still exist?!

Yeesss! Dolcis and Barretts too!!! I believe they don't exist anymore.

@asterel You must have gone to a posh Uni in a posh town town aka Bath, Exeter, Durham, maybe neither of these but even the mention of 'like to dress up', makes me think it was posh . I went to an ex-poly in London, a very different student body. It's not that we didn't have the shops you mentioned, it's that the local students were not their clientele.

I started work in 1982. Wallis did nice little suits and dresses but they were pricey. I also had pure wool suits from the long gone Planet, Alexon stable. But they cost a fortune which I couldn't really afford but bought anyway. They were stocked by upmarket independent department stores. Jackets in mid 1980s were around £100 , skirts around £60. That's almost £500 in today's money.

I didn't start shopping at Hobbs until early 1990s. Hobbs quality has gone down but their prices have not kept up with inflation. You're spending less at Hobbs to get less.

I bought Jaeger as well in the 1990s. The prices which M&S are selling Jaeger are ridiculously low. They have a pure wool jacket at £200 and dresses at around £125. That's less than Jaeger sold suit jackets and dresses for in the 1990s.