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?

@EleanorMc67 - yes, I’ve seen the film! (Traumatised for months afterwards.) My first thought when I saw her reference was Bold move …

I may have misunderstood @certainlycertain but I think it’s knowing or realising that there are certain things you’re perennially drawn to- like kilts, or flares, or waistcoats- so when spending a bit more, there’s a really good chance that you will still like the thing throughout its life. You may be doing the same thing in your process but with a different starting point?

For example, I made and wore a waistcoat for myself when I was 16; I’ve owned several since and currently have 2 and my eye on 2 others. If I were to spend a lot on one made of silk, or suede, or something else, I probably won’t regret that purchase at any point because it’s a style I’ll always come back round to. However, I have tried skinny jeans several times and ended up giving them away or selling them each time. Therefore I wouldn’t buy an expensive pair now, because chances are I’m being influenced by a fad, and will probably go off them.

Thanks for the fascinating thread. I’ve enjoyed reading it all (twice) and have been pondering my own style influences. These aren’t too dissimilar from some recounted by other posters. An early love affair with Laura Ashley when my mum cut one of her dresses down for me to wear. Grandma who made her own evening wear. A love of books about historic costume. Not much money when a teenager but loads of cheap clothes from jumble sales and vintage coats from relatives who had passed away. A little bit of post punk music influences thrown in and some home made skirts mixed with rather expensive things from Kensington market.
Then on to the corporate world where most of the clothing budget went on expensive suits from Austin Reed in the hope that I would be taken seriously. A bit of weight gain made me fall out of love with dressing up for a few years, which brings me back to the post I’ve quoted above. I’m wondering whether a lot of our (as a nation) taste for cheap and casual synthetic clothing is related to our increase in size. I don’t enjoy shopping for clothes when I’m overweight and I’ve seen many posts on here where people mention buying a whole new wardrobe when they loose weight and saying how much they enjoy it. Just a thought anyway. I don’t think it’s due to the cost of living. The immaculately turned out South African shop assistant who lives in a shanty town or the Italian cutting La Bella figura despite multi generation living in an apartment are examples to the contrary.
Bringing my own style journey up to date there was a move to the country bringing mud and weather into the picture. Dressing more practically became necessary. No suede boots for me. I bemoan the lack of opportunity to dress up now, particularly as if I do sit there in a long strappy dress and heels in a restaurant I’m sat next to someone who looks like they’ve just been for a nice outdoor walk.

Read it all twice?! I like your style. 💀

I dunno … Puritanism? Utilitarianism? Empire? (The British feeling so superior to the rest of the world they don’t need to make an effort to dress well? But then, Savile Row …) An Englishman’s home being his castle, as I suggested above?

In an earlier thread of mine a few years ago I mentioned that one thing I found particularly distasteful was that the legions of posters protesting the loudest that all clothes should be bought from the supermarket or charity shops (except for a wedding, which required Hobbs or Phase 8) were probably the same ones whose husbands spent at least a billion pounds a month on their cycling gear. It was only speculation based on all the I do everything at home; all the cooking and cleaning and presents for in-laws, on top of working 96 hours a week and raising seven children and I haven’t bought anything new to wear for fifteen years … threads.

The whole structure does still puzzle me, though I’ve pretty much given up raising it on S&B threads.

Oh, but fuck 'em, @Itsnouse !!! Let them sit there in their fleeces & leggings!

Coincidentally, I saw this Instagram post today & it made me think of your lament about dressing up for dinner. As she says, "Wear the damn clothes"!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdhEE1wDW4C/?stkn=MjJocjAybjN1b2J0

I’ve been thinking about this thread and my seamstress roots and exactly how that influenced me because it didn’t turn me into a sewer - I sew a little but I don’t have the skill or the patience to do it well. But I think it instilled into me the belief that clothes and getting dressed mattered and were worthy of being taken seriously.

I feel very out of place on this board sometimes with its ‘who cares what you wear’ culture and censorious attitude to anyone who does care. I’ve vowed to give it up more than once although I doubt anyone’s noticed as I rarely last out more than a day or two

I’m glad you don’t @Floisme as you always have something interesting to say. @EleanorMc67 I love that photo and I will continue to wear the damn clothes.

Due to the overlap in our style references it strikes me that we are all of a certain age. Does that give us the knowledge that there is more to dressing than clothes from the supermarket because we have lived experience of it? Are the nobody cares what you wear cohort similarly middle aged? Are they really just saying nobody looks at me anymore and nobody wants to look at you either.

Fascinating. I've always hated the 'no one cares what you wear' attitude too.

I do! I care. I care about what i wear & i absolutely notice what others wear. All the time. I have never once felt too busy or distracted not to notice - on the streets, in shops, in work, cafes, restaurants, pubs, theatres, cinemas, galleries, museums, airplanes, airports, city hotels etc. I frequent all of the above v regularly

I travel a lot (work & pleasure) mainly to european cities for events. And overall i think people are better dressed.

Mainly because you generally see less gym style clothes being worn as a regular outfit

Less joggers / scrunch-bum leggings (i detest these), less fleeces etc

A lot more good leather shoes, boots, bags. Great scarves with proper coats etc

When I was younger I did see clothing and fashion as something less worthy of my time and spent far less time and effort on choosing what I’d wear. And as a result I never felt quite comfortable in myself. Now I spend time thinking about what I wear and how I want to feel in my clothes. I have quite a stressful job and having clothes that I’m really comfortable in which look good is one less stress for me to deal with. If I feel like my clothes are me and are representative of the me I want to project on a given day I will be more able to deal with the world. Which is important to me.

WrongWomen I also notice what people wear. I don’t judge but I do love to see what people are wearing out and about and can be inspired sometimes, more so than I would be on social media where everything feels much more curated. Almost every morning on my drive to work I pass a woman walking who dresses really quite simply but always looks really put together and comfortable in herself. She seems perfectly dressed for any weather and I find myself thinking about emulating her outfit formulas when I’m shopping/dressing.

Sometimes I think it is a good attitude to have as thinking that everyone is paying attention to your clothing could put you off wearing something you love or that feels very 'you'.

Of course people notice, including, and maybe especially, the people who don't care about how they dress.

Or who say they don't care ... however, actively not caring about what you wear is, IMO, a fashion (or rather anti-fashion) statement in itself.

Absolutely, and people like that have often commented on what I wear!

Having two older sisters - and our mum liked to dress us alike, particularly in Sundays for church. And she was frugal (we weren’t well off), so when I grew out of my own home-made green dress, there was my sister D’s waiting for me. And when I grew out of hers, there was sister S’s. There were ten years between us, so it felt as if I wore the same garments (albeit sometimes swimmingly large) for my entire childhood. When my school friends sported the new trends (dresses with tassels, tank tops), i
couldn't compete because there really was no
money for anything that wasn’t hard-wearing and serviceable and essential

as a result, I am a hopeless clothes magpie. I spend far too much , can’t resist a bargain (that’s my
mum coming out), and try to keep up with trends. I’m
line a child in a sweetie shop

After reading the article someone posted earlier, I found myself agreeing with a lot of it.
I tend to buy clothes which hide and cover up parts of my body. For example I only buy clothes which are below knee length. This tends to mean that all my dresses are quite long. I also buy larger tops as I don’t want to highlight my chest in anyway. I really hate wearing a bra and would love to be much thinner with a smaller breasts.
I recently bought 2 sleeveless dresses which is a first for me. For the last decade I have avoided anything sleeveless, I didn’t want my less than perfect arms exposed. But who says my arms aren’t perfect?
For the first time in years I bought a bikini. Previously I had alluded to the fact that I must cover up as much as possible. Who sets these rules? I see overweight men all the time with their fat guts exposed in swimwear. Nobody is pressing them to hide their bellies.
I suppose reading the article made me realise that I buy clothes to hide my body.

Being bullied at school for not having nice clothes (neglectful rather than poor parents) was a big influence in me wanting to look good.

I spent the 90s at university/working in London and a lot of time was spent in the subterranean floors of the big Topshop. I miss it so much.

I am now in my fifties and like stuff from Cos, and clothes that are a bit unusually shaped. I think ‘classic with a twist’ prob describes me. Hate all patterns on me. My husband likes Jermyn St. We are very into style and enjoying clothes even as we approach 60. It pains me to see my young adult kids slobbing about in oversized grey tracksuit bottoms! But that is of course their fashion and it’s their time!

Bunty was clearly for the cool kids 😂 My cut out dress-up figure was the lovely Twinkle from Twinkle Magazine (I loved David who drove the toy ambulance too). I bought my daughter a vintage copy for her 21st birthday!

More fascinating posts!

I am the oldest sibling … But, as far as I remember, my parents must have been rather careful about avoiding hand-me-down traumas. If my mother made something herself she would make one for each of us at the same time. The same with bought clothes for out of school. As for uniform, which we all wore throughout our school careers, mine would have been worn to shreds so they wouldn’t have wanted things to be passed on. (Also, with the passage of time, locations and schools and fashions changed so there weren’t long stretches of years where we all needed or wanted the same items.) So, looking back, aside from unimportant things like vests and socks or whatever, no younger sibling of mine wore much of my stuff unless it was something they actually coveted.

I remember Twinkle! And now recall that for some reason Bunty was not favoured in our house for a while. (Could it have been akin to a ‘BBC not ITV’ thing? Blue Peter was pretty much our lifeblood, but we only turned on Magpie, furtively, if our parents weren’t around.) So I had Twinkle and Diana and eventually had to plead for Bunty. It’s all too long ago to fathom … )

I spent the 90s at university/working in London and a lot of time was spent in the subterranean floors of the big Topshop. I miss it so much.

It’s funny to think how many of us on this thread, and S&B generally, must have brushed past each other there!

But when I think of how gloriously exciting the interior of that shop was - it’s extraordinary to contemplate the drab grey warehouses that pass for shops these days.

This look from YMC’s latest collection is making me laugh so much. It’s exactly how I’ll be dressed this autumn, until my heavy coat takes the place of a kagool. I just cannot do ‘neat’ or ‘fitted’ so must accept AI’s description of my style as ‘luxury scarecrow’.

I know! I tell my young adult kids about the 90s high street like it was some golden era 😂

Did anyone go to Hyper Hyper in High St Ken? It had a little train carriage in it, from my memory!

Yes I did @ForceFieldFan I bought a tailored long black hobble skirt and a puff sleeve scoop neck collared blouse. I often wonder whether it was made (since they were hand made) by someone who went on to have a career in fashion. It was unlike anything else that was available at the time. Sadly damp student accommodation meant it got mildewed and that was the end of it.

Oh good, I am not going mad! I bought a dress for my 21st from there. I have to say, it was orange with frills and really was not flattering and I have no idea what happened to it.😂

Also yes to Hyper Hyper. Can’t recall what, if anything, I bought there myself, but a friend was obsessed with the place so we always met there, and spent hours wandering around.

High Street Ken used to be fantastic for shopping, especially the charity shops! I took dd there a couple of years ago and there were almost no shops worth looking at- a really sad decline.

Even Camden isn’t as good as I remember it being back in the day. I should probably avoid Portobello so I can keep my memories of it alive 🤣