I have a very important question to ask about UK style....

[EconomyClassRockstar]

What is with all the dresses?!! Especially the flowery ones. I've just got home from 6 weeks back in the UK and I've never seen so many women in ugly dresses in my life! Is it just because they're cooler in the heat or has Me+Em just brainwashed the entire country?

This is meant pretty tongue in cheek before everyone starts coming at me with their pitchforks...which they're entirely dressed appropriately for! 😂

Off topic but i do like seeing how people dress for the heat in other countries.

Oh no! Please don't feel weird or strange 😧!

This is the more common experience 😂

Which is why when the sun does come out and cardis come off to reveal our florals it's particularly glorious.

Too right. Or a “smart tank” top

I am wearing shorts today. Yay!
Not with a tank top, though.

Exactly. Sports wear is for playing sports in!

I think it’s because dresses hide a multitude of sins. And you don’t need to worry about coordinating separates. And it’s a bit of a dividing line because after a certain age roaming about in a beige tracksuit (sorry, co-ord) makes you more invisible than cool.

Once it was decreed trainers looked fine with dresses, there was no going back. No longer were they just wedding attire, you could go for a day out in one. I probably also agree that it displays a certain eccentricity that say the US doesn’t have.

Really tedious I agree.

That poster was trying really hard to be funny and, like the op, failed.

God, yes. I can't bear wearing trainers on a hot day unless I have to. I wear sandals in hot weather. When we had that extremely hot weekend in July (33 degrees where I was) I wore a sleeveless cotton Seasalt dess (pattereed, but not flowery) and Skechers walking sandals while on a city break. I did nearly 20,000 steps in one day and trainers would have killed me.

I was bemused by the dresses

I am really intrigued as to what bemused this poster. They're dresses. What's so confusing about them?

What’s wrong with a flowery dress? Honestly.

Wow! This thread is odd.

Such frothing because someone dared to critise the wearing of flowery dresses!

People are taking it very personally & ironically not at all afraid of thowing out some serious slights to perceived American style!

The cult of the middle aged flowery dress hit a peak about 2 years ago for me when we were driving through our city one Friday afternoon on a nice summers day. We saw some groups of women in flowery midi dresses, bare legs, white trainers, cross body bags & most with denim jackets.

It was sporadic at first but as we got closer to the city centre there were more & more of them. In small & large groups. We came to the riverside outdoor bars & it was a SEA of floral fabric.

I can honesty say i have never seen anything like it. Dh was saying oh it must be some fancy dress thing- they're all dressed the same! (😀)

I couldn't figure it out until we saw signs- Rod Stewart was playing in the city that night - we saw people approaching the venue & it was wall to wall floral & denim.

It was actually v funny to see & reminded me of that scene in Father Ted when all the housekeepers swarm.

I've never seem such an amalgamation of floral / trainers / denim as that night.

I was never drawn to that look but that totally put me off it!

Those women, their choice. I don't understand people frothing at the idea some women want to wear floral dresses. I don't own one, but that's me. If other women choose to, even in large groups, it's up to them.
I hope they all had a great night out!

The thing is though, those women probably still own those dresses and due to the lack of summer here they’re probably still in decent condition. So is the expectation that they’re chucked away/sent to landfill because they’re considered ‘2 years out of date’? I’d rather continue to wear things that may not be the height of fashion than contribute to the planet’s massive landfill problem, partly caused by fast fashion.
Yeah, as a look it was definitely slightly overdone. But I think that’s because women found something they finally felt comfortable in! And if they feel comfortable, and like their outfit, then what’s the issue?

@SomeOfTheTrouble absolutely this

I hear what you're saying but I think if you saw literally hundreds of women all wearing identik outfits at the same time in the same place it would also strike you as strangely disconcerting.

Like the handmaid's tale or similar. It was like a middle aged cult. And the fact that it was to see Rod Stewart, well that was the flowery icing on the cake for me.

It became a very particular British phenomenon & women really went mad for it. But its not a great look. Certainly not en masse

What's amusing me about this thread is the ferocity of defence at the right of British women to wear this 'trend' whilst dishing out insult after insult to Americans.....and not seeing (or caring) about the double standards 🤷‍♀️

Shorts & a sleevless top can look very stylish. As always, depending on who is wearing them. I've been to Sweden & Denmark several times & have soon some effortlessly stylish & elegant woman in shorts & sandals & vest / tank tops there. All golden long limbs etc

Not all shorts or shorts wearers are equal. Neither are all floral dresses or their wearers...

I agree the ferocity is odd. Look for pretty much any thread on S&B about barrel leg jeans / the oversize trend / wide leg trousers / sleeves / linen / M&S / bags costing over £50 / anything from Cos, and you'll find posts that are sometimes witty, sometimes not, sometimes pious, and invariably rude. That's how it is on this board, or at least it is most of the time. I'd love to ruminate on what it is about our national psyche that's caused such a reaction but I've a feeling this isn't the thread.

I am gen x and this is why I love a flowery dress occasionally. One pic represents what I think I look like now wearing the ensemble and the other is what I looked like as a cool grunge fan in my early 20s.<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=images.hellomagazine.com/horizon/original_aspect_ratio/d0ca8c62f069-kate-moss-cosmoss-launch-outfit-z.jpg&tbnid=6fQ_zd5ajBmFeM&vet=1&imgrefurl=www.hellomagazine.com/hfm/20220907150343/kate-moss-sheer-dress-cosmoss-party/&docid=6q6LhjuiVW0O5M&w=417&h=600&itg=1&hl=en-gb&source=sh/x/im/m1/3&kgs=c8428a0ed453385c&shem=isst&ucbcb=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://share.google/bu7UCvZtyuOCYchDJ

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=i.pinimg.com/736x/e6/3b/78/e63b78fc0ae7ade7195ee03093b399e0.jpg&tbnid=7yOhKCFPmpn03M&vet=1&imgrefurl=in.pinterest.com/pin/1108800370730634743/&docid=3o1pX65nT7FXBM&w=640&h=960&itg=1&hl=en-gb&source=sh/x/im/m1/3&kgs=7c560b9e11aa9be4&shem=isst&ucbcb=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://share.google/MBcskqNpnXgVeIysB

@NonHighStreetClothes
Perhaps because British women are fed up with being constantly compared to supposedly more sophisticated Europeans and being told what not to wear. A turning point for me was the Times article I referenced up thread about not looking like a Brit on holiday in a floral midi. Why not?
There also seems to be a bit of snobbery going on (maybe unintentional?) - eg look at these awful British women in their garish dresses enjoying their Rod Stewart gigs.

It became a very particular British phenomenon & women really went mad for it. But its not a great look. Certainly not en masse

Well I guess we need to look at why British women went ‘mad for it’. As I said above, I suspect it is because they finally found a ‘look’ they felt comfortable in. There’s a reason they chose/choose to wear it.
Agree there is definitely an element of snobbery about it. ‘Oh look at those frumpy middle aged British woman with no sense of style, hahaha’.
I was actually brought up mainly in Spain, I am half Spanish and didn’t move to Britain until I came to uni here so have no real skin in the game, but I can’t bring myself to criticise women for wearing clothes they like, and that they feel comfortable in.

Oh there's definitely a lot of snobbery about it.

And what should I wear to work?

Yeah I 100% thought all those women in identical outfits looked ridiculous.

Some other European nationalities definitely do dress in a more elegant & sophisticated fashion.

British women, especially on mumsnet have huge issues with this it seems.

There's literally nothing stopping anyone from dressing any way they like.

Why are people so exercised that others can see & comment on the collective style choices I.e. the don't be a British tourist in floral midi dresses articles.
Any ubiquitous look will attract the same commentary. This isn't new.

The floral dress wearing British women are not shy about commenting negatively on other nationalities style choices.

Floral v non floral
"There's only one way to sort this out! Fight!" 😂

QED