High street fashion is so awful at the moment?

[Moonlightfrog]

Just been into town. Went to Primark, M&S and Next. I am after a winter dress, but primark had no dresses at all, Next only had 2 casual type dresses (both denim shirt type dress), M&S was all brown and beige and over priced.
I don’t have a huge amount of money to spend on clothes, I have gained a little weight (thanks menopause) and my trousers are a little uncomfortable so I wanted a dress that I could layer and wear with tights and boots as it gets cooler, possibly needle cord in a plain colour. I was hoping to grab something in town whilst shopping with dd but the clothes in the shops are just disappointing.

Are there any good online shops with high street prices?

Before anyone suggests vinted, I have been looking but can’t really find what I am looking for…..I’m not even sure I know what I am looking for.

Thanks @WhichDoorIsOut I saw that earlier. I like the shape, but none of the colours are right for me.

I was disappointed that Primark was a sea of brown when I went in there the other day. I was after a lightweight jacket, and today I went round the charity shops and found a nice jacket that's made in Canada! So I know charity shops are hit & miss, but always worth a look, and now I've got something that's perfect and a bit unusual.

I hate how they just stitch “lace” onto things. It makes them look so cheap (which I want them to be but not look ). Ugh.

This has been bothering me more than it should! Surely they can find something better than that INCREDIBLY nasty, cheap-looking stuff. It's everywhere! I'm not expecting hand-made lace on my budget but, since modern synthetics can be industrially 3D printed, laser cut, punched, embossed and pattern-woven, this crap really does seem inexcusable.

I’m not minted but these days I’m deliberately swerving polyester and such like. Vinted and ebay are my go to places for good old fashioned proper real wool, like from a sheep … I particularly dislike thin layering tops or long sleeve vests in man made. But I do like green, brown and cream!

I refuse to buy anything in brown, burgundy or dark green. Ive been buying brand new Baukjen clothing on ebay and have bought some amazing bargains.

Look on Vinted. Your style just isn’t in style this year. Doesn’t mean what’s out there is awful, it’s 100% my style. But previous years I’ve felt as you did.

It's horrible. I took a photo from an escalator in M&S Bath and sent it to my friend to see if she was what I saw - she said "poo brown". Correct.

I am another big Tu fan. It's just normal clothing. T shirts in cotton that wash well and sometimes have a scooped hem or a seam down the back to make them interesting. Any shape jean you want in 3 different lengths.

That said I'm fairly sure my entire outfit today is Vinted/eBay including my Doc Martens which were new in the box.

I think @Sunbringer makes a good point and I never understand why some posters sound so angry because high street trends aren't going their way this year. That's the nature of the beast. It happens to us all at some time or other and you can either sit it out until it changes or it can make you think outside the box.

I have a look of items that are brown, and even I’m fed up 😂 I had a lot of money to spend and couldn’t find anything that was nice. All brown, checked or oversized.

Generally though not everything looks the same, it very much feels like that this year.

Then like I said, we can sit it out or look beyond the high street.

I totally disagree. We've had recent periods where almost all jeans were skinny, almost all dresses were floral and midi or milkmaid/amish style, skirts were satin slip style, everyone was wearing New Balance chunky dad trainers. Now everyone is wearing Adidas. I won't argue the point that everything is getting more generic globally (blame the internet and social media), but it's not just hitting this year.

I saw some needle cord dresses at TK Maxx online recently.

Not angry personally more a bit frustrated when I know exactly what I want but can't find it. For example, say I wanted a bright red long-sleeved jumper almost completely wool and not short and boxy, not huge, plain, not ribbed or cable crew neck, I doubt I could find one.
(I don't actually need one, it's just an example)

This is a random sample of the M&S jumpers page. It really is all dark with some cream accents. I don't need anything myself really nor do I physically shop often, but I am surprised at the lack of purple/emerald green/dark red jewel tones. If you want to try things on in a store your choices are limited.

I remember the 1980's was particularly awful. I was in my 20's then and absolutely everything was big ugly shoulder pads, pussy bow everything and horrible hair. I loathed the entire decade and spent all of it wearing jeans and teashirts.

The 80s were an abomination. My mother spent the decade trying to look like Mrs Thatcher 🤣

I'd go to the hairdresser and ask for a centre parting and flicked out at the side.

Big hair. My mother was always telling me to get a perm.

Yuck!!!!

It was a great time for impoverished teenagers because we could make outfits from all sorts of secondhand or borrowed clothes. Thank you New Romantics.

I resisted. I have wavy hair and have had quite a few comments like 'why don't you straighten your hair?' but not from DM.

@Gettingbysomehow , even men were getting their hair permed in the 1980s.
Look at pop videos from the 80s - big hair and no tattoos.

@JaneJeffer , I wore some very strange clothes. I wish I'd kept my shoes.

I agree. I shop online mostly because the stuff was much nicer but feel that if I could shop in store things would fit better as I could try on various styles and sizes at the time rather than buying one and hoping for the best. The shop that blew my mind was Roman. I bought a beautiful dress for a night out. It didn't fit so I went to return it and the shop was like a charity shop with people double my age shopping there! I was so confused!

Roman originals has cord dresses in a variety of styles and plain colours. Their sizing is reliably good too. Worth a look.

Oh no! People double your age in the same shop as you