School reunion - help me with outfit

[stinkingbishop]

35 years on. Will be spring time. Evening do in hotel with drinks and 80s playlist.

Desired response - "she's looking great....lovely but approachable" vs "blimey what happened to Stinking" or "she's tried waaaay too hard". I know I shouldn't care, more important to catch up with everyone...sue me for being human!

Size 10/12. 5ft 3. Strawberry blonde and freckles - suit blue/green. Early onset bingo wings so need upper arms covering. Max max max budget is £500 but would need to get serious wear out of that!

Inspire me please!

So jeans, boots, jacket, top. That's not 'too cool for school' that's 'popping to the supermarket'.
No one is going to know your jeans are designer unless they have a visible label on them and what's a 'net a porter top'? That website sells a myriad of labels. You might as well say 'a John Lewis top'.
Are you advising the OP to adopt a more dressed down approach or are you telling us you're 'too cool for school' because you spend more than average on wardrobe basics?

If you think you're cool you're not cool

And here among the comments are some of the reasons I would steer clear of a reunion. Some thoroughly bitchy comments!

Yes I feel like that, I suggested a dress I feel confident in . Fair enough it's not everyones taste take it or leave it, but this thread has been overrun by sneery folk who think they are achingly cool paying £100s for an ill fitting white polo neck that looks like they are fancy dressing as a ghost from a "cool" brand and denigrate half the country for being yokels who wear polyester and don't know about modern things. It's so sneery

@Mirabai 😂 You’re being facetious, it’s cute. Not.

Hmm …

Perhaps MNHQ could clarify the meaning of the word ‘inspiration’ - for the hard of understanding.

@Quitelikeacatslife - when someone posts a link or photograph offering inspiration they are not suggesting the OP should immediately rush out and buy the items shown. They are offering ideas of ways to dress - styling options. The OP is then free to consider adopting any of those styles at any price point she is comfortable with, or choosing something else.

I have not commented on anyone else’s suggestions. I have reported one post which I found unnecessarily offensive.

@Quitelikeacatslife I agree, it’s such odd backwards behaviour to find something to be nasty and negative. Shows a weak mind.

@Mirabai you wore designer jeans and use the word "cool"- sounds like a middle aged mumbot to me 😂

With that budget, perhaps you can look at slightly more expensive options. I usually hate florals, but I love this, and it's midway between blue and green. I think you could get wear out of it. https://www.poetryfashion.co.uk/product-UY92-POEDS/colour-a-teal/dresses-skirts/printed-silk-wrap-dress.htm

Also Brora has a lot of dresses in blue/green with natural fabrics, not polyester, on sale.
https://www.broraonline.com/uk/sale/women/dresses

I love it that some posters think “too cool for school” means “cool”, and don’t recognise tongue in cheek when they see it. 🤣

Mirabai - You could go out in lamé in Liverpool and no-one would turn a hair.

It may come as a surprise to you that not all women north of Watford Gap wear polyester flowery dresses or gold lamé. There's are some fairly dubious fashion choices on show in London too, although not by you, of course.

@Mirabai we did recognise it, but we also recognised the edge too. Slightly off the mark I’m afraid, didn’t come across well.

Neither did yours.

I do think there is a certain amount of 'know your audience' required here. You may feel a bit rubish if you're wearing a £500 dress, glammed to the nines, and other attendees are dressed down, or clearly going full glam isn't in their ability (perhaps financially). Also, there is a north/south divide on how people approach an 'occasion' - I was very in awe of the beautiful outfits I saw at a gin bar in the NE, but they were the kinds of things that I may consider for a wedding, they definitely wouldn't be the norm in my city in the SW for a normal Saturday night.

So only you know what the others might be doing. Are you going with any friends so you can all at least be on the same page in your group?

I had a 30th reunion last year at my school, but it was a daytime event, and at the school, so was much more about being comfortable (I still agonised about the image I was portraying though!).

I'd like to pretend that I turned up at my school reunion looking like my normal self.
But I did not.
The unspoken brief is 'Look like yourself but on a really, really good day).

I (and most of the other women) were groomed to the max (hair, makeup, nails). Lots of photos will be taken for posterity and I wanted to make sure I looked GOOD.
Clothes-wise, I stuck with an evening out look that I knew I looked great in and felt comfortable wearing.

I do think there is a certain amount of 'know your audience' required here.

Now here I’d completely disagree! It’s a school reunion - 35 years from when the attendees would last have met. There’s no reason whatsoever why there should be any group think or consensus in dress. Their lives will all have diverged - the whole point of the gathering is to enable each of them to bear witness to what they’ve done with their lives since then. People will inevitably do that (consciously or otherwise) through how they choose to present themselves. The idea that you’d need to consult any of the others - so you can all dress alike - is frankly weird. And not something I’ve seen anyone do since a school trip to the Palace of Westminster circa 1976.

This whole thread is bringing to mind "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" which is a fabulous movie, if you haven't seen it already. Just don't claim to have invented Post-Its, and you will be fine, OP!

@twilightcafe - absolutely!

If I couldn’t wear something from Phoebe Philo I Would Not Go.

Well maybe not you but several people did comment on my suggestion in a very sneery way

Isn’t this just Zara but the prices have a zero added to the end?

I ordered this dress, the fabric is lovely and it feels wonderful on. Unfortunately, it comes up large so was just too big for me and I had to return it - otherwise it would definitely have been a keeper. If you can size down I would recommend.

https://www.whistles.com/product/alex-stripe-shirt-dress-38166.html#navAjax=true&imageType=model&is=true&sz=60&start=57&cgid=Dresses_Clothing_WW&isSecondPage=false&pid=alex-stripe-shirt-dress-38166&pos=74

https://www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/cleo-linen-tie-waist-dress-surf-the-web-foliage-geo/sty-d0845-blu?cat=C1_S2_G4

https://www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/amanda-cotton-midi-shirt-dress-blue-geometric-swirl/sty-d0828-blu?cat=C1_S2_G4

https://www.wolfandbadger.com/uk/the-cecelia-organic-cotton-maxi-dress-in-blue-floral/

Well, if you've got £500 to spend, why not go for a classic DVF wrap dress?

I was just about to say that a DVF wrap would be just the ticket... But @FlibbedyFlobbedyFloo got there first.