I was rather amused at the level of thought people put into the clothing they wear for exams, and some of the associated discussion. Is it smart enough? Can I breathe easily? Do girls ever wear skirts anymore?


So here's a thread for all fashion dilemmas.

My two personal favourites are interviews and balls.

Interviews are difficult to get right, I don't own a suit, so I never wear one. Despite this, I've never attended an interview (even for all the placements I attended) where I have been dressed less smartly than the interviewer. So what is the right dress code? I usually end up in something the smarter end of smart-casual (blouse, black or grey trousers), but female work clothes seems to be a tricky area.

I was looking forward to a nice shopping trip before starting my industrial placement year when I could spend a fortune buying lots of nice, smart skirts and jackets. You can imagine my disappointment when I visited the site where I'd be working and found that most of the engineers seem to wander around in jeans on a day-to-day basis, and that skirts are absolutely out.


As for student balls... those are nightmares. If you wear an expensive ball gown it'll just have cheap larger spilt down it by someone. I usually end up in a £30 dress from somewhere cheap. But then I always feel slightly underdressed, and none of my nice dresses ever get worn.


So apart from exams, what are other fashion minefields? And this is solely a female problem?

I once went to an interview for an office job (I think it was solicitors) wearing a long flowery skirt and grass-green tights.

I didn't get the job.

if i was doing an exam, i wouldn't particularly care how 'smart' i looked--i'd rather make sure i felt comfortable, which would mean wearing my usual casual clothes (i.e. jeans and a t-shirt). actually, i don't even have any "smart' clothes; that's pretty much what i wear for everything.

on the other hand, i suppose some people feel the need to dress fairly smart in order to feel comfortable. i've never had that problem ;-)

Hmm, daughter's got to that age where balls start to feature. So far our most successful move seems to have been to think ahead and go to monsoon or laura ashley's sales and buy something that isn't too seasonal so that it has the flavour of an expensive dress without us actually having to fork out the readies quite so much.

My personal fashion difficulty is wanting to wear a dress, with elbow length sleeves, that's reasonably fitted and a decent length, plus needing a toning kind of jacket. I'm off to M&S and a few other places during the next couple of weeks, but I think it's going to be a long haul.

For a while I was only really happy in clothes that sort of hid my personality - neautral colours, plain jeans etc. Recently though I seem to have perked up a bit and couldn't really say what I'm most comfortable in, cos it's pretty much everything. For an exam though, I think I'd rather wear trousers than a skirt... the absence of tights means it's one less thing to go wrong.

I've never been to a ball, but I went to 3 senior dances at school. For the first one, I wore 'long, black' and was on the more sophisticated side, for the 2nd I wore a beautiful floor-length red dress (which was actually part of my costume for the pantomime...!) and for the 3rd I wore a simple 'prom' dress from one of the many high street shops. I felt a little underdressed the 3rd time, but I didn't need to worry about anyone standing on me!

I have to confess we go for the shorter type of dress since daughter is not very tall and most long dresses seem to assume you're about 5' 6''. I'd be forever chopping a bit off the bottom which would be a nightmare. (I already have to adjust every pair of jeans!)

I think that whether you wear a skirt of trousers to exams or interviews depends on what you feel most comfortable wearing. My daughter went to interviews in nice tailored trousers, whereas I would always feel better in a skirt.

After a bit of thought though, my personal real nightmare is hats. Niece is going to get married sometime next year I think, so my daughter told me that I would have to wear a hat. Well, firstly I usually can't get one to fit, and they just look silly on me. I'm going to rebel. I shan't be the bride's mother, so I can't see the problem. Grrr.

I'm only 5'2"! My longer dresses did take quite some adjusting! My dad always says that if I want an ankle length skirt I should buy one that is 'supposed' to be knee length...

I have the same problem - I'm 5'2 as well. I'm so used to it though, that when jeans don't drag on the floor I feel incredibly uncomfortable, as though everyone is looking at me thinking they're miles too short!

For singing exams I try to dress "nicely", like... As though I was going out for a nice meal, not as though I was going to a ball or an interview.

For the Freshers' ball a couple of terms ago I had a dress from New Look! It cost about £25, but it was still more dressy than what some of my friends wore.

My current two Uni-ball dresses are from New Look, thinking about it. Their £30 dresses are suprisingly okay, though I do tend to feel a little underdressed compared to the people in their £100+ Monsoon/Coast/etc masterpieces. At least I don't live in fear of rampaging rugby/hockey/lacrosse players with their cheap pints, and have never spent more on a Uni ball gown that I would on two months food...

Susie, on the hats issue: How about going for a really nice hair piece instead? Y'know one of those colourful, twisty type things you find in Accessorise. Obviously it depends on your hair, but if you can put it up with some hat-substitute, the problem is solved.

Does anyone have a suggestion where I can get a dress that is smart and summery (probably flowery). It absolutely HAS to be below knee-length, but I'm going to have to wear it for a whole day, so really long is also not a good idea. Also, preferably it shouldn't cost more than about £60, definitely no where near £100. Last year I ended up with a really nice one from the Coast sale last-minute, but that was really lucky and I can't really count on that happening again. I'm around 5'3" and a small size 8 (so that rules out quite a lot of shops).

My first instinct was somewhere like Oasis, but all their dresses were borderline knee-length or shorter

Hmmm, well, if I must! My hair is short and grey (mostly, not having plucked up courage to dye it yet - see another thread), but I dare say I should be able to find one of those things (forgotten what they're called, but I've seen them in John Lewis) that doesn't look too ghastly!

They're called dead hens fascinators, I think. The fewer feathers they have, the more expensive they seem to be.

Try West One, they usually have lots of stuff
x

This reminded me that Matthew and I have decided to have a 'no feathers' policy at our wedding.

If the bell ringers meet one short... you know who to pm!

Who says we wouldn't want your bellringing skills as a special aspect of our big day?

As the mother of two daughters I was longing for the time when I would accompany one or other of them to buy a beautiful long evening dress. I would gaze into dress shops and fantasise about it. My eldest daughter is about 5 foot 7, very, very slim and would look stunning in a long evening dress. Unfortunately, her idea of something to wear to a 'posh' do included Doc Marten's, and black (but not gorgeous black) from top to toe - usually a rather tatty skirt picked up in the charity shop and a torn T-shirt. Ah well, perhaps the younger one would satisfy my cravings. No such luck. I've never even seen her in a dress leave alone a gorgeous one. When she was in uni she would borrow a dress from one of her friends if she needed something posher than jeans. My pleas for photos of her all dressed up were more or less ignored, although I did see a few where she was one of a group of similarly dressed young women - so nothing to display on the mantelpiece. She is now an engineer and goes out to the oil fields. Her work clothes seem to be either a sort of pair of dungarees to work in, or a survival suit to go to and from the oil rigs.

Where did I go wrong?

It seems us engineers just aren't allowed dresses. Maybe if you can persuade her to marry?

Nothing on the horizon. The only mention of marriage has been her desire to marry a Norwegian, just so she can have a Norwegian passport!!! If and when she does get married she'll find some way of wriggling out of wearing a lovely dress.

Aw, jmhamilton. That's such a shame. It's one of the best things about being female, imo, being able to wear such lovely things.

Urgh, dresses

At some point I need to buy an outfit for someone's wedding. I can't wait

I used to have a bit of a dress phobia... I think it was from when my Nan used to handmake them for me and I always felt a bit overdressed...

Why ever not? I am often seen in a kilt - OK not a dress, but it is a skirt of sorts!

I too find it a nightmare, getting clothes a) that fit, b)that are suited, and c) don't make me feel a total twerp. - Being rather taller than the 5'6'' average which shops assume, and with disproportionately long legs as well, I think I'm actually worse off - okay, so shorter folk have to take bits off clothes, but I can't find things which are long enough, and often have the look more associated with teenagers doing growth spurts, sleeves and trouser legs ending somewhere pointless . Being able to do some dressmaking, I also resent the prices being asked for nice clothing, when I can make better (and certainly better-fitting) myself for less; it's just the time factor which stops me.

For work as a GP - I'm lucky. It's a rough area, people would be intimidated by female doc in suit, so I can wear trousers and a blouse or jumper, but I don't do jeans. When on call overnight, I did wear jeans, just to underline the point that I was being called at a time of day which is Time Off for most.

For interviews, I'd probably grudgingly climb into a skirt - but as long a one as I can muster, so I can wear popsocks under it (so not tights).

For concerts, it's a skirt too, but with sparkles. And for those with greying hair - this is my philosophy on the matter - if you start dyeing it, you're stuck with having to continue until it feels ridiculous to keep doing so, and then have a spell of really difficult times trying to assume your natural colour again. As far as I'm concerned, my white hairs are the sparkles in the black, and match the sequins on my concert skirt . Does mean my head is in concert mode all the time, but I can live with that...

I'm not a fan of "gorgeous dresses", so am with the daughter who prefers dungarees here: comfortable is my benchmark. I've now got to the stage in life where one of my offspring sends me back to put something dressier on before I'm allowed to be seen in public . I've never seen myself as the glamour chick, and am much happier not having to put on a front.

Anacrusis, I can picture you, but I bet you look very elegant. I would kill for long legs.........I have duck's disease
At only 5'4", I find it tricky in shops, because the normal clothes are often too long, and I end up having to cut far too much off, and the petite are too short I can dress make, and am thinking I ought to start again. In fact, I found one of my Mum's dress patterns from the early 70's, a halter neck dress, which is very similar to the dresses in the magazines at the moment, and they are charging up to £500 for some of these dresses.
It's difficult to find things that fit around too, being a bit top heavy, and no broad shoulders to match.
Principles were quite good, but they have just gone to the wall
I did find a lovely dress last summer in Coast for Barry's 50th party though. He didn't "find" the visa slip until ages after
Bev

I very much like your sparkly skirt - that's the kind of thing that I aspire to as well, left to my own devices, but daughter is trying to modernise me, and tells me that I should aim to look younger etc etc.

But unfortunately my hair has more sparkle than colour, if you see what I mean, and I've had a bit of a crisis of confidence since some-one who was clearly significantly older than me said "people our age" - to which I nearly replied "but you're much older than me", but managed to clamp my lips shut before saying it!

However, (and this is a slight deviation off-topic), I have resolved that maybe a bit more make-up might detract from the grey hairs, so will experiment in that direction.

Well, here is a confession. I hate clothes - simply hate them. I have no eye for what is either smart or fashionable and I alwaysl look "wrong" and feel dreadful when I have to dress up. It was E M Forster who prefaced "A Room with a View" (I think) with the words "Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
Couldn't agree more.

The only clothes I'm really happy in are those fit for a rough and tumble with the dogs or an afternoon's gardening.

I don't know why you think all clothes are designed for 5'6''? I am that mythical height and nothing fits me either.

For many years I've been with the engineers and wearing jeans etc most the time at work. Recently though I've taken to wearing skirts more and more unless I'm doing work that really needs the protection of jeans. I started doing this by necessity, I couldn't find any comfy trousers they either don't do up properly or keep falling down. I can find skirts though that actually fit and after loosing a couple of dress sizes I'm no longer paranoid about letting my legs occaisionally see the light of day. I'm now finding that I'm quite enjoying looking a little more feminine some of the time.

Having said all that I can't find anything to wear for my brothers wedding next month.

Maybe then, we all need to find "The Shop" that fits our figures, and just go straight there when we need to buy something.
I have just had the "prom" nightmare. We must have tried about 30 dresses She looked stunning in the one, it made her look like Audrey Hepburn. Random strangers in the changing rooms were coming up to her and saying how lovely she looked. Did she want that one??? Noooooooooooo.
Got one in Monsoon in the end, but had to have it altered
Just booked the car. I managed to persuade her that a Rolls Royce Siver Ghost was much nicer than a stretch limo. So we get the 4 girls here to have photos before they go on Friday.
I hope it's all worth it.

daughters, eh ? Many thanks for the compliment though . That one was from East, and is probably supposed to be just above-ankle, hehe.
Awwww I have a friend who was almost white at forty two, and yes, some would look at the shock of silver and assume a vintage she hadn't yet reached - though the huge advantage for me was being able to find her even in rather a busy playground... I do think silver has to be thought of as, errr, distinguished, so as not to feel dispiriting.

The problem of our culture wanting everyone to aim for looking as young as possible does bother me, I must admit: I don't really want to grow old disgracefully, but still wouldn't go near the likes of surgery or botox with a bargepole....there are some advantages to me looking my age .

Absolutely! http://www.hvorostovsky.com/english/performances01.shtml should provide some evidence (and yes, I *am* obsessed!)

Biggest clothing problem I have is blouses. I have broad shoulders, so blouses which fit across the shoulders are often just hanging by the time they reach my waist.

I'm always up for a party frock. Or two...

Wow, yes, that does look distinguished.

Having once read the theory by the odd pair of posh women who go round squeezing ladies' upper storeys and pronouncing them to have great t!ts (which I thought was a tweety thing which eats peanuts out of mesh bags in winter) - all about shapes, I then attempted to find out what shape I was supposed to be...and none seemed to be quite right . Increasingly clothing seems to be cut to a shape I'm not, and at first I was thinking it must be because I'm changing...then I realised that my old clothes still fit, so was rather heartened by that. It's confirmed: companies are aiming to make stuff which Fits Nobody.

We Need to Start a Revolt.

*begins revolting*

I did find a shop that made clothes that fitted me and looked good, but they're closing down. Luckily I bought four jackets in the last year so that'll do me for work for a while (and the pink one does for those performances when I'm allowed to wear the pink outfit).

I did the 'to dye or not to dye' thing with my hair. The shade of grey I was rapidly assuming was not going to be terribly flattering, so I had highlights. As I've now gone significantly lighter than my ex-colour the roots don't show as much when they grow out, and I can get away with only having the highlights re-done when I absolutely have to. My hairdresser is an ex-cabaret singer who talks the hind leg off a donkey - very entertaining, but a little goes a long way.

I'll join you Anacrusis.

Bev becomes revolting No change there then
Deborah.........have you tried cross over blouses? That might accomodate your broad shoulders, and fit snugly at the waist.



It may not be your colour, but you get the general drift.

I couldn't believe my luck when I went grey - cos I didn't go grey - my hair went a sort of light blonde colour - whoopeee I'm a blonde now! The back's still patchy, but the front is very blonde. And as for looking younger - we have a magic mirror. When you stand in front of it and look at yourself you lose about a stone in weight and look about 15 years younger - I love it!!! It even makes my skin look better.





Perhaps I could persuade my daughter to marry a Scotsman, then I could have a lovely time buying him a lovely kilt.

I'm spoken for, but can recommend a good kilt maker.

Aaargh!!! I've trecked all round Cambridge and not one suitable dress! I swear nowhere will sell a nice dress in anything smaller than 'M&S size 8' (ie too big).

What I want to know is what happened to all the shops that think that anything larger than size 10 is fat and won't sell it?!?!

Does anyone have any ideas?

I've been to Coast, Monsoon, John Lewis (and all the brands in there - can't remember them all!) , Laura Ashley, White Stuff, Hobbs, Oasis, Wallis, and probably a couple more that I've forgotten.

I had a look for 'West One' on the internet and they don't have a website and don't have a shop near Cambridge.

It looks like a shopping trip to London may be needed at this rate!

Eat more cake

I eat a lot of cake already.

How about:

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores...17636_857994_-1

or

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores...7636_1020986_-1

or

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores...7636_1063699_-1

or

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores...7636_1046766_-1

I'm very jealous, I'm forever stumbling into petite sections by mistake and there's no way I could ever be described as petite!

Clearly not quite enough - you need to go on a stricter cake-eating regime!

The second and fourth are almost definitely too short, the other two didn't have lengths, but also looked a similar length.

I think I should probably go and have proper look round Debenhams though. (It's on the other side of town to all the other shops and it was raining.)


Obviously.

Now you're just showing off!!

I'm just 5' and a size 6, which rules out almost every shop! Having said that, River Island, Top Shop and more recently New Look, do have some of their ranges in size 6.

In general though a size 8 is the smallest most places sell and shop staff never ceased to be amazed when I hand a size 8 back saying it's 'too big' ......

For anyone who lives within reasonable travelling distance of central London, there's a really good second hand designer wear shop called Catwalk in Blandford Street. All the clothes are sold on commission and they have some really tiny sized stuff in there that's as good as new. In fact, the dress I'm wearing in my forum profile picture was bought from that shop!

Charity shops in the Kensington area are also the place to go for good quality without the original price tag. Designer labels ALWAYS go down to very small sizes.

UK 8 = US 4
UK 6 = US 2
UK 4 = yes, 0, but I've never actually seen any adult female who is a genuine size zero. You'd need to have a body the size of an 10 year old child to fit into it.

Thanks

I didn't actually go in any of New Look, Topshop, etc today to look but generally their dresses are too eveningy/casual/short.

I'm sure I'm going to end up in London at this rate, but that's annoying because I could spend the £20 for a train ticket on £20 more of dress.

The 'Rules' to follow for a dress are:
"Ladies are required to wear dresses or suits with a hemline below the knee and will not be admitted wearing divided skirts, culottes or trousers of any kind. Ladies are encouraged to wear hats."

As for a hat, I'm not even going to go there!

Sounds like a very formal occasion - Royal Enclosure at Epsom, Ladies Day in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot etc.

Take heart, there are hats and there are HATS. For the vertically challenged - like myself - anything big or with a wide brim looks really stupid. Something that pins into the hair with a few leaf or feather things sticking out and a bit of netting around it is far more befitting of a petite framed person - and will still easily pass as a 'hat' at formal gatherings.

You're defintely on the right lines although it's neither of those two.



I haven't worn a hat in the past and have never got any 'looks' for not having one, so it's probably easier not to bother unless something jumps out at me.

I have, on the other hand, worn a dress that was borderline knee-length and been refused entry. On that occasion, I pulled it down a bit and was deemed acceptable at another entrance, but I'd rather not risk it again.

Do Gap and Banana Republic use American sizing? I wear a size 0 from both those shops and am less tiny than I used to be. M&S and Next have definitely both increased the dimensions of their respective sizes (waist measurements, at least) considerably.


Have you tried looking on-line?

You need to fatten up a bit, Czerny!

I've had a bit of a look around, but it's difficult to know what to type in the search really. The only things that I managed to find online that were nice were things I'd already seen in shops. Also, if it's not a shop I'm familiar with, I would most likely end up ordering loads of things that are either size 8 and too big or size 6 and too small etc. I think I must be a strange shape.