A stylish person you once saw who you can't forget

[iCod]

Me, Southwest West France about 1979
We were still agog by topless women, but there was this one woman who had a gold chain around her tiny waist and she looked brilliant and I just thought today she must be dead by now
Who do you remember seeing that made an impact?

Oooh I saw someone today… probably late 40s, tall and slim, floaty white dress, coloured bracelets , ankle chain, Birkenstock type sandals but prettier, delicate tattoos covering one arm, messy hair piled high on her head , no make up, big silver hoops- omg she looked amazing - I wanted to follow her and find out everything about her!!

A woman in Venice in 2014, who had a black dress, khaki parka and brogues on. She looked fantastic and I tried to recreate that look (badly)

Visit to Milan .

everyone was stylish . Little scarf here , cute jacket there .
Not a fleece , trainers or nude coloured lounge wear in sight !!!

I was in London on a tube years ago. The man sitting opposite me was incredibly good looking. He was wearing a suit with a coat over it. His clothes were immaculate and obviously very expensive. I would have loved to know what he did and what his life was like.
I still occasionally think about him.

I tried brogues once… I felt like Mr Marvellous

A man I once saw at a railway station. He was very attractive.

I described him to my adult child when I got home. I said he was very stylishly dressed (good shoes, knee length tweed coat) and said he looked like an athlete but, given that I'd seen him coming out of a Burger King, probably a retired athlete.

I said he reminded me of a young Justin Fashanu. adult child googled a bit, then showed me a picture of the very man. Retired boxer, but my! That man was tasty 😁.

A woman at the bus stop a couple of years ago. She had on a linen shirt dress with a large pink floral design on a green background, a green linen jacket, pink hi-top converse, straw hat with a pink ribbon round it, and the best jewellery - silver chunky rings, silver crocodile earrings, and loads of chunky silver bangles that looked like they might be Indian. She didn’t look eccentric, she just looked incredibly put together and stylish. I wish I had told her but didn’t want her to think I was patronising her. She really made me feel like I had to start making more of an effort.

Another woman I saw on the tube. She must have been about late fifties. She had on faded black twill trousers with a turn-up and a gorgeous khaki trench coat, and big blank ankle boots. Doesn’t sound special but she wore it so well - just effortlessly stylish and I’m still trying to recreate that look.

years ago, she must have been in her 70s if not 80s, had this sleek shiny grey bob, wearing tailored trousers and long coat with elegant accessories, tasteful make up. But what I remember most was how she moved - she was so graceful and clearly very fit with great posture. I decided I want to be just like that when I grow up.

Mrs Watts used to run the other Brownie unit and would come into the infant school to help children learn to embroider. She was expert in polite conversation, invited groups of children to her house for tea where they'd learn to sit at a table, make tea in a bone china pot, use the nicest cutlery and cups, nibble at arrowroot biscuits whilst Bach or suchlike was playing in the background and at the first hint of a child's sadness or thinking they could fail, would always answer with a suitably encouraging reply. When I was slumping around the place, she decided that today would be the day that we learned how to stand and walk like graceful dancers (and brought out some slim hardback books from her full bookcase for us to balance on our heads). She promised that she'd teach me a little bit of ballet and gave me a book showing the positions and terms when I was clearly the most enthusiastic about this.

She was small, probably around 5 foot tall, wore cream and beige clothes, a dark polo neck jumper in winter, wrap cardigans in spring and autumn, all looking immaculate, a perfect fine gold chain around her neck, a narrow gold watch, slim gold rimmed glasses with a slight cats eye that suited her perfectly, carried a dark brown leather handbag and had the most perfect, pure white bob, glowing skin with the faintest smattering of pale gold freckles on her cheeks, along with perfectly cool toned lipstick, neat eyebrows and long, dark eyelashes. She wore a gold wedding ring and a diamond solitaire on elegant hands (with the slightest hint of swelling in the knuckles) and perfectly neat, oval nails with pale pink varnish on them.

She would glide effortlessly from classroom to activity area, leaving a faint scent of flowers wherever she went and never seemed flustered or impatient or raised her voice, but would smile, revealing perfect white teeth as the skin around her green eyes crinkled slightly.

I thought she was amazing (hence why I was able to remember so much about her appearance, as I was fascinated by her) and like nobody else I'd ever met.

My mother despised her with every fibre of her being.

I always thought that if my hair went white, I'd try and look like Mrs Watts. Sadly, I doubt that even with white hair, I'd ever be as lovely and elegant as Mrs Watts.

A guest at a friend's wedding in 2001. She wore a boat-necked, gun metal, grey dress with a slight sheen, it was a mid-calf length, pencil skirt style and a very large, grey hat with a big silk bow, honestly, the epitome of elegance. She was very slim and it fitted her perfectly. I still remember that dress now, more than what the bride wore.

Another was while I was waiting in traffic and there was an Indian wedding. A young woman left the building to cross the road to the car park. Her dress was a similar colour to the last dress that Nicole Kidman wore in Moulin Rouge, the colour and the sparkles, it was summer so the light caught the dress perfectly. I had to stop talking to my husband to watch her run across the road in that dress. I kept saying, she looks so beautiful, look at her dress! . Totally wasted on a man. I needed another girl with me to appreciate how she looked. I regret not calling over to tell her how amazing she looked.

Quentin Crisp. I passed him in the street decades ago. He had such presence and was so stylish that even the air around him seemed gilded.

Another train station one.

The person wasn’t conventionally pretty, but she wore a black jumper with red thin stripes on it, and a red lipstick. For someone who was fairly plain in her attire (jumper and jeans) , her lipstick just gave her that finishing touch. Can’t really describe it. Instant girl crush (I’m straight). (23 years ago).

There's a woman in my town who looks amazing every time I see her. She could be going to the shops, catching the train, whatever, she always looks great. Her style is very Margaret Howell, though I don't know the clothes well enough to know if that's what she's actually wearing.

A woman in NYC about 2009. She walked up to cross a main road, she had the most beautiful pale translucent skin, red lipstick, a black trilby & coat. She was truly stunning and I must’ve only seen her for about 5 seconds. She came straight into my mind when I saw this thread.

Wow! Just wow!
Why did your mother despise her?

A woman in a cafe. Everything she wore was just perfectly coordinated. She had on beautiful trendy trainers or Converse in a lovely orange or yellow colour which matched her top. Her hair was immaculate, everything about her was perfectly coordinated and she just looked lovely.

A woman in the vets waiting room in the 90s

She wore wide legged blue linen trousers, a white sleeveless cotton top and Birkenstocks. Shoulder length blonde hair, battered brown leather bag.
She looked so put together and stylish I was in awe.

The older women lunching at the Prado cafe in Madrid. So elegant and pretty. Tailored beautifully cut clothing in colours that suited them. Nicely done hair. Made me sad at contrast with old ladies in U.K.

Sounds like my next door neighbour who died last year aged 95. Still doing her yoga and tai chi until a few weeks before she died.

My super stylish person would be an older lady that I saw wearing a ringer T shirt, jeans and converse but she had great hair, make up and poise and looked like she could have been a model in her younger days.

Princess Diana.

😂😂😂

Literally everything about her, her appearance, her behaviour, her attitude towards children, her home, her education, all of it was the complete opposite to my mother (apart from height).

I probably didn't help by talking about her so much, either - 4-7 year olds aren't known for tact and I'm sure that 'Mrs Watts has little cups with flowers on and a saucer', 'Mrs Watts says there's no such word as 'can't' and I just haven't learned to do it yet', 'Mrs Watts listens to nice music with piano, can we listen to that in the morning instead of your music, she says it's Radio 3 and I really like it', 'Mrs Watts' house is really clean and smells nice, she says maybe I could help you' must have grated somewhat.

A woman at a wedding about 20 years ago. She had red curly hair in an up do with tendrils that fell perfectly and she was wearing a long turquoise dress with a slit up it covered by a floor length burgundy fur coat. Totally inappropriate for a wedding looking back but she looked so striking and fabulous!

Jay Rayner. The first time I crossed the road with him coming towards me he had 'it'. I had to ask my friend who it was.

Years passed. The second time, different road, he didn't have 'it', but gave me the 'you looking at me?' stare, which was fair enough.

...

My mother. Science degrees hidden under clever performative dress sense, hair and makeup that suggest something else. I tried forgetting her, but we have a truce now. As the years pass I see myself turning into her, but without the AbFab Patsy escaped from Dnipropetrovsk style. No way can I pull that off.

...

A woman buying a man's leather belt in El Corte Inglés when I was at university in Spain who radiated charismatic style that almost cast an aura.

A woman in Biarritz who was at least 80 but could have been 100 for all I know. She had the most beautiful grey haired chignon, was tiny and her posture was that of a ballerina. I can't even remember what she was wearing but I just remember thinking she looked fantastic. I was carrying my 7 week old while DH was slightly ahead with our 14 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old and she turned to me and said something in French that I didn't quite grasp and then said, "You are a very blessed woman" with this gorgeous French accent. Not only did she look fantastic, she apparently knew the thing I needed to hear that day and I've never forgotten her 21 years later.