Oh dear - is this the beginning of the end?

[janeite]

I bought my first ever item from Hobbs today. How long before the blue rinse do you think I've got?

Seriously drop hints to DP if you are in love with the boots . Mine get so much wear every winter for the past 4 years. Yes, they aren't particularly exciting but they are great quality (this will be the first year they need to be re-soled) and are classic so won't date. I would say they also blend very well with just about everything in my winter wardrobe - from funky Top Shop items to the more conservative MaxMara - so definitely worth the money

janeite - you cannot POSSIBLY be middle aged as you are younger than me, IIRC

i have to confess that i bought a leather jacket from zara today, but i will be returning it as i think I'm trying just a little TOO hard not to be ...ahem...40 something

Am having similar feelings about Planet, which I have quite recently discovered. Is staffed by the friendliest women ever, but they are all older than my Mum (or thereabouts) and although they are the vendors of the most fabulous quality trousers ever (IMHO) and I love love love a lot of the stuff in there, I am worried it is the slippery slope.

Should add, have only bought sale/outlet i.e., aforesaid trousers £19/pair, which is good value in anyone's books.

Oooh I started at Hobbs last year and am only 35
I got a dress in the sale, and some boots in the sale which I felt compelled to keep despite their being huge in the calf (fine on feet) and leather soled (impractical) because the women were all looking at me going 'Ooh yes that will look marvellous' in best arselicking fashion.

They are crap about returns. Short shrift. I've watched it.

The dress however is DIVINE, it's called - what is it called? hang on/ Abington. Think they have gone now. Everyone here said NO you'll look like a nun, but it has had so many comments and actually looks rather fab [smile

However ds got blood on it so I washed it and it shrank, and I am afraid I bought a new one

Should also add: always think Hobbs is lovely, and have a gorgeous, stylish friend who shops practically nowhere else for smart/work stuff, and who always says it is worth the moneh as you wear it for years and years and years...

moneh = money

worries that twenty years of living in Manchester is finally starting to show in her typing accent

yeah, but how old is your gorgeous stylish friend???????

at typing accent.

Kristina - am 39 - what age is the beginning of middle, do you think? Gah!

Re: nun dresses - Cos has just opened in Birmingham and I went in today. Found a v nice dress but dp said it looked like The Sound Of Music. Also found a fabbo jacket but it was 130 squid. Everything else looked a bit...erm...mediaeval. And there was nothing at all that I could see with a v-neck (needed for norks); everything had high necks and no waistline.

my theory is that middle age is when your kids leave home/go off to uni

and i have just finished Bf a few months ago so that makes me a young deluded mum

janeite - what shape of jeans / trousers are you buying this year? i love the straight leg/skinnies thing but with my big norks i look like i'm toppling over

are skinny bootlegs a bit old now????

i have lost some weight and last year's trousers don't fit. well that's my excuse anyway

Jeans - sorry I am no help to you there. I only wear bootcut jeans (dare I say that on a style thread?).

Trousers - for work I have got wide-legged grey flannel; wide-legged charcoal wool; narrow leg black ones and some peg-type three-quarter length ones. All the magazines are full of harem pants!! Oh and tweed.

janeite I turned 39 last week and have bought 2 work suits and 3 tops in the hobbs sale this summer all of which I really like - I dont think its too bad tbh and my sister, 2 yrs younger, has been shopping there for years, I'm more depressed at the thought of 39 being middle aged

Stylish friend is 39 now but has shopped in Hobbs for years (have known her for 20 years nearly and always think of her as Hobbs girl)

I, however, am a mere 37. I was pretty happy with the whole Planet thing until I recommended a dress from there on here the other day and there was comments along the line of middle aged/ugh no dress your age etc to OP. And then felt ooolllddddd.

Well it's hardly Country Casuals is it? It could be worse.

oh lordy, planet is like jaeger. Do not shop there unless in very starchy mood.

Waits for somebody to admit to loving Country Casuals.

Have never been in Planet or Jaegar - do I want to?

no

Like your new name - it IS you, yes?

i bought a gorgeous autumn suit from country cas a few years ago

yes yes, tis paranoid I

Paranoid?

oh you know. Everyone going mental about having lives laid bare as newspapers put everyone's personal problems and stoopid statements on teh front cover of a national tabloid . SO thought i WOULD change my name regularly.

I'll get bored

Oh right - was on holiday and missed it all, so haven't really worked out what people have been going on about.

Not a lot I can do to change Janeite, I don't think.

Well thanks all for stopping me from feeling so old after my lovely dd's comment. Much appreciated! Now where DID I put my dentures again?

Was thinking (hoping) I might be purple shoes's gorgeous stylish friend as Hobbs is the only place I shop for work suits, but I am (slightly) younger than that.

Is very expensive, but is the only place I have found where you can buy beautifully cut wool suits off the peg. [Glares at M&S's buying people who seem to think we all want to machine wash our suits. Although I'll probably wise up once I get back from maternity leave ].

I've never had any problems with returns - they have a 28 day policy don't they? Plus website is great if you can't get your size in local store, and you can often find a discount code online if you google...

[Tempts MNers over to the Hobbs-side].

Was reading in Glamour magazine that Hobbs have a new range called NW3. Apparently it is very funky and definitely worth a look. Not sure when it appears in stores though.

If that new range is named after an area of london, that puts me right off for starters. Is it the location of the British Library?