What are the cruellest fashions of recent decades?

[Hosebush]

What are the fashions which are most cruel to the people wearing them? Either due to impracticalily, discomfort or embarrassment?

I was wondering about this in the park on the weekend. There was a lady wearing a short flippy skirt. When she was standing up, it looked an ok length and she looked nice (it would never suit me!).

But she had a kid with her and was bending over to pick things off the grass. When she did this, when sitting on the grass, you could see all of her knickers and bum. There were other families with her who would also have been able to see everything.

Is this not embarrassing for her? Does she not mind? Or does she not realise?

If the latter, then this is a cruel fashion and very impractical. You need to be able to bend down.

Another cruel fashion for me is tight pencil skirts with a slit up the back, because the skirt rides up 😮

Does it? Or just fancy dresses? Both women and men can bend over in smart trousers to pick things up without worry or discomfort.

High heels. I think one day they will be obsolete and we'll look at them in the same way as corsets and other fashions that women put themselves through.
The fashion for men to wear no socks with formalwear. I just think of the sweaty feet and smelly shoes.

She might not be 'selling' it but she was sure advertising...

What do you mean?

False lashes. There's a whole generation of young women who have been convinced that sticking prosthetics on to your face is not just reasonable, but also essential before leaving the house. (I look forward with interest to see if prosthetic noses become fashionable)
Injectables. Usually look awful, cost a bomb for a qualified practitioner, totally unnecessary.

The marketing of expensive skin care and makeup to young women. There are so many other things they could be spending their money on.

Thongs!

Yucky, unhygienic, bum floss.
I always remember my friend likening them to kebabs. I can’t undo that image now! 🤢

Exactly, this should be a basic function of all clothes, surely.

Another example is hipster jeans, which seemed to be the only kind available in the early 2000s. You couldn't bend over without showing half your bum.

Agree with this - the brow trends of the past couple of years look really odd and unnatural to me! The really dark laminated brows look heavy and age a younger face, the thick fluffy soap brows seem to dominate rather than frame a face. I feel like brows should be somewhere you avoid micro-trends and just go with the style that best suits your features.

I can think of plenty of worse things!

Crop tops and doughy middles.

Anything that potentially damages you: injectables, buccal fat removal, big ridiculous eyebrows tattooed on.

Ear tunnels. They look awful and don’t age well. Yuk!

What’s with all the facial tattoos these days? I’ve nothing against tattoos but some people look like their faces have been scribbled on.

Nude colour leggings and shorts - always makes you do an alarmed double take. 😬

Otherwise, however daft, it’s only clothes…

Sportswear worn by people who have never done any sport or exercise.

That's not fashion. Im 45 and have a full sleeve that I got in my early 20s when tattoos were not anywhere near as popular as now. If women had a tattoo it was a little butterfly or dolphin etc. mine is a full floral sleeve. And I've never once regretted it and I know I never will. Nor any of my others. At worst I might fancy a change and get a cover up as some are getting quite faded now but it's a choice I absolutely stand by. I don't think something that permanent counts as fashion? You can change clothes?

But I do regret those hideous G strings in the late 90s/early 00s. The ones with the metal gems and charms attached right in your bum crack and digging into your hips. ouch!

Sliders.

Tattoos have to be the worst thing to become popular especially for women.

The fatface/white stuff/Seasalt patterned tunics.

One of the cruelest, most insidious 'fashions' among women is the trend among women to slag off an outfit because it's a Primark version on a size 18, when if it was the exact same outfit from COS on a size 8 they would think it was super chic. I don't want to hear about cut, fabric quality and how it hangs - we are taught by the fashion industry, misogyny and classism what things we find pleasing to the eye, and everyone should be trying to challenge themselves on that. I say this as a fashion lover and someone who is nowhere near perfect in this regard.

Agree with the ridiculous false eyelashes trend. They look... mucky.

Very tight jersey midi dresses. They’re rarely flattering on anyone and then it’s mostly in instagram photos from certain angles. In real life they more often than not look awful and uncomfortable.

The back of the thigh tattoos are something people need to look at from a distance and see what they look like when someone is wearing shorts.
Close by you can see the design and appreciate the work that has gone into it but from a distance it just looks like a dark blotch running down the back of someone’s leg which when I first saw one on a girl waiting to cross a road from a distance I honestly thought she had a bit of a toilet related accident all I saw was something dark that was dripping down her leg from under her shorts as the design ran into a narrow line at the bottom of her tattoo

Why do you think those patterned tunics are cruel fashion, either embarrassing, impractical or uncomfortable? I can understand them not being to someone's taste, but why cruel?

Agree with the rest of the post though. Excellent points!

Im 45 and have a full sleeve that I got in my early 20s when tattoos were not anywhere near as popular as now.

It's the 'popular now' bit I'm referring to - obviously if you got yours before they were in fashion, it won't bother you if they fall out of fashion.

Really high trousers/jeans and short tops, and really short bomber jackets, hate that drawing all of the attention to the arse look, and very few pull it of! People definately should dress for their shape, and not just because it's "on trend." I agree on the crinkly leggings with the bum in padding as well!

Camel toe playsuits. We always know when summer has arrived in A&E when those bad boys come out!!

I know I'm going to get linched, but I hate Birkenstocks.They are huge chunky, look ugly, and make feet look huge. They don't compliment any outfit, let alone skirts and dresses.

Don't play coy, you know exactly what Cupcakes means 🙄

fucking smock dresses in early mid 2000s

they looked good on precisely 6 women in the uk everyone else looked like a bag lady