Toasties can we go on chatting forever? Looks like it!

[Countmeout]

New thread. Woke (blooming cat) to find it’s nearly full.

Yes, the cosmic column dress was the only thing that interested me really.
It's sad but nowadays, I immediately "switch off" anything that is over £200, which is most things really. I won't even consider them. Anyone else like this??

Yes to both! Don’t think I’ve spent over £200, other than boots.

I love that dress, but round necklines do nothing for my large bust. Might try the shirt in same fabric, although I don’t need this

@AFingerofFudge I agree and think the price hikes on the current collection are very noticeable.
I also sense that since they opened a store in US that the core aesthetic which always seemed like a child of Margaret Howell with Bloomsbury set , is being watered down to suit a global market .
I shopped at Me and Em 15 yrs ago but once they expanded a tiny core collection to a huge one that was it for me . I loathe their stuff now , yuk, full of slimey viscose and tacky gold buttons.

@OftenOrange that's a really good point actually and I agree, there seems to have been a bit of a shift in recent seasons.

I adored Me & Em when it first started, the catalog would come through and I'd want the whole bloody lot.
I guess it's similar to cook books. The first one has all the best ideas, the second one is also great by book 8 or 9 the publisher feels you can't keep producing the same mid week suppers even though that's what we still want but insists on a different direction.

Am the same AFingerofFudge the price hikes are meteoric and I wonder who their typical customer is nowadays...

Yup. Agree about the prices. I like this cardigan, the colour is great. But the price is not. And then I noticed that it is 28% polyamide!

www.toa.st/products/ribbed-mohair-blend-cardigan-old-gold

Yes, some of the prices are ridiculous. This is lovely, but £395! www.toa.st/collections/womens-knitwear/products/flecky-wool-cashmere-high-neck-sweater-emerald

Surprised about the polyamide.. and I wouldn’t buy. Also avoiding anything with lyocell in it.

I like the new cotton/linen jumpsuit - I suspect this is the kind of thing that looks better on real people than on the models!!

https://www.toa.st/collections/womens-jumpsuits/products/brushed-cotton-linen-herringbone-jumpsuit-slate

Agree @Countmeout .
I like all three pieces in that fabric @Snowyowl78 , though jumpsuits don’t work for me. I may take a look at the shirt and trousers though.

@ScottishMouse i think this one looks like an easy access one! I like the look of the trousers and top too

It’s not the access that’s an issue for me @Snowyowl78, but the fact that my top half is a couple of sizes bigger than my bottom half, so I can never get the right size on both halves. I just have to appreciate fabulous jumpsuits on others instead.

I’ve had my eye on this- I love the colour! However that price for nearly 30% polyamide is off putting to say the least.

Ah I see what you mean @ScottishMouse

Everything about it is fab, apart from the price and the fabric content @OrangeyLemon.

£225 for a plain alpaca and cotton jumper!
Struggling to see what justifies that price?

Hand reared alpacas fed on finest organic leaves, they are bathed in spring water from the unexplored slopes of the Andes and shorn at full moon? 😜

Nothing really grabs me in the new collection -a sleeveless thin dress ??
🤔

😹@Poplinskirt - I’d expect my own alpaca thrown in at that price!

@OrangeyLemon @ScottishMouse I love the mohair cardigan too, I’ve 2 Toast mohair jumpers from 5 or so years back , they were expensive at a the time ie £110 ish , but luckily ended up in a sale.
They still look pretty good and in fact this blue black one is coming back into its own stylewise as it’s short with wide batwing sleeves.
Maybe the polyamide helps the mohair stay fluffy ?
I guess they probably use the same factory in Romania.

No no @OftenOrange , don’t give me reasons to try the mohair-polyamide cardigan!!
i don’t really know enough about fabrics to know what benefit the polyamide would have, but I guess there must be some, as they don’t tend to use it in other wool mixes. But still…

About the polyamide in the mohair cardigan.. isn't that fairly standard for even £££ mohair? I have had a couple of mohair jumpers from Brora and I'm fairly sure they weren't pure wool either
As for the alpaca/cotton jumper I wonder why it's so much more expensive than the wool/alpaca stripey one which I just bought? (I think I'm going to keep but obviously as soon as it arrived, the temperatures went up and it's been warm and sunny ever since).

@OftenOrange - cross posted. I wonder if it's to stop it from stretching right out, like those big striped mohair jumpers from the eighties?

I remember mohair when I was a teenager , I longed for one but never had the joy of owning one as mother said it went saggy and didn’t wash well.
I can say my Toast ones have worn really well, I hand wash, spin in a bag, shake out and they dry in quick sticks.

Yes, my Brora ones were fine too - wool wash in the machine and then dried flat.

I have never owned any mohair so I take back all my “what?! polyamide?!” comments. But now I fear I may need to take a closer look at the lovely cardigan. 🙄