But what has actually influenced your wardrobe shopping choices?

[DeHumanaeMentisApatheia]

There are intermittent threads asking for lists of where people shop - I’m not sure how compelling these are for readers. (And where the OP takes no active role in the thread it’s hard to believe they’re not just some sort of AI generated thing.)

Surely the crucial thing is what shapes a person’s tastes and preferences - all the more so for mature women who have more hinterland. Whether that’s your parents’ interests when you were a child, or shopping with friends as a teen, or a revelation at university or in early jobs. As much as life stages, health, environment, finances.

My ‘reading Vogue from 13’ history is all over S&B.

What influenced you, before ‘influencers’? And how does that affect how you shop now?

And as for Spitalfields Market ... I can't go there now on the rare occasion that I'm down in London. It upsets me too much.

Even 10 or 15 years ago, people said that Portobello was in decline. But I still really loved to visit it. I haven't been back of late. I do hope it's still worth a visit as I really want to go there on my next trip - for old times sake!

So true! Another poster attempted to pull me up on another thread for saying that I found style/fashion life-enhancing - as if how could I? I also find art, food and music life-enhancing, along with many other humans going back thousands of years!

I also was a young adult in 90s London. I used to work off The King's Road and near to High St Ken - I may have bought a lot of clothes, some of which I still have 😊.

I 100% agree with you - style / fashion / clothes are life enhancing & in the same category as art, literature & music etc to me.

We all (mostly) get dressed every day & all clothes are a choice - you can choose bland, invisible clothing on the basis that it's sensible & non-frivolous etc but you are still choosing that.

Why not choose clothes that make you glad to put them on, put a spring in your step, make you feel incredible when you wear them?

I don't understand the puritanical judgement that having an interest in clothes brings out in some people!

@WrongWomen Puritanical is absolutely the right word.

I’ve related before how, in her early years in England, my mother was dismayed to see rows of identical garments in High St stores and used to actively seek out shops with more, if you like, personally made or curated stock . She acclimatised, and I of course grew up in a world of largely mass produced goods.

But it’s getting to me now … If I’m in need of a new thing - a bag, say - I start at the obvious sources and see lots of appealing things produced by global manufacturers. And I find myself unwilling to part with my money, no matter how scrupulously I interrogate their provenance. Then I scrabble about in my brain (or my 70,000 strong photo library) for the name of some tiny producer who makes everything by hand, in the UK. And increasingly that seems to make sense as a satisfying and balanced way to shop for clothes.

I live near Portobello. The street market is mostly junk, and I have the suspicion that a lot of the stuff sold there is more 'vintage' than vintage, i.e. produced in sweat shops to look vintagesque.

However, there are a lot of new resale/vintage shops that have sprung up at the very top end of the road, after the intersection with Golborne Road that are interesting, although not super cheap. And even if you don't find anything, it's worth the stroll for a pastry at Layla.

Does anyone remember Temptation Alley on Portobello?

I think the demise of Camden Passage distresses me the most. I used to take day trips to London on the National Express coach just to go there.

It’s entirely possible that I went in once or twice when I lived in Notting Hill briefly about 30 years ago, or when I lived in Bayswater about 40 years ago - but I have absolutely no memory of it, @certainlycertain. At those points I lived thousands of miles away from my parents, so the dressmaking force was less strong.

Were you a frequent customer?

Camden Passage was glorious. (Early 1980s?)

I agree with you all - we all seem to have a love of clothes.

My DM was like that woman posted up thread ‘Wear the damn clothes’. She believed in looking your best every day. I have tried to live that. During lockdown, when we got a dog and I was traumatised by loss of work and overwhelming childcare, I veered towards that awful athleisure look. But really it doesn’t suit me or I don’t suit it - I’m much happier in classic jeans or chinos and loafers and trench coats.

My whole family and extended family are like this - very in to style, interiors; art; architecture etc. I love visiting the V and A and art galleries; I can equally discuss politics and economics- I don’t see this as exclusive, and I resent that a man can discuss sport without being seen as an airhead but woe betide the woman who is interested in clothes.

Regarding why some people have no interest in clothes, my MIL would have been one of those people. However, as she has gotten older and retired, she has taken a greater interest. I think sometimes people just don’t have the bandwidth for something that they find difficult, like putting clothes together. Her daughter, DSIL, is very interested in clothes and has encouraged her mum to try out colours and new styles. Ironically, DMIL looks way more stylish and happy in herself now as a widowed woman in her 70’s with health issues than she did in her 40’s as a happily married, busy working mum of 3.

Although as I look around my office, I often wonder, why do so many people not care how they present themselves to the world?

My Mum was a great believer in 'if you've got it flaunt it' and was always trying to get me into short skirts and dresses, low cut or cropped tops. In my teens I was a perfect hourglass and I do wush in hindsight I had made the most of it then now I am nearly 40 and misery and McDonalds have put paid to my figure. These days I just go for what I fancy. I wear more dresses than trousers but always wear them with leggings. I have one pair of jeans and one pair of tracking bums. I don't have a lot of money so I look after my clothes or buy cheaply.

misery and McDonalds

Fantastic! 😄

I wonder how much of the disapproval is because, unlike interests such as sewing or baking or gardening, clothes and fashion are largely about personal enjoyment? Is it that, even in our free time, we’re expected to occupy ourselves with nurturing or at least self improving activities? Just a thought.

I live within walking distance of Spitalfields so I obviously pass through there a lot (used to be my daily commute as my office is the other side of Spitalfields to my flat…until they cut my job a few months ago grr) and it is so so different now. It seems to have become a victim of its own success and over the years every independent there has been priced out. Seems bonkers to think that half of it used to be 5-a-side football pitches (!).

I’ve been away a lot over the past weeks so walked through Spitalfields on Friday for what felt like the first time in a while. OMG. It is even more corporate and bland than before. Now there is a Sephora with a (huge) security guard by the door and it just doesn’t feel like E1 anymore. Everyone is so ‘naive’ and middle class and as far from edgy and creative as you can get. (Sorry, sounds very judgy but you know what I mean).

I’m so pleased this thread is still going . My other influences are this corner of mumsnet ! I’d never heard of Cabbages and Roses or Toast and have bought plenty of Toast .
I think I’m pretty easily influenced tbh , I love clothes and I’m probably a bit like a previous posters mother and taking much more interest since I retired . I’ve got more time and I’ve got more money , but I’m worried about the environment , apart from Toast it’s preloved and usually vintage .
In the nineties my mum bought a clothing factory ,she worked there as a seamstress . It was sold to her as such an opportunity , sadly it went bankrupt as the main brand Windsmoor like most others moved manufacturing to China .
Ive never visited Spitalfields market , the big excitement when I was a teen was an art trip to The Barbican followed by free time - we headed straight for Kings Rd . @

@triggers34 I used to work off the King's Road in the 90s - it was definitely influential (and bad for my bank balance!)

Talking to others, either online or in person has also influenced me. I think I'm just really interested in clothes and styles, so I'm always looking out for it unconsciously.

I think you are probably right. It’s a real joy to find someone who enjoys talking about clothes and fashion but it’s rare enough to find them. I was having my hair done earlier in the week and the woman at the station next to me noticed my shoes and struck up a conversation about them and we had a lovely chat about the current fashion week shows and our favourite places to shop. This summer I met a woman in a bar in the west of Ireland wearing a really fabulous (but simple) black dress. I asked her where it came from and she seemed really embarrassed before she said “actually it’s Prada” and then immediately qualified it with but I work in fashion and got a discount. I told her if I had a dress like that I’d wear it every day and she should be proud!

Isn’t it just basic male possessiveness? The unreformed male stamping down on any attempt by their domestic female to enhance her appearance - because she’s clearly only doing it to attract other men. And women who accept this position become angry with any woman who, through an interest in clothes and personal presentation, appears to be exercising more freedom than they can themselves.

So you end up with female posters on S&B making it clear that there should be no reference on the board to clothes that might cost more than garments available to pick up with the groceries at the local supermarket. Any such reference is taken as a hostile act. 🤷‍♀️

In the nineties my mum bought a clothing factory … Surely the opening line of a fascinating memoir, @triggers34 ?

Being seen to have money isn’t particularly acceptable, and I understand that people are struggling. But I’m also not convinced that I spend much more on clothing than anyone else here- I buy a lot second hand and I save up for pieces I want. I would never post that I want 3 new dresses for max £100 spend for example. And there are plenty of people here who spend a lot more than I do on hair, tans, nails, botox etc - which is entirely fine but it’s all about priorities. There’s also a lot of people with far higher budgets than me who think nothing of spending 4 figures on one item of clothing and it that’s how they want to spend their money that’s fine by me, I like to see other women do well.

@TealReader that's so true about priorities. I love clothes and choose to spend money on them (I can't stretch to a Prada dress, unfortunately but great respect to the woman wearing it). I choose not to spend money on tanning or botox, and DIY hair and nails.

Not a frequent customer, but an occasional one - it was an absolute treasure trove of buttons and feathers and trimmings and sequins and ribbons and weird and wonderful fabrics. I'm no dressmaker, but visits there yielded many a school play and Halloween costume for the kids over the years. I should probably duck and cover before saying this, but hot glue guns were an invention of the Gods for those moments.

@quirkychick We lived off King's Road in the mid-2000s and it was anything but inspiring by then.

@certainlycertain by the early 2000s it wasn't somewhere I shopped anymore. It was great in its Cool Britannia era, though.

I'm so enjoying this thread! I haven't commented properly yet - as each time I start to think about what's really influenced me over the years, from childhood onwards, I end up in a complete reverie ...!!

Loving all the reminiscences - it's made me think that a compilation (with photos) would make a really interesting book!

@DeHumanaeMentisApatheia - you could be the Nancy Friday of women's style history, fantasies & dreams!! 😁

It's a terrific thread, thanks op.

Also... adverts! Young people will look at me with pity when I say this but some evenings they really were the best thing on TV. There were two that had a major style influence on me
Sunsilk - had me spending my teenage years trying every way to straighten my thick, wavy/curly hair, including ironing it. (This was well before straighteners came along.) But at least, by the time I got to 18, I'd learned to live with it and later I even came to like it.
Fun fact - the music to that advert was composed by John Barry who also wrote the James Bond theme.

The other was the Charlie advert in the '70s. Even now, I know I've found a good outfit when it makes me want to stride down the street with my hands in my pockets.

Adverts, TV and films have all influenced me too! My grandmother loved old Hollywood black and white films. I'm sure some of my love of vintage, retro, tweed and wool jackets and trousers comes from there.

When I was convalescing for a spell last year I spent weeks watching 1940s and '50s movies on the Talking Pictures channel. I've no idea what most of them were called - I just watched for the clothes. And Rear Window - I watched that so many times I could probably still tell you what Grace Kelly was wearing in every scene.