What sort of person buys/ wears Jigsaw clothes?

[moonstorm]

I've been culling my wardrobe to force myself to buy more stuff post maternity and have noticed that the clothes that have washed the best/ lasted longest still looking new are all Jigsaw.

I have a couple of jackets, tops and camisoles. It's not cheap, but I don't mind if it lasts.

However, I always feel too young going in there (I'm 31) and sort through a lot of clothes before trying on.

So, just wondering what others think about the clothes/ the people who wear them! I am always worried, that my style is too simple/ plain and could err on the frumpy side, so really value your opinions!!

Thanks!

a lot of it is very "safe" and borderline frumpy

but some of the colours and fabrics are fab, there are usually a few pieces each season that I really like and are really wearable, even if you are a size 16 with dodgy thighs

I bought a red linen dress there when I was 25 and wore it a LOT every summer for more than 10 years till it finally fell apart - I still mourn its passing

I love Jigsaw and I have shopped there since my 20s. Great for work staples and dresses for weddings.

Some of their stuff is frumpy but most is great. They had an identity crisis a couple of years ago and went uber trendy and short as they were appealing to a younger market. It was a shocker and am glad they have reverted.

Recently I have noticed a lot of their things are not tailored as well and require alteration which they offer to do but you hav to pay for it. This puts me off a bit.

I'm 28 and I adore jigsaw! The thing is, its pieces are always perfectly made and the shapes/styles are simple: you can dress an outfit up or down so easily with Jigsaw. That's why we don't have to feel too young to shop there: mix it up with funky accessories! Plus, it's timeless style so you are actually investing in its clothes (so I tell DH) and can accessorize them to suit you at 30 or 60. I sound like I'm on commission, but seriously, I only buy my clothes there. Kew, which is part of Jigsaw, has some funkier, brighter pieces too. I swear by both Jigsaw and Kew. They last forever!

Another thought: the models they use on the website are a bit 'off the wall'. They pose in very odd positions and often have pained expressions. Whether or not this is intended to project anything about their target market, I have no idea.

moonstorm: try Cos! Bit more trendy, and a little cheaper.

I wear Jigsaw, am youthful but not young, find the things with a silk frill (the edged cardies, the things with a bit of velvet here and there...) too frumpy and 'old', but love much of their knitwear.

I have a Jigsaw cotton knit from about 15 years ago - it looks great!

random example

another odd pose?

Blimey, there are some HORRIBLE dresses in that dress selection.

I love jigsaw always have suits and coats great and gd value due quality fabric and cut

But I blame the models Blu, they look quite 'alternative' which is perhaps not how most people would prefer to style the clothes??

My winter coat is from Jigsaw, it doesn't date or age, just wish shopping there was still in my budget 3 children later!

I think this looks horrible / not worth it's price irresepctive of the model - but you're right the model makes it worse!

dittoo, and she looks as if she has wet her knickers!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jigsaw. I'm 41 and have been shopping there since I was a teenager. I have stuff from Jigsaw that is over twenty years old and still looks really stylish. One coat that I have was £125 in the sale in about 1987 (was ridiculous money then) and I remember it took me nearly three months to save up for it on my Saturday job money and pocket money but it has been worth every single penny and cost per wear must be practically nothing. It's bright red Harris tweed with a beautiful flared waisted cut and people still ask me where it came from.

I also have classic linen skirts and shirts that will never date, a suit that I wear every single time I need to be smart and is the only woollen item I possess that has never made me itch, tons of T-shirts and camisoles, wonderful knitwear and scarves, velvet skirts and trousers, the list is endless. The Jigsaw stuff that I own is my staple stuff for when I want to look smart, I think. Sometimes I crack and buy stuff from Uniqlo or Top Shop or wherever but I always regret it because I look at it a year later and I don't like it any more. The Jigsaw clothes just go on and on. I look forward to handing the bits that don't fit any more down to my daughter when she's old enough!

People with torches.

Their shops are so dark you can't actually see the colours.

Got to say the examples shown won't get me into the shop. Phase 8 stuff from another thread looked better & more colour.
The models are trying to look cute,

It's just me who thinks it's drab and expensive for what it is then?

I did like it 20 years ago, but every time I go in there I find the same sort of outfits I might have bought 20 years ago, or fairly shapeless stuff.

I think it's for people who haven't got their own style or got a clue how to put outfits together, but think that they are buying quality.

Now you see, I think Phase 8 is really mumsy and horrible. It's exactly the kind of stuff your mum's mate buys to wear to a wedding, in my book. But I suppose it's more brightly coloured, if that's your bag.

I think Jigsaw went through a dreadful period a few years ago when it suddenly tried to be actually fashionable instead of doing what it had always done best, which I think is quirky basics which are expensive but lasting. Suddenly there were whole racks of vile enormous billowing silk smocks and other similar overpriced tat. I think they just found themselves out of step with the times as their take on basics just didn't fit with the changing profile of what kinds of basics people wanted to buy. But things have changed a bit in terms of what people want and I think they've got a bit more back to what they do best.

Obviously, they're nowhere near as good as the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s, but then you could say the same about Hobbs which was bloody wonderful in the late 80s and now appears to be a wedding frock shop where everything is a primary colour. Horrible. I'd like to know who is now doing that slightly left field take on essentials now, if there is anyone who has taken over from Jigsaw in that respect. But I don't think there really is anyone that I've found and I think Jigsaw still does it best of the available choices.

The thing I have always liked best of all about them is their colours - they always have lovely sludgy not quite true shades that are just way more interesting than most high street ranges.

Blu- I saw that dress Secret Garden- on a tall blonde 30 something in Boots and she looked stunning. I'd look awful as that pale beige doesn't suit me, I am short and older- 50+.

I like some basics from Jigsaw- smart trousers, cardis, Ts, and the occasional dress.
This season the dresses are still too smocky - or too "occasion" for my liking but the colours and material are great.

Horton- Phase 8 seems quirkier this year- I never liked any of their stuff but got a nice jersey dress recently- pale grey and fitted ruched bust- and I very surprised at how much "younger" some of their stuff was now.

Horton "The thing I have always liked best of all about them is their colours - they always have lovely sludgy not quite true shades that are just way more interesting than most high street ranges. "

I seriously cannot distinguish these sludgy colours. It sounds the sort of thing I would like, but it is too flippin' daek.

And Hobbs - violently overpriced & it's like an upmarket Laura Ashley. And whatever the summer print skirt is they put in the window each year, I guarantee it will appear on three scool mothers simultaneously the next week.

Agree about the lighting but the store in Cambridge is light and airy and you can see colours.

I have bought in London stores though and had to return clothes due to mistaking colours in the gloom.

You should see the dungeon in Bluewater, it's like a nocturnal house in a Zoo.

I used to shop there. Now I buy their suits on Ebay. So far I've got some bargains and the quality seems good. Now I have a family I'm not spending loads on work clothes, so I've been pleased with a few £20 outfits.

Now you've reminded me I'm going back on to look again...

I used to love their colours a few years back, but they've been too muddy/navy recently. I bought a very staid dress for a conference recently, when I wanted to look 20 years older. But the stuff I have from a while ago is lovely - I have a soft green cardi from there that is 7 years old and still lovely, which I always get compliments on when I wear it. I bought it with my first installment of student loan, before I realized I couldn't afford it.