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?

This is a really interesting thread.

I’ve recently worked out/realised that I have to dress for the persona I’m in on a particular day. Capsule wardrobes don’t work for me because I need clothes that fit my moods and personality shapes, and if I wake up not knowing or not having what I want to wear available, I feel wrong in everything else.

I’ve also recently started paying attention to th feel of clothes and discovered that I really like feeling held, so rather than my Freya and Fantasie bras I now wear Manners London tops under everything (or as the main top). I don’t like cheap polyester, I really like natural fibres, but some acrylics are ok and also the ‘natural but made’ fabrics like Lenzing or viscose.

As for style influences, I see people embodying an ease in themselves that I want- or a persona that I employ- so I admire and am influenced by some advertising campaigns, like Slow Love, Free People, Studio Om, Imbodhi; by people like 90s Winona Ryder, Stevie Nicks, my sister, a woman at my work who I see but don’t know.

I’ve never been able to stick with looks that use corporate suits, that country-casuals look, dresses or skirts (very very occasionally I wear a dress or a skirt, but it’s really rare). At work I follow dress codes but with a velvet or linen jacket rather than a suit jacket; trousers with elasticated panels at the waist; adding accessories to smarten the overall look rather than choosing something I don’t feel right in. That sort of thing.

Finally there is practicality: my clothes often have to work for multiple different jobs and purposes in one day, so while I do change clothes if necessary, I also like outfits which can work in different contexts (eg go to the gym as well as to lunch or work).

I know exactly what styles suit me. Necklines, lengths, sleeve length etc and which colours. I hate be uncomfortable. I never wear jeans -lots of experimentation tells me they're just not for me.
Never shoulder pads. Never sports wear.
My style is boho but I can be a bit of a chameleon and go very classic also.
I'm now actively trying to buy only natural fabrics for summer wear.

Oh and I am likely to purposely not wear the latest high street fashion.
Too dull and conforming for me!

But what has brought you to this point, @FindingMeno? Rebellion against a drab school uniform? A gap year in India or work secondment to California? Something else?

Another aunt - who wasn’t a seamstress - bought me a crimplene dress with a zip up the front for my 11th birthday. I adored that dress. Looking back, I think there might have been a bit of rivalry between her and my sewing aunts

I have always had a really strong love for pattern, but particularly paisleys, and also a particular type of ditsy floral (that I have realised over the years doesn’t suit my personality). These must surely come from now-forgotten childhood outfits that made a big impression on me.

Other big influences have been: poring over photos of my favourite musicians as a teenager - which included the sequins and womenswear/menswear fluidity of the English glam rock period, the cool minimalism of the post punks, plus the indie era in which I actually grew up.

1940s knitwear, Eastern European folk costume, menswear, central Asian pattern mixing, and the ensembles worn by Gypsy women in decades past have also had a huge impact on my clothing choices.

It’s taken many years to refine all these loves, and to allow for a less is more approach. Also finding out what shapes suit me. Many years and much wasted money on clothes that, magpie-like, I would choose but that wouldn’t actually represent me well in practise.

I also love seeing what other women wear and can be massively inspired by a thoughtful choice or colour I see out and about.

I think its because I have always circulated among eclectic/ eccentric people and I find the boho vibe freeing and swishy and quite practical in its lack of constriction.
I also get an icky feeling when I see people one by one following the latest trend. I just dislike lack of individuality in both clothing and thought process.
I also dislike garish "look at me" stuff, however, such as neon colours, very overtly sexy, or sequins.

Whereas I absolutely adore seeing people (particularly in everyday life) wearing the latest fashions. 😂 A guy in the bakery in a pillbox hat; a woman getting off the bus in a new shape of boot; another on the train in exaggerated balloon trousers. It just makes me happy. I suppose it’s the communication of intention: I really wanted to wear this. (Which is odd because I generally want my own clothes to look as if I’ve been wearing them for years - even though they’re inevitably bought from fashionable shops.)

I also love daytime sequins! So cool.

Quite like things to be a bit drab and faded for evening - as if they’ve been unearthed from a long-forgotten trunk and lovingly restored just for tonight. Like these: