Toasties - the countdown to Christmas

[Countmeout]

Just getting a thread ready.

That is a lovely photo - loving it (then remembering that I do not suit this colour!).
nephew is at York Uni - will plan a visit once I’m through the winter!

I hope you do get to see your nephew.
DD got an offer from a pretty uni city and everyone said they'd visit, she ended up somewhere else actual equally as fun for a day out and nobody has made the effort except one slightly random cousin. It's turned out to be really memorable and a fun point of connection outside of us, her parents, organising.

I hope so. He’s in the first year so there is plenty of opportunity. His parents met there 😍. I hope your DDs studies are going well, hopefully many friends to entertain her there as well as pleasant visits from the parentals.

There should be a Russell type group for uni towns with a Toast.
Other DD currently has offers from
Nottingham - Toast! But turns out to be a cafe
Two more non toasts
And is waiting on York and Cambridge

All of them will require us to drive past Shepton Mallett, so all strong choices!

😹😹😹@TosstTastic

Excellent!

Has anybody bought one of the ponchos?

I'm 5ft10 and wondering if they would be a bit short on me.

I love the bilberry colour if it is as shown on my tablet screen. Can anybody confirm that the colour is as shown more or less?

Thank you

On another note (and because I'm feeling cross) why don't Toast use both a larger (size 14 or 16) model as well as their customary skinny size 8?

Makes me very cross. I'm a size 14/16 5ft10 and I find it very difficult to envisage what the clothes look like. I live in Portugal and because the import charge and toast UK to Euro conversion is a rip off I have to get friends to bring the clothes out to me from the UK. This often means delays and sometimes I'm not able to return a badly fitting item (or unflattering colour) because it is outside the returns period.

Rant over.

Some of the clothes would absolutely look stunning being a bit more filed out with curves. Harlequin dress was in and out the sale, looks great draped on an hourglass using the bias cut.
Even if they settled on a 12 or 14 that would at least given a central reference point.
It's an industry thing and it would take a lot of unlocking to get me to ignore the I will look like the size 8 waif in that size 18 jumbo cord.

@SaffyRosie and @TosstTastic - I actually raised this at a couple of Kindred meet and greets, but Toast are committed to their extremely tall, very thin/borderline anorexic models in their photoshoots, because that suits their aesthetic. Their response is that they show a range of sizes on the Lives, (which is true).

Some of the web models are actually painful to look at imo, and the clothes look awful. (I am talking of those who look very very thin. I won’t name them, as I know Toast staff look at these threads). Of course, some of them are just young and naturally thin and look lovely.

It would be great if they could show the clothes on the site on people who are a little bigger and/or shorter, just to give a better picture.

It's always been an issue with Toast. It's not just size/weight, it's body shape too. It's perfectly possible to be slender and have breasts, or a small waist with generous hips/arse (used to be me!), but Toast models have always tended toward a flat-chested and straight up and down silhouette.

I remember their actual clothes as being designed with shape though, in the early years. These days, I'd say pretty much everyone has lost the art of tailoring to suit curves of any kind. It's all gone a bit squares and rectangles shaped by drawstrings and elastic. Pattern cutting and seaming and darting to accomodate breasts or waists or hips? Pfft!

Weren't we all zooming in on dresses a while back, trying to work out if they even had bust darts? That would have been unthinkable once upon a time. Trying to work out which garments have shape and which don't is so so difficult.

I admit, I'm observing the rush toward injectables, and wondering if a revival of traditional tailoring techniques will follow in a few years, once there's a general feeling of empowerment about size and shape again. May be wishful thinking?

Odds are good that Toast models will remain the same though!

I agree @Stravaig - even when I was very thin, I was still short with a bust/hourglass figure!

I actually wrote to them years ago, probably 2010 ish. The glorious catalogue went from Parisian bar, velvet Christmas to suddenly all painfully thin models striding through desolate farmland. The swimwear was the worst on goose pimpled ribs.
I wasn't in that zone and literally stopped buying overnight.
Just googled to see the history.
Started in 1997 - PJs from Wales basically
Then in 2000 - French Connection got a stake. That must have allowed them to expand but I'm pretty certain the founders had considerable creative control for quite awhile.
It never looked amazingly profitable, I mean it's not loose change but not was it leveraged to the max.
2018 - french connection finally sell all stake after what looks like at least two years of publically discussing.
Here's an article from the Guardian from last year about the repair side.
Guardian article

I find it helpful to follow the various Toast stores on Instagram - there's also a hashtag - maybe toastbeing? - where people tag if they're wearing something by them - and also here - on this thread, when someone is kind enough to post a pic of themselves!

I forgot, it's Thursday, a new Festive Wishlist!

Sounds like me. I'm 5'3 with BMI 19, but still have boobs and a bottom and am quite curvy.

Good luck to your DD, what subject? DS2 has applied to Cambridge too, for Maths, and is waiting to hear about interviews.

Thanks for sharing that article @TosstTastic - interesting reading. Having met Suzie, I can say that, irl, she sounds very like she does in her interview. She is a very interesting person and has had an extremely impressive career!

Sorry only catching up now - thanks for the new thread @Countmeout

Kate Sheridan has been discounting a product group every day this month, and today it’s 20% off all scout bags if anyone is interested.

@fitzlea - thank you. I'm hoping she will discount the midi totes as I have a hankering for another one

Interesting discussion about tailoring
Bit on the fence though as historically womens clothing has been about control of women's bodies, their shape and the male gaze.
Womens bodies change with childbirth, age and the menopause, elastic waists are a godsend for those who need them.

I'm very happy that we are now " post fashion" and I'm all about practical and comfortable clothes.
Take jeans for example we are all wearing whatever jeans we like- hooray!
Its controlling women and their finances to bring in a new jeans shape every 6 months and tell us we are out of fashion .

I have shape but I don't really go with what is "flattering" in the conventional sense as I'm not interested in what others think about my body, nor do I study other womens bodies.
Does this sweater fit, size, length, sleeve length -omg make the bloody sleeves long enough !
What yarn is used?
Yeah I mostly knit my own
i want natural fibres, comfortable and practical, Im very active, so bending, stretching and living life not worrying about how big my bum looks !
What tailoring means to me is being able to adapt the fit to suit me and I don't think it's realistic to expect any company to be able to meet the needs of a vast array of womens shapes with every garment they make.
Luckily I can do this myself but a good tailor/ seamstress is like gold, I suspect this will make a come back as fast fashion fades and people invest in decent, longer lasting clothing.
Thats my take on it !

What are injectables @Stravaig?
Do you mean weight loss injections?

@faustina I think they might have had the midi totes on already…sorry, I should have posted on here at the beginning of the month! I’d love a giga tote (that was this past Wednesday), but will have to wait till a sale - I decided on The Contents Bag x Emma Paton bag for the moment instead.

@FitzLea yes I saw the giga totes - I have a blue one which is lovely - off to look at the contents bag bags!