So who is dreading the school gate 'fashion parade' ?

[tulip27]

My ds starts school next wk and it seems to be that all the parents I have seen in the last few years look immaculate, fashionable and trendy, almost like they have stepped from the boden catalouge. Will my jeans and jumper surfice?

I try and make sure I don't have anything spilt down my t-shirt or snot on my shoulder.

If I can manage that I feel I've achieved something for the day

I don't care particularly about other mums at the school gate.

I just care generally, that I want to look OK. I guess we all feel that but our standards differ.

So for some, OK is not-clean tracksuit; for others it is immaculate on-trend styles and perfect hair and make-up.

For many of us, OK is somewhere in between. I don't go out in dirty clothes as a rule, but on the other hand there may be people who find my H&M £6 T-shirt not stylish enough. I don't really mind that tho.

'Wear a smile, that's all that matters. You will then become one of the mums/dads that people like to talk to and what you wear will become immaterial.'

Nothing else then? Just a smile?

UnquietDad i agree totally....what a load of rubbish...materialistic....who cares...i have to keep saying school is about the child not fashin conscious showy off mums...oh look my dress is from harrods...yous BHS oh I must be better than you then...horses for courses....nice clothes dont make nice people...its whats underneath that counts...the heart..not the wallet

In my day there used to be very few Mums at the school gate because, shock, horror, children used to walk home from school on their own or with siblings or friends.

"Too much traffic to allow that" comes the reply from folk in the village who create the "too much traffic" by picking up their own children in the car to save them a five minute walk.

i think it should be dress for day and for yourself not for school gate. how much time do you spend at school gate? why is it so important? having a nice smile is the more important.
and what i dont get is why there aren't school buses?
it would save the hassle of school run, it could help traffic, etc...

it's alright for people who have husbands earning so much money that they can just swan about in quality clothes they ordered on the internet with their husband's card before settling down for a day of baking, play dates, creative play and mumsnetting!

The reality is though that, SAHM or WOHM, there are some people who just can't be arsed to make a special effort. I go to work every day and most of the time I wear jeans and a top. There are people in my work who come in looking immaculate. It never occurs to me that they are judging me for not making an extra special effort to get an immaculate outfit ready the night before.

Is this really what the schoolgates are like? Will I, when I have a child, be judged for not wearing Boden and for not wearing make-up?

Clean and neat should meet all requirements plus a friendly smile. What else do you need?

Get your children on to school buses or walking buses and stop all this 'taking them to school stuff and angst'.

So how do you give a genuine friendly smile when you're feeling apprehensive? Fake smiles aren't nice, but there's lots of advice here saying a smile is what you should wear... but if you have to think about it surely it won't be a genuine smile?

Boden catalogue and fashionable, hmmm, somewhat an oxymoron methinks.....

And if a smile is all you need, what do the poor feckers with bad teeth do?

Boden = trendy? ROFL

But seriously to answer the OP,

There will people that don't care about appearance and those that do.

Some of the scruffs will eye up some of the glam ones with distaste and vice-versa.

And quite a few people won't give a shit either way.

I think if YOU are happy with what you are wearing, and how comfortable you feel then that is the important thing

I just turn up in whatever I can find in the morning, usually hair unbrushed and sunglasses to avoid people seeing the early morning bags. I figure as long as my children are perfectly presented in the morning then it doesnt matter what I wear.

Although when I pick the children up in the afternoon I tend to be a bit more together... but nothing anymore special than jeans, top and trainers.

Then the children come out of school looking like they have been dragged through a hedge backwards!

I think it does though Ruby, unless you just bung anything on and it goes together. I find the hardest part of dressing is the trying stuff and working out whether different combinations look Ok or not - also slight fluctuation in size doesn't help. Things that looked Ok last week no longer suit...that's what I find difficult, the daily decision making.

Nooo I don't change 5 times a day - out of pyjamas, then back into them at bedtime...actually not always

Some parents turn up with bare feet in winter! They say it's because they drove up in their slippers and don't want to get them wet Very sensible.

I make an effort with hair/make up and clothes. It takes me 20 minutes to shower/wash hair/dress/put on tinted moisturiser and lipstick and I feel much better for it.

I get up at 5:30, go for a run and by half 6 I'm looking fairly decent and cooking brekkie.

I wear dresses/lomg jumpers over jeans layered up with crop cardies and nice shoes/boots.

I don't think I'm wasting money or that I have too much time on my hands.

Do people really care that much about what other people are wearing? Mumsnet is beginning to make me feel paranoid about how people judging me about every aspect of life and parenting seemingly. I have to be careful what I wear, how loudly I 'parent' my DS, what he eats, whether he's got a dummy. WTF! Is it really that important to people?

FWIW, I do make an effort in what I wear but I really don't give a bugger what anyone else wears. I only notice if they've got something nice on and I might ask where they got it from.

I dress how I want and dont care how other people judge me, and if they are sad enough to judge me for what i'm wearing than im glad their no friends of mine.
You are their for your children and all that matters to me is that my children are clean and tidy, and my children are happy to see me and as a mum thats all that matters.
My child starts on the 7th sep I will be friendly and smile to anyone because thats me and if the other mums smile and strike a conversation great, but I will not get involved in school gate politics with mums who have nothing better than to look down on other mums whether they dress nicely or dress in jeans, top, work clothes,or judge them for any other reason and those people I will choose to ignore.

I've only read the first page of this thread (it's up to 5 pages now) so apologies if this has already been said -

The OP is obviously a journalist who is trying to get you to write his/her article for him/her. "top ten of what NOT to wear at the school gates.." - purleese, nobody talks like this unless they are compiling a magazine article.

In response to OP, I couldn't give a toss. I have bigger fish to fry.