Whats your pet hate when clothes shopping

[Windypants21]

I am trying to buy a wedding guest outfit. As I live rurally alot of this has been online. My fury is rising at the amount of items I've ordered that aren't the colour as depicted in the pictures. Makes my blood boil !!!
Cornflower blue in the picture, pale and insipid in reality . Lovely pinky pink in the picture, is washed out and drab in the flesh. Why why why ??? All that happens is you're even more disappointed when it arrives so it goes straight back and you've wasted time and effort getting it posted.
When will companies realise that to be successful they need to represent what is on sale accurately.

Vest tops with wide armholes that show your bra. I can't go braless. My daughter has had a mastectomy and also finds summer tops hard to find as she has to wear a bra for her prosthesis.

Backless dresses and dresses with cutouts. See a dress in a lovely material and design apart from it being backless or having cutouts. Why?!? 😩 I've had a mastectomy and wear a prosthesis so need to wear a bra otherwise I look odd to say the least. Plus getting sunscreen onto all the extra skin exposed is annoying.

I don't really know what size I am. I was pretty consistently a 12 in the 80s and could be an 8 or a 10 now but am the same weight and roughly the same measurements. I have to look up size guides every time because the sizing varies so much from shop to shop.

My shape too @MrsWidgerysLodgerand I feel your slutty/matronly pain. A style that works for me is something that's gathered in some way at the top - ruched, knotted, twisted or tie neck. Not many tops like that about though.

There's more choice in dresses. A tea-dress style is flattering - I wish I knew the name of it - but it's a v-neck empire line, with a kind of x-shaped bodice (not wrapover). Nobody's Child Starlight style, for example. Sorry don't seem able to post a pic.

I seem to have evolved a good eye for determining true sizes. Not sure how -maybe just a lifetime of being obsessed with clothes. If I'd been honest with myself I knew the 3 dresses I had to return probably wouldn't have fitted.

So far as what works for me, anything which is interesting, catches my eye and comes in my size works for me. I'm 5'4" or 5", size 14 or 16. I've no interest in what my body shape is or whether something hides bad bits or emphasises good bits or makes me look taller or slimmer. My "colours" are any colour I like.

I mainly wear dresses, but the dress itself has to be the star/ main event. If I like a dress and it fits, then it works for me. I love clothes, I love dressing up.

But how do you know it’s going to fit or be the right colour of you buy online @IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle - or do you never buy online?

Tops being so boxy and short with no shaping

I buy far more online than in shops.

It will be the right colour if it's a colour I like (assuming the colour was accurate on the website; I've never had anything which was a different colour in reality than what it looked on the website).

As for , whether it fits, I seem to be able to work that out from the information on websites and my own eye. I very rarely get size wrong, and where I did it was because I was too vain to go a size up.

Snotty shop assistants, inconsistent sizing, and 6 feet three tall one inch wide models.

I've never understood why shops don't let you try things on virtually so you can see whether they'd suit your size and height and colouring.

They can do it for glasses and hairstyles to some extent so why not clothing.

Waists that are just under my bust, it drives me mad, all ‘waisted’ dresses are empire line and look like maternity frocks, why is this a thing? Who are these designers who think waistlines are under the bust? I’m tall which makes the problem even worse.

Didnt have time to try on in M&S the other day and having listened to everyone on mumsnet about how long their trousers have become, I picked up their short length wide leg linen trousers (5ft3) to find that they’re too bloody short in the body and cut up under the crotch - what is going on M&S?

Tiered dresses and skirts
dresses with weird cut out holes in the sides or back or front.
puff sleeves.

Inconsistent sizing, I purchased a lovely skirt in Next tried it on absolutely perfect fit thought I would also buy it in another colour it was so nice so grabbed one on my way to the till, get home and try it on and it’s too tight, it’s the same skirt in the same size! Now I have to go back for a refund🤬

I’m on a roll, coats and jackets that don’t have an inside pocket, it’s so useful to be able to keep my phone and glasses in an inside pocket rather than faffing for them in my bag.

What I don't like about on line shopping is the baggy fit on gaunt models, and on some websites (Sezane, Zara for instance) the models are in a sitting or slouching position so that you can't see the whole garment.

I was at a gathering once, and an acquaintance was wearing a stunning light pink fitted suit. She said she bought it from Zara. I went online a few days later to have a look, and I would never have guessed the suits actually looked nice on a real woman with curves. They hung loosely on tall thin models, and didn't look appealing at all.

I also like to see measurements for length on dresses and skirts.

I'm a 16 with big norms, I'm totally with you on this.

I’d love to know how you do that. I’m not vain so am happy to be honest about my size, but the clothes I buy online often turn out to be a slightly different shade or cut too narrow at some points, too wide at others, too long or too short. I envy you your success!

OMG op, how many pet hates do you want

lets see now

Rails of clothing where they are all different, but similar, Primark is a horror for this, I never know where more of this type of trousers are, they're not on this rail, this rail has 5 different types of black wide leg trousers but they're all different designs. Sainsburys and Asda also guilty of this

Never got a full range of sizes in, NEVER,

Marks and Spencer in particular always out of stock with EVERYTHING

Leg lengths, trousers that dont come in leg lengths. Online retailers that dont publish their leg lengths WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????

POLYESTER, in particular 'recycled polyester. I did not want or like the polyester the first time round, I certainly dont want it in my clothing recycled.

When in shops, you're trying to go through the rails, and the sizes or labels for the sizes are hidden away, tucked down the side of the inside of the item, so you're trying to swish through the rail but hold the rest of the clothes on the rail back so you can fiddle with the label to see the fucking size you want (not there obviously). All hung on the wrong size hanger so you're tricked into thinking it does have your size after all. Nope, it doesnt.

How I havent ended up getting arrested from a clothes rage incident while out shopping I dont know

Oh another one just popped into my head, frequently I now find that when online shopping, the picture doesnt show or load up properly online, the whole of the item, so I dont know what the bottom of the trousers look like because your photo or the way it loads on your website is cutting the model's feet off

Also not being able to tell online, even in close up what that material actually looks like, particularly black materials.

Also womens clothes without belt loops and pockets.

Thats probably me

The other day I bought 6 pairs of trousers, 16s in short, regular long and 14s in short regular long, this is because they did not have my size in the shop, of course not, but when I held them up to me in a size 10, the regular length seemed short. But I am very short on the leg, although quite tall, so I couldnt make head nor tail of what the leg length would be on me.

Returned the 5 pairs that didnt fit of course

And of course while Im doing all this, the shop has my money until the return and refund is sorted out.

Where do I start?

• lack of garment measurements when buying online. I wanted a simple short top, had to buy 5 different ones and sent 4 back because a simple information on the garment back length was not available. And I thought retailers were concerned about the financial and environmental impact of online returns! Apparently not enough.
• vanity sizing. I’m lean but definitely not anorexic, according to M&S’s own sizing chart I should order size 10. Reality: their size 6 trousers are falling off my arse.
• British shops charging British VAT to EU customers (i.e. me). I know you are not paying VAT on EU orders, I had a company and the VAT charge for orders sent outside EU was 0% on all tax forms I had ever had to fill in. They are pocketing an extra 20% and making me pay VAT twice. I stopped buying from several places where I was a loyal customer for years because I don’t particularly enjoy being taken advantage of.
• slouching or sitting models, filters on photos, chairs, cars and hair in front of clothes and everything else Sézane does! I bought several things from them but the expectation vs reality experience hit me hard.

I get annoyed that everything is tent shaped with tiny shoulders or worse - dropped shoulders.

I have broad shoulders but a small waist but if I wear things that fit my shoulders, they're massive elsewhere, because manufacturers dont bother with flattering cuts, shaping, seams or darts anymore.

I noticed this too. Poor construction is a way to cut costs IMO. Tents and squares are faster to sew together and scale up and down across sizes.

Brands that call their dresses 'she'. As in 'She'll whisk you from desk to dinner in a swirl of recycled polyester.'

Just... no.

slouching or sitting models, filters on photos, chairs, cars and hair in front of clothes and everything else Sézane does! I bought several things from them but the expectation vs reality experience hit me hard.

I'm quite glad I've never been that struck by anything on Sezanne as I hate, hate, hate the way they style clothes to the point it would put me off buying anything.

@Laiste I have that problem with my big boobs and tops being cut so so short. I've had success recently with some tops from Long Tall Sally. Just some basic v-neck tees but they are a real length instead of falling just below my belly button. It's amazing.

Dropped shoulders on everything, especially shirts.
With broad shoulders It just accentuates the all in wrestler look.