The Leeds Look and regional microtrends

[neverhappenedtopablopicasso]

Lighthearted, but...

Right, I know people will wear this outfit in other places, but I live near Leeds but travel a lot for work, and in the summer in Leeds I see so many women wearing specifically a knee length bias cut skirt in polka dot or ditsy floral, with a white slim cut t-shirt. I hardly ever see it anywhere else, but I just counted 4 in 10 minutes in Leeds. Didn't see any in York the other day. Going to Manchester tomorrow and keep an eye out. Is this a Leeds Look? Am I imagining it?

Got me wondering if there any other microtrends that are tied to a particular city? I don't mean cultural stereotypes please, just actual observations.

Well, I'm not from Liverpool and I am quite old but I do have a pair of these. I like the look of them but they are not as comfortable as I'd hoped.

I've noticed a few short ra ra type skirts recently, on young gals with skinny legs. That was in Birmingham.

Update: I live in Leeds and my polka dot skirt I was making is now finished. I’ve gone off trend and it’s not cut on the bias but it is knee length.

I have teens who love theirs so id be excommunicated if I wore them too!

I made a leopard print knee length bias cut one, but it creases horribly so is a pain (serves me right for buying cheap market viscose).

In your opinion. I love them and they’re the comfiest shoes I own.

Can't think of any off the top of my head, but when I was young my Nan lived in Liverpool and we lived down south, and she often used to send us clothes that "all the young girls up here are wearing", and some of them were wild (to us). My favourite were the stripey knitted ponchos she sent us one year. We couldn't believe anyone would wear them, until we visited her a few weeks later and saw that yes, all the girls really were wearing them. I grew to love mine!

The length of that skirt seems very adjustable!

I live in Hull's "muesli belt" and went across the river last week. Even within the same city there are micro dress codes.

The river really does divide the city in such a strange way.

I have noticed that there isnt as much variety in student dressing though which is kind of sad. I used to like playing "spot the freshman" in September.

Yes this is the uniform I recognise in London - wide leg linen trousers or jeans. Nice clumpy sandals or trainers ☺️

Of course, but even though I can see the appeal of regular Converse hi-tops but wouldn't wear them, I think the platforms are awful.

Don't really like hi tops of any kind really but the regular platform converse are lovely

Can't see it, but we're allowed to not agree on everything.
I have all shoes I love but you might shriek in horror at them.

Oh god, do you have pairs of those irregular choice monstrosities or, god forbid, a pair of walking sandals 🤣

It's interesting because I live in Liverpool but never see anyone wearing converse platform hi-tops. I have the platform trainers but don't see them around much either. Then the was the pp that said all the adult men wore full footie kits which is just laughable and noone that lived here had ever seen this. When you're wandering around Liverpool as a tourist thinking ooh I've seen 2 pairs of converse, everyone here wears converse, those people could be from Brazil, or Italy, or Hull. Liverpool has 60 million visitors a year. One of them may look at your shriek worthy shoes and think that only people from Liverpool wear them 😊. It's not something that living here I've observed.

Same with London. What people are observed wearing in Oxford St, Regent St & Covent Garden isnt probably much of a reflection of what Londoners wear day to day

I’m not sure there’s any such thing as a Londoner. But I think that’s true of anywhere to be honest. All the discussions on this thread are about a subset of a community anywhere.

It's not true of anywhere as there are many, many places in the UK that don't have much, if any, tourism so its easy to spot generalisations in terms of what people are doing and wearing.

It's just interesting to me that some people, as a tourist, will look at what another group of tourists are doing (kitting themselves out in full footie kits) and then think that all adult men in that place do same. As if they are the only tourists observing day to day life.

But everywhere has groups within its community. People of different ages, backgrounds, interests. Eg in Leeds we’re clearly talking about a section of society that resonates with the OP. Fair enough, but it’s not all Leeds!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I’ve not been too impressed with some fabrics to be honest. Lots of faults, poor descriptions on websites. It’s a little frustrating. I’ve ordered Indian block print fabric and that came with a big repeated thumb print in a totally random colour so have complained. Might have to nip to Leeds market and see if they still sell fabrics.

Oh god, do you have pairs of those irregular choice monstrosities
Certainly not!

or, god forbid, a pair of walking sandals 🤣
Yes, but I bought them because they were very cheap (usually a mistake), and I have never worn them.
The charity shop will probably get more for them than I paid.

I have some "walking" sandals because I walk in them. I also have a couple of pairs of sandals that I wear to go out in.

Interesting! What sort of age were the women wearing them?

I agree with a PP about dresses in London, Iast summer I wore a dress there and felt so out of place. Every other woman seemed to be in black trousers, probably in summery or linen material but still.

A few weeks ago we got the Eurostar to Lille (was very warm) and I preferred what people were wearing there, especially the younger women in comparison to London- more colour, skirts and dresses, nice accessories and put-together outfits. When we got back to London it really stuck out how many teenage girls were in black and grey and joggers.

That's annoying. Yes, definitely better if you can see and feel stuff before buying.

Going back to the OP, the "Leeds look" is also the "Athens look" and it looks lovely wherever you are 😊