What screams frumpy?

[bradpittsbathwater]

What makes something/someone frumpy? It's hard to define. I know MN can get upset at this word.

I agree with a lot of this, especially the part about wanting to blend in and not stand out.
I grew up in a rough area, very much survival of the fittest, where drawing attention to yourself wasn't always a good idea.

Decades later and I still have that mentality of wanting to blend in. So I will wear Seasalt Breton tops with a gilet if we're going say for a day out to a National Trust property or a break in the Lake District. It might look frumpy but it's a uniform worn by a lot of women in their 30s - 80s in such places, nice and bland and inoffensive.

Each morning I have to walk along a long main road that's close to an industrial estate, there's usually a queue of traffic consisting of plumbers, roofers, skip drivers, basically white van men. I wear clompy walking boots, old jeans, a puffa jacket and my best 'don't fuck with me' face. A woman driving past might think I look frumpy and I don't care, I just don't want any unwelcome (male) attention.

FWIW I completed agree with you re not woman shaming. My point is that no individual item of clothing is frumpy and nothing should be a no go area. (Well except Mary Jane's on anyone over the age of 6.)

Broadly I agree. Though there are probably some items which start at a disadvantage.
Personally I like a MJ shoe. 😉😄

That’s ok - you’re perfectly entitled to look as neat as you like!

I like how all those women look except for the Mary-jane shoes. But those women don't look frumpy - they are just wearing shoes that are a question of personal taste. Frumpy is more like when there is no taste - it's either devoid of any kind of thought about how it looks on a woman's body (which is the designers fault) or it's specifically worn as a nice bland inoffensive uniform.

I'm not judging any of the above - I'm guilty of doing both depending on my state of mind. And obviously no woman is obliged to care whether some stranger thinks her outfit is frumpy - men do also wear bland, 'invisible' clothes and don't seem to give it any headspace.

Personally I like a MJ shoe. 😉😄

Well I suppose I might grant a reduced sentence on account of those shoes being designed for grown ups and not toddlers.

Well I suppose I might grant a reduced sentence on account of those shoes being designed for grown ups and not toddlers.

😁👍🏻

Regarding the Mary Jane shoe, I wore flat ones to my son’s recent wedding with a tea style dress and was horrified at how frumpy I looked in the photos! They look great on the above photos but have learnt from experience they are very unflattering with a midi dress. A heel would’ve lifted the outfit.

Sorry to misunderstand you @Citrusandginger.

Ballet pumps

Mum boots

Anything from White Stuff

Indoor scarves

A high heel would have looked wrong though.

You’d need like a40’s style lowish heel.

I think shoes with a strap tend to make the wearer's legs look shorter, (and in my case fatter), so while the pointed ones in sunglasses's examples work with trousers & a long straight skirt, Imv a full skirted midi looks best when balanced with shoes that lengthen your legs.

I'm sure you actually looked fabulous

'mum boots'? you just made that up, surely!!LOL😂

Also I love ballet pumps, one of the few styles I can wear without getting blisters!

and scarves are for indoors and outdoors....I think what you are thinking of is umbrellas.😉

What about parasols @henlake7 are we allowed those?

well, indoor parasols are reserved only for fashionista's.....and those with wide doorways.

It's bad luck to put an umbrella up indoors (but Mumsnet doesn't believe in woo either)

I always think of a Mum boots as something like this rather than biker boots or Doc Martins. That's the only item that I have comented on this thread in a negative way. They are quite ugly.

I like them @4610J

Perhaps I haven't used a very good example.

Does the PP mean chiffon scarves for an indoor scarf?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow wtf is a a40’s style lowish heel?

Do all the "fashionable" folk live in warm houses and work in warm offices?

We can't switch the aircon off at work, so cardigans and scarves are de riguer until it warms up in the afternoon.

I wear cardigans, IMO there are some nice cardigans.

I have a theory that if you have red nails and red lipstick you can wear anything frumpy and still look glamorous. Well I like to believe it anyway 😂 Also it's much cheaper than buying nice clothes.

Do all the "fashionable" folk live in warm houses and work in warm offices?

You could find a 100 pics of people looking amazing and fashionable in cardigans at a google click.

I don't think frumpy and unfashionable are the same thing tbh.

I've no truck with woo in general, but I definitely wouldn't put up an umbrella indoors, let two knives cross, or damage a tree in a fairy fort.

You can't be too careful @NotestoSelf