The Bluestocking Womens Pub in an Adventure with Pirates!

[Magpiecomplex]

New thread. You know the deal - women's pub, men to the Staunch Ally next door.

Some of us are currently on the trail of an international seed smuggling ring, just for background information.

I wore Laura Ashley in the 80s/90s, but not the frilly sort.

I particularly remember a black and blue pattered cotton jersey dress, fairly narrow with a dropped waist and long sleeves. I bought it in their sale. I remember going to a party close to home soon after I’d bought it, but wearing something else. Two of my friends were wearing that dress, same colours but in different sizes, so I went home and returned wearing mine.

Like Boily, I've never worn Laura Ashley. This might be partly a function of age, I know she and I are relative babies here! Monsoon was my preferred party dress purveyor during my 20s. They sold pretty clothes in the colours I look good in, and were just about affordable if I didn't make a habit of it.

Oh, I had a gorgeous dress from Monsoon in my 20s. No idea what happened to it.

Oh I wore Laura Ashley to our college summer balls as a student. Not sure it ever suited me. Plus it was always a bit tight across the boobs and not exactly comfy. Nice feel to the material though. Now I wear mostly white stuff and seasalt and sometimes think of branching out but can never find where I should try branching out to.

I’ve got a couple of colourful Desigual jackets which I bought during Covid & which I’m planning to wear forever. Both gorgeous.

Morning, everyone! I loved the gerbil lineups last night 😁

I was never a Laura Ashley wearer. I did love Monsoon clothing, but I'm so small that everything just drowned me, and their fabrics were all that floaty stuff with beads and sequins that was impossible to alter at home. I was a grunge girl, and my mid-20s to early-30s was spent in jeans, T shirts, and my first husband's flannel shirts (which were very comfy but huge on me). I think when I was that age, I didn't care what I looked like, just interested in music and having a good time.

Later, once I had a series of good jobs, I "upscaled" my grunge to All Saints and various Japanese designers. I also spent stupid amounts of money on designer clothes for work (I had a lot of events to go to).

Now that I am much older and retired, I try to wear clothes that actually fit, and are comfortable. I have almost nothing to dress up in anymore (except for funerals, isn't that grim?) because I don't have to. There's nowhere to shop around here, but at least I can order online. Fat Face and White Stuff are good for interesting summer tops, but I now get nearly all my jeans from Tu, and the rest of my clothes from Muji- on a few trips a year to London. They are made for small, Japanese people, so seem to fit me perfectly.

Oh yes I like Fat face too. I love white stuff trousers.

I hardly ever wear jeans. They just aren't comfortable, and its hard to get ones with long enough legs. I own one pair from Lands End.

We were skint through my teenage years, so I wore a lot of hand-me-downs and secondhand, and generally cheap stuff, and the odd thing my mother made. My Laura Ashley was non-frilly and mostly (?always) bought in the sale. There wasn't much of it. Monsoon ditto, until I started work. I had a Monsoon dress that I wore until I decided it was meant for much younger people than me and passed it on. I still have some Monsoon - I go in to have a look now and then.

Most of my life has been spent in jeans or other trousers or leggings (and they've usually been too short), though I like skirts and dresses when it's hot. I hated wearing sheer tights at work. I wore stockings for a bit on the recommendation of a similarly leggy friend but found them a faff.

I have recently discovered Uniqlo t-shirts and they are amazing. They don't cost an arm and a leg and the quality is excellent. Would recommend. I love their trousers but they are too bloody short.

I have several funeral outfits. It's not that I'm ancient, it's more that I know a lot of ancient people, partly through living in the same district most of my life, and partly being involved in various organisations.

Today's outfit:
Charity shop jeans (about to be replaced by ancient jeans for gardening)
Secondhand shop sweater, very lovely but sadly starting to fall apart (has been darned)
M&S t-shirt

Fuzzy, I have always had the opposite problem- everything is too long for me! It's the reason I learned to sew when I was a pre-teen, so I could alter my own trousers and skirts. Like Edith, we had no money when I was growing up, and my mother didn't believe in new clothes except for school clothes (no uniform) at the beginning of the new school year. So I had to make do until I got my first job. And of course, my sister and I swapped sometimes, so I got to wear something "new."

Edith, I haven't tried Uniqlo yet, but maybe will stop in next time I'm in Town. I've always found their huge Oxford St. store a bit intimidating!

White Stuff jeans used to fit me, but they just don't now that I seem to have misplaced my waist! I feel small but round these days...

They do really nice A-line skirts that still fit, however (if only I had somewhere to wear them)

Maine Is very much not a state where people generally dress up, so I spend my life in jeans and trousers (which people call pants over here) with sweaters or T shirts or light tops depending on the weather. I think I still own a couple of skirts but I can’t tell you when I last wore one. I do have a couple of light summer dresses though - very cheap, mostly bought from Facebook adverts. I generally do my clothes shopping at J Jill or online at Coldwater Creek because they have the fairly classic style I like. I also pick up stuff in Goodwill or the Salvation Army thrift stores sometimes. I have a friend who literally buys everything except underwear in thrift stores and she and I usually get together for lunch and some activity during the week, which often includes a trip to a thrift store somewhere.

My clothing choices are also largely determined by who does petite/short lengths. Mostly nowadays mountain warehouse, Go Outdoors (for Craghoppers), next and M&S. Plus quite a lot of Lands End but I’m trying to avoid online shopping nowadays. I’ve got a rare ‘occasion’ this week - fortunately a dress which I’m sure I’ve had since before DD was born will do - it’s Anne Brookes, which used to be my go-to for ‘nice’ clothes. I just had to buy some nail polish for my toes to match it.

https://www.boots.com/sally-hansen-color-therapy-nail-polish-390-royal%26nbsp%3Bconfidante%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B-10364499
Ive got quite a lot of Mantaray tops, all from before Debenhams closed. I miss Debenhams.

I had no sense of style or even what suited me when I was younger. Laura Ashley was too frilly for me and too expensive. I used to wear polo necks and trousers and had short hair. I was trying to be more like a man I think to be taken seriously.

But I remember wearing a low cut top and a longish skirt and makeup at an event with my then boyfriend. One of his friends and I had one of our long chats about politics and he said I knew what I was talking about. Given that we had spoken many times about politics all I could think was my clothes must have made a difference. And if men were going to take me seriously if I looked more feminine, then that’s what I would do.

It seemed to work, which is sad.

I lived in Pepperberry dresses during the 2000s, which suited my huge norkage, but nowadays I wear Hobbs and F&F from Tesco.

Front page of Wikipedia today, though it might just be my version.

Clara!

its giving me rodents too but the photo is an Eastern Spiny Mouse

I couldn't afford Laura Ashley but I did like Monsoon when they appeared in my town. I had a few pieces including a lovely blue dress. I rarely buy clothes nowadays. Going shopping for clothes is a chore. I find it hard to believe I did it for fun when I was younger. Mostly wear jeans and plain tops. I've got two dresses from m&s (one summer print, one plain darker colour) that I hope will serve for any parties, weddings, funerals and the like that the future might bring.

Ah clearly they fit a tall but round shape better 🤣

As a lard-arse, my clothes in my 30s and 40s mostly came from Evans with occasional dresses from Monsoon. By late 40s it was Gudrun Sjorden.

Now I'm almost in "largest size of normal shops" I have some M&S bits and soon hope to be able to fit regular high street shops.

I can't contribute much to the discussion - I can only recall having 'accumulated' over the years various clothes that suited me and looked sharp, probably mostly from charity shops and end-of-season sales.

I have two quite expensive suits which I got on sale, which make me feel uber-smart, though I don't get much of a chance to wear them these days😒

I love clothes in general, I like the look and feel of fabrics and admire neat tailoring and sewing, even clothes that I wouldn't dream of wearing myself.
I sometimes treat myself to a copy of Vogue

Laura Ashley v Monsoon? Monsoon.

Agree with Marie that Monsoon wins.
Errol, love the nail polish.

And Angle, just go into Uniqlo and tune out the hordes. Whenever I get off the train at Liverpool St, I am slightly winded by seeing more people on one station concourse than I normally see in a week (including doing the weekly shop). After about 5 minutes I get used to it again - until I get to Oxford St if that's on the itinerary. I accept with Uniqlo that it won't be quick due to the heaving masses.

Top tips: if one lot of changing rooms has a massive queue, go and find the others.
Don't buy their pants, super comfy but don't last.

And I love their tills where you drop all you shopping into a big box which scans it automatically. No messing about trying to find the bar code, or waiting around in the queue because you happened to pick the one with the completely inept assistant (my speciality - never get in a supermarket queue behind me).

I taught myself to sew and make clothes too, but most trousers gave such mean hems, there's nothing to let down.
Today I'm wearing Next linen trousers ( 6 years old) and am embracing the "half mast" look.

I’m not sure when Monsoon came into being but I don’t think it existed when I was wearing Laura Ashley in the late 60s / early 70s. Interesting that several pp have described it as “frilly” because I don’t think any of the stuff I bought there was frilly, though it did have small floral patterns. During the maxi-skirt era I had a full length dark blue dress with a tiny floral pattern in a lighter shade that I loved. I also had a maxi coat (not LA) and two maxi skirts I made myself, and I wore them with some lovely knee-high black platform boots.

I bought some jeans, cba to try them on and, weeks later, when I did wear them I realised I'd got the wrong length and they were far too short. I wear them in the summer and think of them as capri-style pants. I probably look ridiculous but I don't care. I'm astonished how bare my field of fucks is. Only in some things unfortunately but a big improvement compared to younger me.