New Season's Clothes

[PistachioTiramisu]

I have just returned from a shopping trip to buy some new clothes for autumn - I have never seen such awful shapes, colours and designs in most of the shops! For example, cropped culottes? Who on earth would look good in half-mast trousers with leg sticking out from them?? Barrel leg trousers are another horror. Everything is sludge-coloured, apart from the odd bright red jumper - most of the knitwear items are made from the horrible recycled polyester. Even M&S cashmere is all gungy colours this year, apart from a washed out pale pink.

When is this fashion for cropped knitwear going to end? Do people really want to expose their lower back when they bend down or worse still, have a gap between hem of jumper and trousers/skirt??

I came home with nothing!

I went into Oliver Bonas at Waterloo recently , I usually always find something I like in there, not this time. All awful. Looked like 70s fancy dress.

For basics I love the supersoft M&S jumper. It is so comfortable and comes in lots of colours. I want all of them.
As for culottes and barrel leg jeans that's a big fat no from me.

I’ve never been a big fan of trousers, but recently have tried on some barrel legs and culottes and they really suit me! I thought barrel leg were out of fashion now, but would happy if they weren’t!!

I am at a loss as to why you would expect to find decent clothes in sizes, colours and styles that appeal to you, simply by going shopping in physical stores. Brands scarcely bother to show their best stuff in store nowadays, and even if they do, briefly, it’s unlikely to be in your size. And a huge proportion of the best current brands either have no physical presence or just one or two shops in, I dunno - Coal Drops Yard and Marseille.

Try looking online - you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Autumn clothes are always sludge colours. I love it, because they suit my colouring!

Article about this season’s colours.

https://www.whowhatwear.com/fashion/trends/autumn-fashion-colour-trends-2025

Grungy colours often suit me

I do wish you didn’t get such limitations in colours though - because every time your colours are in fashion mine won’t be and it’s such a pain for us all

I think culottes can look really lovely with chunky boots underneath. I don’t have any myself, but I’ve seen women out and about who look great in them. I might try some on to see if they suit me.

Couldn't agree more. I've noticed that. It's horrible. Nothing actually wearable.

I've seen quite a few things I like: culottes, flares, knee length A-line skirts and lots of brown and burgundy.

Absolutely agree, I've found nothing wandering round shops, online is much better.

I don’t really get a chance for browsing in shops but have liked the styles in the catalogues that I’ve seen and online. I prefer interesting textures and looser, more fluid cuts. I’ve found a lot of the florals and feminine dresses a bit too much in recent years, a quite like a compost coloured palette.

I especially like that chocolate brown is back in favour and have my eye on a gorgeous brown velvet dress in Poetry. I’ve also just bought a pair of Brora houndstooth cropped culottes and a cream lightweight cashmere jumper from Me and Em. As PP said, I think they’ll work well with a pair of chunky brown boots. All a bit 2005, but that was a bit of a fashion heyday for me.

I don’t agree at all! I’ve seen lots o want including plum cashmere and wool jumpers, slim flare jeans,suede crossbody etc

I feel your pain OP. I'm mid-search for some autumn clothes.

So far I have found a charcoal wool boucle maxi skirt that will be warm and will go with any number of jumpers & tops.

I've found one white twill cotton blouse I like. And one lovely Fair Isle sweater. Still searching for trousers that don't look absurd. That's after maybe 15 hours of careful browsing.

I don't think I'm the only one who doesn't want pie frill collars, barrel legged trousers or Eco-viscose.

Quite. Hours of browsing. That's horrible. I buy online because of greater choice but I hate not being able to try things on.

I also like barrel legs and culottes- it must be very dependent on body shape! The sludgy colours are less me though, and unlike pp I find it very hard to find stuff on line - the colours and proportions are so much harder to see and I have to send it back.

For knitwear, if you want something that contains natural fibres, is plain (not cropped) and not too fitted then I'd suggest looking in the men's sections. They usually have a decent selection of colours as well.

I wear cropped culottes as I’m 4ft 10 and they are the perfect length for full length wide leg trousers for me. Even petite ones are massively too long.
Not the point of the thread but they are very useful for me!!

The mens section is where I always go if I want a jumper or top that will cover my bum! For some reason even if you size up several times the womens versions always seem too short. Very annoying!

I dont think Id call the autumn colour palette 'sludge' though. Its more muted tones, which Im super happy about as muted tones suit me best!😀
and I love barrel legged trousers. Not too sure on cullottes though (I like quite cropped, ankle swingers but if it gets to midcalf territory then its too short for me!).

One thing I really dont like which seem to be back for autumn is those sleeveless waistcoat tops that button right up (often with a weird belly button gap at the bottom).
I just dont get them....they dont seem to be suitable any sort of weather and unless you are super skinny with toned arms then it just feels like they are designed to advertise your bingo wings.

Hours of browsing is horrible?
Maybe this isn't the thread for me.
Tiptoes away.

I spend most of the colder part of the year dressing for warmth, so although I may or may not enjoy seeing the new fashions on other people I'm mainly interested in the colour palette. Red wine colours get a big thumbs up from me and I'm persuadable on some shades of brown, especially as an alternative to black or blue.

What I'm really hoping for is the return of Mary Janes. They've been hard to find (at least in versions I like) and I find them much more practical than loafers. We high heel refuseniks have little enough choice as it is, so when the fashion gods decree that MJs are only to be sold with riptape, by brands targetting the orthopaedic market it's a blow. By last winter I had simply resigned myself to wearing smart boots whenever I couldn't get away with ex-running shoes.

@Deschampsia I struggle with winter clothes because, like you, I feel the cold so I search for clothes that are wool or wool mix. Not just sweaters but trousers, skirts and dresses.

It's getting easy. Thankfully UK clothing brands have realised heating costs are high and demand for warm, environmentally-sound clothes is rising.

The half-mast trousers baffle me. When were they ever fashionable? If I'd tried to wear those in my youth I'd have been sent to Coventry. I can do without my trousers flapping around my legs.

I can only shop online, it's all gone a bit mad.

Soft, muted colours suit me, and I'm delighted that burgundy (claret, merlot, whatever you want to call it) is back. It's one of my favourite colours.

My issue with autumn/winter clothes is fabric composition. I'm allergic to all types of wool, cashmere, angora, mohair and alpaca, but I still want nice jumpers! Not acrylic or polyester, I like viscose, or cotton (if it's soft and not scratchy). Quite hard to find, due to manufacturers bunging 10% will into a viscose jumper, making it unwearable for me 🙁

For me it’s the sludge colours. They are awful and everywhere. Brown is absolutely everywhere at the moment. Not many people suit it but buy it because you can’t get away from it.

I love Winter clothes. I have just ordered wide leg trousers in magenta and burgundy, a suede jacket and a couple of pretty jumpers. If you call darker colours grungy then go to places like Oliver Bonas and Boden, who do brighter colours all year round.