If you’ve nailed classic, understated dressing, where do you shop?

[LaSourciereEfrontee]

I’m swanning into my late forties, size 12, healthy, not looking too shabby (now I’m over treatment for a serious illness). But the kinds of clothes I love is changing.

Today I wore a black waisted linen dress, tan sandals and a big gold bangle and felt so much more me than I have in floral midis.

I am craving simple, understated, beautiful clothes. Rich, undazzling classic colours, gorgeous natural fabrics. Cashmere, silk, wool, leather, linen. Nothing shapeless or extreme. Comfortable, flattering, feminine cuts. This sort of thing:

https://www.poetryfashion.co.uk/product-RF53-POECA/colour-c-fawn/cashmere-collection/hemp-cotton-yak-straightleg-trousers.htm

If you’ve nailed this look, where do you shop?

I went into the white company today and they had a lot of clothes like this.
Quite expensive thought.

I don’t think I’ve necessarily nailed this look, but I think Cos is a good place to look for this kind of style. Maybe Oska and Sahara too, but mostly Cos.

I agree, pieces from Cos, potentially mixed with some from Uniqlo. Worth looking on Pinterest and then finding appropriate pieces to form a similar outfit maybe.

Thank you. I buy quite a bit from The White Company nowadays.

I like the way things look in Cos, but haven’t found anything that works on me in a while. I tried on a beautiful sort of asymmetric dress a couple of weeks ago, but it made me look all tummy. Must try harder next year!

I can't wait for this but I'm early 40s with primary age DC which means I need to stick to floral ditsy prints solely because they disguise peanut butter smears and sticky fingers prints.

A bit from Cos, Toast, M&S...
The real bonus is finding the companies that cut their clothes for someone who is your shape. Or getting stuff altered, but that costs.

Carroll Paris fits the bill too.

Cos, Massimo Dutti, Uniqlo, H&M, jumpers from M&S men’s section

Cantsleepsweet

Are you able to by Caroll Paris in UK ?

Sezane, Massimo Dutti, & Other Stories, H&M for linen and neutral knitwear, Mango, the odd bit from Zara

This was me until recently. I distinctly remember buying a cord Boden chicken print dress for a family Easter lunch and thinking ‘well, it’s not especially stylish but it’ll hide the chocolate smears.’
It passes in a flash, and now it’s just Labrador hairs to worry about.

COS, Massimo Dutti, odd bits from M&S and Uniqlo

For me the best thing is avoiding patterns and choosing natural fibres

I don't know about new, as I'm too stingy to pay full price, but on Vinted I've had a lot of luck with searching for clothes by the fabric (linen, cotton, leather) and the colour (beige, navy, white, black). Given you are a size 12, there's probably a good amount of stuff on there, I'd be looking for wool coats and jackets this time of year as well before everyone realises autumn is coming.

I'd get a couple of new pieces too, like those trousers are lovely and you can then add to it second-hand. I would not buy any more floral midi-dresses full stop.

I would also consider neutral shoes, so your tan sandals sound great, I like tan and beige suede shoes for winter as well as black/brown.

You can then play up the jewellery.

Baukjen, Community Clothing.

I still like coloured shoes and a pattern though; as a teacher, it hides the sticky fingers and muck.

I’m not really your style but Rouje, Realisation Par, Maje, Rixo, Chefinn, Kooples, Ganni, Zara,

They’re not cheap so I look on Vinted, Depop, Vestiaire Collective.

Yes the caroll.com website ships to uk

One that has not been mentioned yet: Arket.

You could get all your neutral basics in cotton, linen and wool quite affordably from Uniqlo, then poke around for interesting silk and leather things (I'd go second hand, personally) to add a bit extra.

Lots mentioning Cos but I can't seem to find much in there, everything seems to be boxy and shapeless.

@SilverGlitterBaubles it's worth trying on at home, the website styling is crap

Agree with Arket. I've also been surprised at how And Other Stories has improved recently

I like the same neutral expensive look. I tend to replicate it by buying plain linen from M&S or H&M. The most important thing is that the fit is good & the style suits you. My nicest linen trousers are from H&M this year. The front seamed linen mix wide leg. Some excellent Cashmere comes up fairly frequently on eBay/ Vinted if you know the brands you like. I've often bought Crush Cashmere from these sites. This morning I've just bought a pale blue Cashmere cardigan by Whistles from Tk Maxx.

Yes. I like Pure Collection and Brora, made some good finds on Vinted and EBay in excon.

M&S & Uniqlo do good value cashmere.

The clothes often look quite shapeless on the very tall and androgynous models they use online, but quite different on someone who is a more average height and shape. Definitely worth trying on.