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Original poster

The opposite of dreading the school fashion parade: dreading the school fleece brigade!

197 replies

Jewelsandgems · 03/09/2009 21:08

My little girl has just started nursery and I thought it would be nice to get to know some other mums.

I wear fashionable clothes! And because of this, the only mums who talk to me are those very few others who also wear the same kind of clothes. The majority wear bootcut jeans and fleeces. Now I have nothing against fleeces and jeans, and when the weather is rubbish you will find me in the same things!

Does anyone else have this? Honastly, I wore my rain hat the other day and I swear a few of the mums sneered at me. Should I just have turned up with sopping wet hair?!!

I am totally considereding addapting a fleecy look just to get to know some other mums I have tried smiling and saying hello, but no response.

OP posts:
Doodlez · 04/09/2009 12:42

I am a 'scratch & sniff' school-mum dresser.

It's a difficult technique and needs practise to master it.

You know what? For some of us, the school run is dauting enough without all this bloody fashion rubbish being spouted.

It's not breaking the law if people don't talk to each other you know - who exactly are you there for - you or your children?

Tsk

kittywise · 04/09/2009 12:57

Luckily, no one at our school seems to give a damn, people dress how they want.

The problem here is that there is too much;
'mwah mwah how are you darling/lovely...?( I know I only saw you this morning on the morning run but I'm going to kiss you anyway) and back rubbing going on

UnquietDad · 04/09/2009 13:03

Can you imagine the dads getting hung up on this? It would be like that Catherine Tate sketch with the disgusted couple.
"oooh, I spoke to John at the school gate, and do you know he had a JUMPER on. And JEANS. On a FRIDAY. The DIRTY BASTARD."

Katisha · 04/09/2009 13:17

YEs - what's with all the back-rubbing?

GetOrfMoiLand · 04/09/2009 13:19

Lol at dirty bastards.

GetOrfMoiLand · 04/09/2009 13:19

Lol at dirty bastards.

kittywise · 04/09/2009 13:21

exactly, what's with all the kissing and back rubbing, arm rubbing sometimes

lol@ dirty bastards

cherryblossoms · 04/09/2009 13:30

UQD - Yes, I see what you mean but the thing is ... generally women have better social and people skills than men ... .

Clothes aren't just stuff you put on to keep off the sun or keep out the wet. They are important bits of social information, that allow you to "read" the wearer.

We turn up in social places (such as a school playground) and "read" the information, all of it, not just the clothes, assimilate the information and then use what we've gathered to plan; is this person likely to be a great friend? A p.i.t.a.? Do they look as though they might share the same worldview? political outlook? will we clash horrifically if we become too intimate?

And yes, we can misread - but that's part of the fun ... .

Hence the fleece thing. It's not precisely "rich" in information, is it? It really is clothing reduced to its most minimal (synthetic animal-pelt,) level.

So I guess a fleece "says" that you kind of yearn for the days of the caves; that you like clothes as a basic functional thing, rather than layered and woven with conceptuality and artistry and that you turn your back on the whole swapping-information thing that is part of the (conceptual) joy of clothes.

And yes, I too have been known to roll up to collect the offspring in a fleece. Some days basic is what you want.

UnquietDad · 04/09/2009 13:33

[paxman] Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssss [/paxman]

I think that thing about clothes being "bits of social information" is teetering dangerously close to bollocks, I'm afraid...

hf128219 · 04/09/2009 13:35

For me it's all about having pride in my appearance and looking nice for myself and dh.

Some people really do look like shite.

I do have a fleece but it is reserved for camping.

cherryblossoms · 04/09/2009 13:36

You are so in the box marked "bloke".

cherryblossoms · 04/09/2009 13:36

That was to UQD!

OrmIrian · 04/09/2009 13:37

I think that in most case the bits of social information a fleece gives is the wearer was too hassled to find anything smart to put on this morning and a fleece conveniently covers up the scruffy clothes, the baby food stains, the bit on your t-shirt where you spilt coffee and the incipient muffin top. Or is that just me ?

hf128219 · 04/09/2009 13:39

For me it's all about having pride in my appearance and looking nice for myself and dh.

Some people really do look like shite.

I do have a fleece but it is reserved for camping.

southeastastra · 04/09/2009 13:40

please link the rainhat am intrigued

kathyis6incheshigh · 04/09/2009 13:41

"Some people really do look like shite."

Not very nice, hf128219. Hope I never meet you at a school gate!

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 04/09/2009 13:41

I think fleece says 'Its bloody cold out'
I mean, you need a coat. Coats cost lots. A fleece is basivally a cheap coat for the woman who only has the one.
And me I have 2 coats. one is a fleece, the other a waterproof

Original poster
Jewelsandgems · 04/09/2009 13:41

My rain hat does happen to be boden, but it is the only one I found that fits and is functional. I do need both hands free to push buggy.

Listen; I have fleeces and I have bootcut jeans. I also have leggings, dresses, nice jackets, feminine shoes. Anything goes with me. I don't care what anyone else wears - but why should they care what I wear?

Thank god I don't drive to the nursery! Would it be an out and out judge-fest of who has what car?

P.S my grandmother did have loads of those plastic ones with ties under the chin and I used to love it when she let me wear hers

OP posts:
TheDMshouldbeRivened · 04/09/2009 13:42

'"Some people really do look like shite."
Thats'll be me then, in me jeans and fleece
And no rainhat. I just get wet.
What does a rainhat look like?

macherie · 04/09/2009 13:42

Cherryblossoms, I agree with you 100%

Stayingsunnygirl · 04/09/2009 13:42

Is it just me, or does UnquietDad's Paxman impression make him soooo sexy?

Katisha · 04/09/2009 13:42

Actually I think cherryblossoms has it right.

Clothes do make a statement, whether or not you mean them to. And seeings as some people at the school gate seem to be so determined to think that people are snubbing them or judging them somehow, then clothing is one of the obvious things to decide to use as a reason.

I've seen it so often on here - making assumptions based on type of clothing worn.

hf128219 · 04/09/2009 13:43

Katy - I was not talking about the school gate. More about walking down the High Street, the Library, the Supermarket etc.

GetOrfMoiLand · 04/09/2009 13:45

I am a vain old cow really. DP bought me a North Face waterproof coat (oh the romance). It has to be pissing down for me to wear it, I would also never wear it to work. A waterproof coat over a suit - not for me. I would rather just run through the rain in an umbrella.

Same as I would never wear trainers with my work clothes like some people do for their commute. I would feel a fool and would rather teeter along on my high heels.

But even though I am shallow enough to be deeply amused by people's fashion choices sometimes, I am not shallow enough to think fleeces = woman who has given up or platform sandals at school = shallow woman obsessed with herself.

kathyis6incheshigh · 04/09/2009 13:45

And that makes a difference hf?!!

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