What can I bloody wear?

[HellenicOfTroy]

Ugh. I WFH full-time and feel like I've slipped into a rut of Lucy & Yak cords with whatever sweatshirt or tee and cardigan I see first. (Size 12-14, 5ft7ish.)

I have two pairs of barrel jeans (Levis and Topshop) that I love, a Roake Studios jacket, a forest green cashmere jumper, a denim shirt, a couple of sweatshirts/cardigans (Hush, JL, La Redoute) and plenty of white tees. Other than that I am SO UNINSPIRED!! I'm a bit sick of Insta-mum-slash-kids-tv-presenter, and bored by white tee/crew jumper/gold necklaces, but I just feel completely clueless about what I do want to wear. I know I'll get fairly baffled comments saying "I just wear what I like"...that's the point, I've lost a hold on translating what I like in terms of styles, colours etc into actual clothes I can wear 😳

Colour-wise I tend to wear navy, greys, greens and the odd rust red, oatmeal or tan jumper. I also like a gingham check, and stripes generally (but I can't go back to Bretons 😁). Shoe-wise I wear various styles of trainers in the winter, sometimes dark tan DM Chelsea boots. Thinking more about, I almost feel like Instagram has put me off a lot of styles and outfits because they're so ubiquitous.

I find it much easier in summer - I have linen trousers that I wear on repeat, and cropped wide-leg jeans.i wear those with an oversize striped linen shirt (or wear the shirt over a sundress) and it just seems much easier. I think part of the prob is that I really need a coat with a hood, which sort of de-elevates a lot of outfits.

PLEASE inspire me...what are you wearing for weekends and (fairly casual) nights out at the mo?? )

It's not necessarily relevant but I'm early 40s and prefer to shop second-hand if poss.

I went to work today in navy barrel jeans with a navy t shirt tucked in and DM Woodard boots, having felt similarly uninspired when I woke up.

I have been wearing a pair of wide-leg black trousers (mine are actually Tesco but they are available everywhere) with platform Converse and something with 3/4 sleeves tucked in on some days. Or a thin roll-neck jumper. But I feel like one of those famous people like Phoebe Philo who are famous for a "uniform".

I used to wear midi dresses and a leather or denim jacket until last year but now I feel like I'm cosplaying as a 2019 mum-influencer in THAT Zara dress everyone had.

Edit - I'm 41, size 12 and 5ft4.

How about a cropped tshirt? I’ve got one from ASOS.

@Ninerainbows I feel your pain - this is why I resent Instagram! It gives me whatever's the opposite of inspiration is. Tbh I'd snatch a Phoebe Philo comparison out of your hand at the mo.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain i'd day my tees are certainly more cropped now than they were (I do like a boxy tee), but I only wear them with high-waisted things as I'm not really looking to show off my C-sections/achievements in carbs 😁

Ehhh, I dunno. It looks very intentional and stylish on her. On me in real life it looks like I pulled out 2 items in dark colours and threw them on because they were clean!

I open this thread for inspiration… @HellenicOfTroyhas basically described my wardrobe!

Haha @IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads you and I have deffo been aligned in the past on S&B threads! (I change my username a fair bit)

How do you feel about skirts in seasons other than summer? I always wish I got more wear out of my summer stuff the rest of the year round, maybe I need to stop thinking of my summer wardrobe as off-limits before April.

I think another part of the prob is that I'm so used to shopping on Vinted now that if I go to e.gm JL for in-person inspiration I nearly pass out at the prices. I was very taken with a little quilted AND/OR jacket I saw in autumn, until I realised it was £150!!

Bump for the afternoon S&B-ers

Does anyone else have any stylish thoughts?! My only local place for in-person clothes is Sainsbury's and my lunchtime wander round there was pretty depressing - there was a lot of crap there that will very clearly be in landfill in 6 months. When my kids were small I used to get quite a lot from there as it had a lot of bf-friendly stuff (and was cheap and down the road) but it was wildly uninspiring.

I have 1 skirt. Black needlecord, A line, knee length. I wear it with woolly tights and big boots in the winter, and not at all once it’s too warm for wooly tight. I have the same linen Seasalt dress in 3 colours, which I like to think I wear all summer with birkies and trainers, but actually I’ll wart each one; put them in the ironing pile; maybe iron them once. I’m not a big skirt person really.

I do think there’s an issue with ‘primarily Vinted’ shoppers losing touch with what’s being sold in shops (by which I mean online) both in terms of price and style.

It’s also (forgive me!) quite dull for non-Vinted S&B posters to be asked to make suggestions for the pre-owned aficionados - I’m not on Vinted so don’t know what’s there. Happy to share what’s currently getting most wear in my wardrobe, though - if it helps:

Raey @ Matches - I wore all those things hard, so now only have one very ragged pair of pale green chinos left. Part of me feels I ought to store them lovingly in tissue paper and an air locked bag - but they’re so easy and convenient for fairly scruffy weekend walks through streets and parkland to the cinema in town.

And they go really well with my Grenson boots and Margaret Howell MHL kagool. (Both sale purchases, more or less ancient.) In summer there’s some American Vintage - loose dresses and t shirts.

Quite a bit more MHL - old stuff is weekend or weekday day wear. Newer things get worn to meetings and conferences.

Mixed with knitwear and skirts from La Fetiche and Studio Nicholson and some very old Marni, Sofie D’Hoore, Margiela. And Zara - but that never gets to be old; falls apart within months usually.

I quite like dresses for dressier occasions (or extreme heat). The ones I’m likely to wear most in coming months are from Studio Nicholson, Loulou de Saison, Co Collections, Zimmermann. I like knee high boots with skirts and dresses; block heeled brown from Legres for serious days, ridiculous pointy, shiny black kitten heels from H&M (in the sales😄) for nights out.

I actually buy very little and like things to evolve slowly through my wardrobe from Very Important Going Out to gardening wear. (And I worship Phoebe Philo!)

In fairness we're probably about 4 weeks too early for any decent summer stuff in places like Tu at Sainsbury's (who I do love). They've launched a load of pale and pink knitwear and immediately reduced it all, plus it's full of the reduced January fitness gear.

(Just realised, as I didn’t spell it out in words, the purpose of all my rambling was that you could probably find all the brands I mentioned pre-owned, if any of them appealed to you. I mostly buy in the sales.)

Thanks @ScoutOfTheSoftHeartsClub, I'm definitely stuck in a rut in terms of brands on Vinted and there plenty there I haven't heard so I'll have a virtual rummage! (To note, I wasn't really asking for anyone to comb second-hand sites for me and make suggestions based on that - it was just context! What I was after was suggestions of what outfits and brands people are enjoying now, and that's what you've done so thank you 😃)

Skirt-wise, I've seen a lovely pleated chambray-ish midi on another thread that would get a lot of wear from me but I haven't found anything similar yet.

I called in to M&S yesterday very briefly and whilst there was a lot of pleasingly 80s stuff, so much of it felt like workwear to me. Also a fair few nice-things-in-unsuitable-fabric, which I always think M&S do well 🙄 (i.e. badly).

Coming back to this I have decided to just embrace kids-TV-presenter for now - currently wearing a cobalt blue jumper which matches my blue and yellow Puma Palermo's - but I did buy some cropped Levi 501s in black on Vinted last week (length 26 so really cropped) and this has helped massively because they look good with something tucked in and with something over the top of the waist. This is something I have struggled with due to a lot of jeans having so much bulk around the top!

Ahh it's great when you find a good pair of jeans, @Ninerainbows ❣️ I love my barrel leg Levis with little cinch press-studs on the waist, so you can make them more snug. If you get the right size they're effectively little after-dinner stomach relievers 😁

Off to a big and fairly stylish city this weekend and looking forward to some quality people-watching!