Halp! Style crisis!
After the longest, coldest, just plain nastiest UK winter in decades, it looks as though spring may actually arrive. (Not that it’s here yet — the temperature is still about 50° F and an icy wind is howling through London. But it’s sunny, and things are definitely blossoming!) This is the moment I’ve been looking forward to, but also dreading — it’s time to think about clothing for spring and summer.
When confronted with the task of conceiving, planning, shopping for (and sewing) a wardrobe, I tend to crawl under the duvet with a groan and hide there. Not that I dislike clothing — I like my body, I am a massive showoff at heart and I used to go bonkers buying, remixing and parading around thrift-store treasures. It’s just that a) I no longer have any idea what to wear and b) clothes shopping in the UK is about as fun as a mammogram.
Clothes shopping was fun when I was 19 — I was stick-thin, everything looked pretty good on me, I didn’t have particularly expensive tastes and my job allowed me to wear whatever I wanted. But sadly, I had no money, so I had to shelve my longings for style and wear what I could afford. Fortunately, I lived in Toronto, where new, vintage and indie designer clothing were plentiful and reasonably inexpensive.
Now I have money, but I live in London, where “vintage” means squashed, battered ’70s boots priced at £45, charity shops are full of used clothing that was cheap and nasty to begin with and the high street shops are full of shapeless, tissue-thin knits because it’s cheaper and easier to make drapey rags for gullible 19-year-olds than structured, figure-flattering, high-quality clothing for grownups.
So this is my dilemma:
My figure, tastes, budget and wardrobe requirements have changed in the past six years, but because I haven’t been spending any of that time in fitting rooms, I no longer have any idea what to wear. This means that every sewing project is riskier because not only do I not know whether the finished product will turn out okay, I also have no idea whether it will suit me if it does. This is particularly a problem with vintage styles, which I may never have attempted to wear before making them.
The dilemma is complicated by the fact that I work in a pretty staid office environment (can it get any more staid than Parliament?), so any fashion risks I take have to err on the side of propriety — tweed and vintage hair I can get away with, acid-washed skinny jeans and zebra-print bodysuits I can’t.
Readers, I need your favorite resources — vintage and modern — on dressing to suit your body shape, putting together coherent ensembles, using color creatively and working vintage into a modern wardrobe. Links to good sites for vintage and modern fashion inspiration are also most welcome. Help me learn to dress like a grown-up lady!
I am now not certain the place you’re getting your info, however good topic. I must spend some time finding out much more or figuring out more. Thanks for magnificent info I was on the lookout for this info for my mission.
Oooh! Get out of my head. I’m plotting some posts on just that subject- how to dress like a respectable, but chic grown woman.
Don’t know if you can get it in the UK, but I love watching “What Not to Wear” they have some good ideas and I can pick up tips there. one that I KNOW I need is accessorizing. I never have and I need to learn, but I find most of them make me fidgety due to not being used to wearing extras. I end up stripping them off after a half hour or so. Can’t figure out how to get myself around that.
I think that like everything, it’s a process and a person’s sense of style evolves over time.
There are suggestions I’ll make in terms of blogs and books. Like me or anyone else, you read them, and take what you want from them. You’ll find your taste shifting/refining itself incrementally.
Some suggestions:
Even though the clothese are crap, try on as much as you can stand in shops. It gives you a good idea of what you can and cannot wear. Some things I would have sworn I could wear I can’t, and vice versa.
See if you can dig up a copy of “Dress for Success”. The style advice in it is incredibly conservative, but it gave me a basis for what is acceptable and unacceptable in most business places–I think Parliament would qualify.
Some blogs I enjoy for fashion content and commentary:
1. Manolo for the Big Girl. You don’t have to be a “big girl” to enjoy the fashion advice or commentary.
2. Une Femme d’un Certain Age
I wouldn’t necessarily wear all of her style choices, but it’s interesting to see it from the point of view of someone who loves clothing and dresses relatively conservatively. The writer looks polished and well put together, IMHO. Her tastes are spendy, but again take what you want.
Thanks for these tips — the blog suggestions are exactly what I’m looking for!
Hi Susannah!
Wow, seems like you have a lot of ladies on board with this one! Thought I’d chuck my tuppenny worth in anyhow. This may be ‘the grass is always greener’ talk, but I’ve always fancied the idea of an office job to justify making the squillions of cute blouses and pencil skirts that could be worn. I’ve recently bought Simplicity and Newlook blouse patterns, and I’ve seen others make awesome versions of Simplicity. They are just so frikkin cute in plain or printed fabrics. You could have so much fun making mix and match blouses and skirts with sweet prints, stripes, polka dots or solids etc for the top and nice solids or something more adventurous for the skirts. That’s what my inner-office worker would wear anyhow! Actually I did use to work in an office but it was a total pit, and really freezing so I just used to wear jeans and as much knitwear as I could wrap round me. Working at Parliament sounds much more glamorous though!
Zoe xxx
Sorry, forgot to put the pattern numbers in:
I’ve recently bought Simplicity 2601 (http://www.simplicity.com/p-1559-misses-tops.aspx)and Newlook 6808 (http://www.simplicity.com/p-2482-misses-tops.aspx) blouse patterns,
and I’ve seen others make awesome versions of Simplicity 2501:
http://www.simplicity.com/p-3059-misses-tops.aspx
Sorry!
I really love the opportunity my job gives me to up my game — I was so tickled to have an excuse to wear suits! My current favorite is a black 80s film noir-inspired suit I bought on Etsy with a slit pencil skirt. Worn with red heels it looks vaguely Blade Runner-ish. I may not be able to do Emma Pillsbury or Joan Holloway, but I can at least attempt Ms. 45…
I know it’s been said above me, but linen/cotton skirts and light blouses and shirts are seriously the way to go.
Also printed cotton/rayon dresses.
So summery. So appropriate for absolutely everywhere.
I love your blog!
Garnet
This website doesn’t deal too much with vintage, but I think they do a good job of dressing for their bodies, and breaking down how they compose outfits (shapes, colors, etc).
http://www.academichic.com/
Best of luck!
Oh I hear you! Everyone goes on about shopping in London, but I lived there for four years and was always disappointed. Vintage stores are way to trendy (read: expensive) and the high street has been designed exclusively for teenagers. The only advice I can give, and you have probably been there is to attend the London Vintage Fashion, textiles and accessories fair:
http://www.pa-antiques.co.uk/londonvintagefashionfair.html
If you can get there early enough, you can bag some bargins, and it is great for accessories to perk up your existing outfits. Hope this helps! Good luck.
What about linen skirts in the same shapes (use the same patterns to make them or choose similar patterns, pencils skirts, straight skirts, Etc) as your tweeds, Blouses in lighter fabrics such as cottons, linens and silks in your same favorite patterns with tiny prints, nothing large since that is less elegant and less “staid”. Dresses are ok in larger prints, and two piece dresses fall in that category. Wear weskits, vests or jackets in similar fabrics as the skirt over any of the above. and don’t forget a shawl or wide scarf to keep off the breezes and damp.
HTH, kitty
In terms of vintage inspiration in London itself, have you been to Camden Stables lately? I was there in September, and the amount of good vintage shops has skyrocketed with all the upgrades (why the vinyl sellers have vanished *grumble*). There is also a market near What Katie Did over by Ladbroke Grove Tube station, that has a TON of amazing vintage wares. Its on Friday mornings for sure, maybe Saturday/Sunday too. Some things can be pricey, but I’m a cheapskate and I found things I would have bought had I been able to FIT into them…always my issue. I’d go and be sneaky with your cell phone or flash-off camera and get some inspiration
May I second the book Elegance. I love it and regularly peruse it when reviewing what I would like to sort out an outfit. It does go with your Fashion on the Ration idea too.
I’ve just moved to London to work for a year (from Australia via the USA) and I’m like you, just figuring out what wardrobe I want to have for this new place.
I feel your pain. I’ve just come out of years spent as a student, and not as a cool, chic, funky student, but one of those ones with zilcho money and jumpers with holes in. I stopped going shopping over 2 years ago in order to save cash (and my sanity), and fell out of the fashion loop and into home sewing. Now I’ve started work in an office where everyone is achingly cool and I just don’t know where to start!!
At the moment I’m just keeping my eyes open for anything I vaguely like and trying to remember it later when I actually hit the shops. I’m also going for it with cheap fabric and a sewing machine. I’ve had a few hits, and a few misses, but at least my sewing is improving!
Good luck with the style quest and do report back!
When I went off to college, I tried to build a wardrobe using Elegance, by Genevieve Antoine D’Ariaux, as a model. (Yeah, I know, somebody wrote a chick lit book along the same lines, but I read that book, and I’m not convinced that the author actually read Elegance before writing the novel.) I found the 1950s/60s model a little impractical as a 1980s college student, but it might fit your Fashion on the Ration plan quite well. As I recall, it listed how many blouses, how many sweaters, how many formal ballgowns, etc. you needed for each season. If I can find the book, I’ll post the list.
I used to have a book called Secondhand Style that had some good stuff about integrating used and vintage clothes into your wardrobe. It might be out of print now, but it’s probably less than 10 years old.
I complained below that not enough of these books are on Google Books after the recent settlement, but Elegance totally is available in what looks like its entirety. I know what I’m reading this weekend!
Aw, darn, I was wrong, it’s only a partial preview.
Oh, thank you for the link! I find a lot of the old advice still holds true. If not, it’s still fun to read, especially if delivered in a brisk, authoritative tone.
Fantastic, it was reprinted recently! I just bought a secondhand copy for a fiver.
Going shopping in department stores and boutiques just to try on clothes and find what suits you is an idea. Then you’ll know better what to sew for yourself
Just stumbled on your blog…love your sense of humor and your craftiness. You rock!
oh, and to echo a previous comment, Anthropologie is a fantastic source for modern clothing with a vintage attitude.
Sometimes Erin at Dress a Day posts fashion advice from the early 20th century – the one I’ve linked to I actually found extremely helpful. I wish Google Books let you browse by Library of Congress call numbers, because fashion advice is all going to be under TT507, and most of the books in that section tend to be old and cool – just a search of that call number on loc.gov turned up about twenty books I’d like to read if only Google Books still had the full text. (For instance “The Smartly Dressed Woman: How She Does It” by Emily Burbank, published 1925 – I would love to know how she does it, especially in an era as full of stylistic upheaval as 1925! If only the full scan was still online!) Alas, I have no idea what the equivalent section would be in the UK, though I’m guessing you do. I’ve been bashing away at the British Library website for half an hour now, and all I can tell is that some collections use Dewey and some collections use something I’m not familiar with.
(Personally, I’ve had the best luck finding fashion bloggers with a similar build and poking around Etsy for clothes I think have nice lines – I’m not at all a fan of late 20th-early 21st century published fashion advice, since a great deal of it is oriented towards keeping up with disposable-fashion trends and covering perceived flaws in the figure, and most of the covering-figure-flaws advice is both depressing and horribly boring. The best way to suit one’s figure is to have clothes that fit properly! And that option is presently only available to the home sewist, which is not what Redbook advises doing.)
Hear, hear! I LOVE the “forceful, energetic woman” — if I’m not one, I should definitely redouble my efforts to be one!
Some of my happiest memories of university involve having unrestricted browsing access to a 13-story library. I wasn’t particularly into fashion at the time, but I did hit the turn-of-the-century etiquette books pretty hard. If I ever meet a fellow on the street whom I danced with the night before, I’ll know I’m not obliged to acknowledge him.
Thanks for the tips! I will keep an eye out for similarly built fashion bloggers — always assuming, of course, that they are forceful and energetic.
There is a great vintage shop off Brick Lane (Cheshire Street) called Beyond Retro. It’s two warehouses squished together, and at cheap prices, comparable to Primark for most tops/trews/dresses (though if you go for one of their ballgowns it’s obv going to be more expensive!!). I usually avoid most vintage shops here because of the ridiculous prices, but this one really is worth the trek.
I second Beyond Retro. Very affordable, and I even have friends come down from Oxford to shop there.
Sorry this is so long, it’s practially a post in the comment section, which is such bad manners, but this is an area I’ve been thinking so much about recently so I couldn’t help myself!
I had to laugh at this post because I literally got back from London last night, where I was loving the few degrees C extra and the fact that the plants are a few weeks ahead of us. I got freckles in my cheeks and color on the backs of my hands and went shopping and was impressed with the service level in the shops. Then I came back to Copenhagen.
I am in the process of hammering out a personal style for myself as well, as a result of what seems to be a cosmic intersection of weight loss, age and inspiration. I’m 31 and don’t want to dress like an underwashed and underlaundered college student anymore. I’ve recently lost 20 kg, so I no longer feel like I have to buy something just because I can fit into it. And despite reading fashion magazines off and on for ages I’ve only in the last year or so started to figure out how to use them – instead of being vexed (ok, still am a little vexed, but…) at the “MUST HAVE” sections that run up into my year’s salary in designer items every month, I’ve started to be able to analyze trends to find the “red thread” that I can then use my meager (nurse’s) wages to avoid shapeless oblivion and looking like someone who lives under a rock. Ironically this means I like the big fashion magazines now, and buy Vogue once a season to stare at the ads.
Also I’ve become really interested in vintage fashion, and while I had a sort of flip where I dreamed up the most fantastic, impeccably tailored and authentic wardrobe I was going to sew for myself of luxury fabrics I’ve come away from that again. If I worked in a chic office or store that would be one thing, but I’m a nurse and I spend 37 hours a week in a uniform and I’m not going to put on stockings and heels and an elegant dress that must be dry-cleaned or ironed at 6:30 in the morning when it’s 0 C and dark outside, and ride my bike to the hospital where I take everything off again. So as far as every-day is concerned my vintage inspiration is to put effort into my grooming. So I’ve been trawling YouTube watching hair and makeup videos. (I really like LisaFreemontStreet.) It’s not like I’m doing fantastic victory rolls either, I’ve got shoulder length straight dark hair with bangs, which I wear in a ponytail at work. But the effort to look more polished is there, and I am working the dark hair-pale skin look.
Also (sorry this is so long!) I’ve finally realized that I am never going to be able to find “tailored” off the rack clothes that fit me. I’m 5’10″ with really long arms and legs, with an hourglass waist and a distressingly low-slung E cup. Sleeves are too short, waists bag, buttons can’t be fastened across the bust and bust darts are too high. This also gives me about zero chances of finding actual vintage or thrifted stuff that fits me. Fortunately my sewing skills are now almost at the level that I can routinely make adjustments so things fit me. So my goal now is to make some pretty blouses to wear with jeans for every day, some “nice clothes” for days off and a couple party outfits for myself which are vintage inspired – and are chosen with a fitted waist in mind, because I’ve discovered that I look much more neat that way although I always have the urge to hide my middle. (Also I recently bought a girdle for those party dresses. Seriously.) For vintage inspiration I trawl Google, sewing blogs like this one, or The Sew Weekly, or Colette Patterns, and also Etsy is a huge inspiration although I always find stuff I want to buy.
So, really long blog short: fashion magazines with a grain of salt, YouTube, and sewing blogs.
Oh, and I think you’re just going to have to bite it and make some muslins. In fact I would recommend buying a pattern for a fitting shell and working through that, because it will tell you a lot about the shape of your body and give you a rule of thumb about what adjustments you will need to make to patterns to ensure a proper tailored fit. My experience is that if your clothes *really* fit you, a wider range of styles will actually look good on you.
I am tall and long-torsoed (and not – how to say this – supernaturally perky?) so I was shocked to find once I started sewing that the problem with ready-to-wear clothing is actually that I’m two inches shorter from shoulder to bust point then the standard fit model. If I take up all my patterns in the shoulders, suddenly everything lines up down to the waist! I have spent way too long feeling like a mutant and having ill-fitting clothes over such a simple discrepancy. Thank god for sewing, and may I continue to do it for a long time.
It sounds like you have a high bust point (not the same as perk or sag although that of course plays in) and a long rise. I’ve had a low bust point since I got a bust, although it’s gotten lower with time (thank you, gravity!). I typically have to move my bust darts down at least 2cm.
I swear by the Vogue sewing book, it’s where I’ve learned almost all my alteration techniques.
Yeah, I meant 2 inches, not 2 cm.
Man, do I feel your pain. After 5 years of college working in a photographic darkroom and wearing jeans and t shirts that would be ok if i spilled chemistry on myself and then the many many years without or between jobs. I have no idea what the frelling hell to wear. I like dressing up and I always sort of dressed up in H.s. and the beginning of college but then I wore t shirts all the time and my dress up gauge is off lately. the problem is I am comfy in jeans and t’s but bored and I don’t feel pretty.
I like Tiffany’s idea of looking at what you do have that you like and starting with that as a base. How a bout some A-line skirts from your hot patterns pattering in some lighter more spring summery material? or some topical weight wool wide leg trousers? both would look good with button downs (like your red balloon blouse) or some simple short sleeve sweaters (which I love because they are cute, seasonless and office appropriate)
I know there is a vintage source for flattering your figure-there HAS to be, they were all about that in the 40′s and 50′s I just don’t know what that is right now.
If you have a measuring tape and a few pieces that fit you the way you like, you can find vintage on etsy and ebay. And I love looking at wardrobe_remix for inspiration. A lot of the outfits might not work for you, but there are a lot of people on there mixing vintage and modern.
I love Anthropologie – as a source to buy clothing and for inspiration in thrift store shopping and vintage sewing. Love your blog!