Am I unreasonable to enjoy being challenged by my clothes?

[TroubledBloodyMary]

Prompted by this:

Lyst article

and by reactions on a current H&M thread, I’m wondering if I’m the weird one, rather than everyone else on the Style & Beauty board.

To be fair, I grew up reading Vogue, so am perhaps more accustomed to wildly stylised fashion images and exaggerated clothes than someone younger whose yardstick might be an insta influencer pouting in the mirror whilst showing off her beige leggings. But I’m honestly astonished at the number of perfectly unexceptional things - colourful dresses or furry shoes for example - that people react to with horror here. I do sometimes wonder what S&B is for …

I love clashing colours and wearing different types of textures together.

Big bright and bold

But like now, i am navy leggings and blue sweatshirt

we can all like different things - wear whatever you want and i really want those furry shoes

I think you should get them and add some googly eyes to make them extra challenging

I think there is an element of excitement that comes from wearing something that may be out of the norm for you. It doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be scary but it’s different. I think I get what you are saying OP. Sometimes I see something and think it’s not going to be for me but when I wear it, it’s a little bit exciting. Not dangerous but different.

maybe I’ve just always wanted to be that “lady in the amazing outfit” when usually I’m in jeans / t shirt and trainers.

I also grew up on Vogue so you may be on to something.

Ignoring the people deliberately missing the point, I think the article makes a lot of sense. Yes, some of the examples are extreme but I often find that the clothes and the outfits I love the most felt outside of my comfort zone initiallly.

I am regularly guilty of falling in love with an item that makes no sense for me on paper…. It shouldn’t suit my height, or colouring, or perhaps it is very different to the rest of my wardrobe. I do enjoy the challenge of making something I love work for me and surprisingly ChatGPT has been really helpful for that.

I know what you're getting at and I agree that amount of perfectly unexceptional things which are mocked and ridiculed or deemed to be only wearable by size 6 , 18 year old models is surprising.

Although having said that there's challenging and challenging. I didn't think there was anything particularly challening in that article. These CFCL dresses are great
CFCL
CFCL
Yet brands like CFCL, Batsheva, Sister Jane and even Joannie regularly get declared as unwearable.

On the other hand. Almost everything on here would challenge me to the point I wouldn't leave the house wearing it.
Gina Bacconi

I don’t think challenging remotely relates to bright colours! It’s not about bold patterns and clashing. It’s about forward thinking design. It’s then brought back to mainstream by high street designers. If they didn’t look at more forward thinking designs we would not have seasonal fashion.

Someone at CFCL has been watching Popeye

The majority of posters on MN Style & Beauty seem to be VERY conservative with their clothes. Maybe it’s a reflection of lifestyle (lots of mums with kids who are too busy to have time to think about their own actual clothes etc) or where people tend to live, or the majority just want to conform/fit in/not attract attention. Or they just have other priorities/interests. Who knows?

I don’t think there was anything particularly outrageous in that article but I live near Spitalfields/Shoreditch where people can and do wear anything and no-one is the slightest bit bothered. A few weeks ago I walked to my office in the City in the pouring rain wearing a bright green (waterproof) cape and matching green bucket hat and while I didn’t get a second glance in E1, it was a bit much for the folk of Liverpool Street it seems. 😂 My global head looked at me and said “that’s quite a statement”. 🙄Whatever. I actually just wore it because I like it and it was super practical for bad weather and I prefer to walk to work in the rain than squeeze on to the tube. It had nothing to do with “challenging myself” and everything to do with wearing what I like. But it probably helps that I’m tall (5’9) and slim and at an age where I really don’t give a fuck so can carry off most things. Saying that, I was no different in my 20s but just had less money to spend.

There is certainly a leaning towards the safe and high street on these boards. That said there are one or two fabulously creative and stylish posters who keep me coming back!

On the H&M thread what put me off the dress was the fabric- if it had been silk or tana lawn it would have been fabulous.

I completely accept that lifestyle or life stage might dictate a certain conservatism - that’s a fair point, @HundredMilesAnHour, but it still puzzles me when someone who clearly isn’t interested in clothes races to S&B to advise an OP that Debenhams exists. (Not that it does, really.)

I said the same about that dress, @IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle!

You aren't unreasonable to enjoy this. I don't though. My style is very classic and conservative.

Although you're obviously free to wear what you like, people don't have to like it. I almost certainly wouldn't like your self-challenging ensembles tbh. But you do you and all that

Not sure that I would put it in terms of being challenged by my clothes, but I agree that, given the vast array of possibilities, what people actually tend to wear is extremely narrow and made even more narrow by the idea of fashion (in the sense of following trends).

I can imagine a future in which I regularly wear things outside of this narrow range- although for me this would mean dressing more like a character who has wandered in from a DH Lawrence novel rather than wearing a £6k leather shirt, which seems to me just as conventional as anything else-but sadly while I do the job I do, I'm fairly constrained. Roll on retirement. Suspect DH is going to go full Catweazle as well, can't wait.

Can’t you be less restrained outside work, @SevenHundredandFortyThreeThree?

Being stylish and fashionable is also expensive. MN doesn’t have many who splash the cash. There’s lots of Etsy type brands recommended and rarely a brand that would be in magazines as up and coming.

I like those CCL dresses and there is a grey one with pleats that is lovely and very Issy Miyake.

I find florals challenging, personally. No good reason. They make.me itch. Colour is fine.

Ooh I like this thread!

I’m like this to a certain extent OP in that I really like it when I’m drawn to something, objectively, particularly if I can’t quite place why. And then the challenge of making it work. I like having things like this as a little project in my mind in the background.

I’m not a particularly adventurous dresser. But every so often this scenario crops up, when I buy something because I like it sometimes for a weird reason like the length of the skirt is awkward, or there’s texture that means something to me, or in some cases something I wish I’d tried years ago, but didn’t have the confidence.

Appreciate that this is perhaps not exactly what you’re describing, but I love the spirit of the thread. And looking forward to reading more posts.

But I’m honestly astonished at the number of perfectly unexceptional things - colourful dresses or furry shoes for example @TroubledBloodyMary

How many times have you actually worn furry shoes op?

They really are not "perfectly unexceptional".

The most important thing for me is that my clothes make me look and feel my best. Occasionally that might be branching out a bit, but mostly I have done my experiments and don't want a challenge on a regular basis.

I’ve been wearing one particular pair of furry shoes for more than a decade!

Oh, @BreakfastOfWaffles - I’m in my 60s and don’t ever want to feel that I’m done with experimenting. Truly.

They used to be a series of threads on here called Mumsnet Vogue, and whilst they weren’t about particularly out there or challenging style ideas, they seemed to be full of posters with much more broadminded ideas, and a love of style generally (as opposed to the usual suggestions of the same five or six shops that seem to crop up on other threads).

I never want the slightest challenge in clothing.
I want it to cover my bits, be comfortable and clean and easy to launder. I have several items exactly the same to achieve this.
I put it on and I don't want to consider it again until I chuck it in the washing.
I have so much in my life that I prefer than thinking about clothes or make up or home decor.
I speak only for myself.

The designer behind CFCL was a designer at Issey Miyake.

Agree with this. I have enough challenges in my life to think too much about clothing at the moment. I'm aiming for clean and presentable. Before kids I would 'dress up' more. To someone else, their priority might be taking fashion risks and be willing to put the time and energy in. No judgement towards that approach either. When I have more time on my hands, I'm sure I'll get more into it, but currently it's about feeling appropriate and comfortable. I'll give myself a break and say that's good enough for now.