All clothing is ugly these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even BR is getting into the act:
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1061551&pcid=1014739&vid=1&pid=876157002

FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even BR is getting into the act:
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1061551&pcid=1014739&vid=1&pid=876157002

FFS.

that is the worst shirt I have ever seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't work out of the house, but I would wear something like this to work with a little sweater over it and a pair of pumps:

https://www.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/lauren-ralph-lauren-petites-floral-print-dress?ID=2587405&CategoryID=3985&LinkType=#fn=BRAND%3DArmani%20Collezioni;;Burberry;;Free%20People;;HALSTON%20HERITAGE;;Joie;;Laundry%20by%20Shelli%20Segal;;Levi's;;Ralph%20Lauren;;Soft%20Joie;;T%20Tahari;;Ted%20Baker;;Theory%26ppp%3D%26spp%3D5%26sp%3D6%26rid%3D121|BOOST%20SAVED%20SET%26spc%3D782%26rsid%3Dundefined%26pn%3D6|9|5|782

That's a cocktail dress, not a dress for work, unless you are in a traditionally female job.

indeed. very pretty. a 50 year old woman could wear it on a date or to a garden party and feel quite appropriately dressed.

Um, is this a sincere or a snarky comment? So hard to tell on this thread.

well, I'm fifty and I can imagine dreaming my DH would take me someplace where I could wear that.

So why don't you go there yourself? Why are you waiting for DH to "take you" somewhere?

My husband dislikes sushi, and I love high-end Japanese restaurants. I go every now and then with girlfriends, or with my cousin, as these people in my life adore this kind of experience just as much as I do. I dress up a bit and go out with my friends. You should, too.

I go to high-end restaurants with my colleagues in my line of work. But they are a very casual crowd. Actually, all my friends are casual as well, and are also too poor to go to high end restaurants (saving all their money to pay more for their kid's college education than they paid for their house). I know there must be dressy people left somewhere in the world, but they don't run in my crowds. And that dress is so pretty, it seems sad not to have somebody staring at you all dinner, waiting as patiently as he can for us to go home, so he can express his appreciation. (remember that I am 50, and wouldn't produce that reaction if I wore something more revealing anymore...

but, once my DH is through college, definitely on our wedding anniversary I'm going to go out with DH to a fancy restaurant wearing a dress that makes a late-50s woman look as attractive as she can

NP. Why are you opposed to dressing "fancier" than your friends? If I were going to a nice restaurant, I'd wear something appropriate for the setting, and too bad for them if they show up in jeans.

[Anonymous]

This is obviously a knock off of Kellyanne Conway's hideous inaugural coat!

Bbbbbut, it's Gucci!!!!

I think my problem with this type of fashion is this: it screams I don't actually work for a living. I sit very still and have others around me do the actual work because if I tried to work, my bows and sleeves would catch in everything. they might even come untied. Please don't count on me to do anything besides sit here and look fashionable.

Exactly! If sitting around and smiling is your life, wear all the runway clothing you can stuff in your closet; otherwise no thank you. I don't mind paying a bit for quality clothing that will last, but stuff that barely looks good on .0001% of the population or is a watered down Lady Gaga stage costume, I just can't!

[Anonymous]

Hmmm....at least I can appreciate the purpose of the "I can't move in this clothes, but I look good so everyone should just look at me" clothing.

I think the reason why this thread started, and has gained so much steam, is that a lot of the mid-range retailers are missing even that mark. I mean, the "Stripe Cold SHoulder Bow Top" from BR posted above just looks like someone's middle-school home ec project that they got an F on. I imagine someone putting that out for a Project Runway episode and Tim Gunn looking very sternly at them, and weeping inwardly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is obviously a knock off of Kellyanne Conway's hideous inaugural coat!

Bbbbbut, it's Gucci!!!!

I think my problem with this type of fashion is this: it screams I don't actually work for a living. I sit very still and have others around me do the actual work because if I tried to work, my bows and sleeves would catch in everything. they might even come untied. Please don't count on me to do anything besides sit here and look fashionable.

Exactly! If sitting around and smiling is your life, wear all the runway clothing you can stuff in your closet; otherwise no thank you. I don't mind paying a bit for quality clothing that will last, but stuff that barely looks good on .0001% of the population or is a watered down Lady Gaga stage costume, I just can't!

I think you can blame Gucci for a lot of things like the BR coat. Their clothing has been all about maximalism and foppery lately and the knock off brands have been a rush to over-embellish in response.

I'd already written off BR. Last time I was in everything seemed to be on fire sale. The one button front I bought developed a 1/2" whole in less than six months time, it seemed to be actual fibre breakdown, not a snag or rip. It must have taken a team of engineers to devise fabrics with such a short natural lifespan.

[Anonymous]

I actually like some of the Ann Taylor fall stuff. I haven't bought anything from there in 5 years at least.

[Anonymous]

What on earth is with the ruffle in the middle of your bicep trend?

Is it this year's version of the shoulder pad? Ditto with cold shoulder? To make your shoulders look as broad as possible, but with a hideous "feminine" twist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What on earth is with the ruffle in the middle of your bicep trend?

Is it this year's version of the shoulder pad? Ditto with cold shoulder? To make your shoulders look as broad as possible, but with a hideous "feminine" twist?

I sort of hate to ask, but photo/link of the bicep ruffle, please?

[Anonymous]

I don't know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth is with the ruffle in the middle of your bicep trend?

Is it this year's version of the shoulder pad? Ditto with cold shoulder? To make your shoulders look as broad as possible, but with a hideous "feminine" twist?

I sort of hate to ask, but photo/link of the bicep ruffle, please?

There may be an actual "fashion term" for this, but I don't know.

Bicep Ruffle at Loft:
https://www.loft.com/ruffle-sleeve-sweatshirt/437841
https://www.loft.com/striped-ruffle-bell-sleeve-tee/444725

J.Crew:
https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens_category/sweaters/pullover/sweater-with-ruffle-sleeves/H0113
https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens_category/shorts/novelty/ruffle-chambray-short/G8100

Anthropologie:
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/eulalia-ruffled-cardigan?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/tiered-ruffles-pulllover?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/currentelliott-ruffled-striped-tee?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=014
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/ruffled-v-neck-pullover2?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001

Cold shoulder AND bicep ruffle in one:
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/ruffled-open-shoulder-pullover?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ladies, forgive me: a rant. Women's clothing is just objectively ugly these days. And it's a universal trend, from department stores to discount stores to outlets to boutiques to chains. All women's clothing, for all sizes and shapes and price points, is hideously ugly.

Bizarro Prints/Colors

You know how the color palette of the 70s was earth tones and off-beat shades like pumpkin and avacado? You know how the color palette of the 80s was neons and bright jewel tones? See how those are two completely different color palettes? Well, put them together in a blender, and that is what is going on right now. Same with patterns. Forget things that make sense, like polka dots or houndstooth or pretty florals. Everything now is just...random.

At one point, I was considering a shirt that was a lovely material/weight, which had a really nice cut/fit. I loved it. Except it was a HIDEOUS navy-on-blue print of morning glories or some other flower...like, close-up of the interior of these flowers. I stood there, staring at it. I closed my eyes and summoned the spirit of Georgia O'Keefe. Even she agreed: "This shirt looks like vaginas, and you shouldn't buy it."

Like, who designed a vagina shirt? And then who approved that design? How do you tell your fabric vendor that you'd like 5,300 yards of vagina print in a merino wool with a hint of stretch? What does that conversation look like?

Medieval Times

Let's get into the "cold-shoulder" trend. OK, fine, some people really love to show off their shoulders in a long-sleeve shirt. Note I'm not talking about off-the shoulder. No, we're talking even turtlenecks that show off just the top patch of shoulder for NO REASON. Forget the optical confusion of this look, why would you want your shoulders to be cold? If it is cold enough for a TURTLENECK, why would you expose your shoulders? NO SENSE.

I saw a thick, heavy sleeveless funnel neck sweater that REACHED THE MID-THIGH. If it is cold enough to wear a sweater that comes to your thighs, why would your arms be hanging out. I don't understand!

So that's all bad enough, but now this trend has extended to inexplicably slashed sleeves and Tudor-esque hanging sleeves--on corporate-wear. If you want to look like that Shakespeare-obsessed teenage girl from "10 Things I Hate About You" as a grown-ass woman, that's a look, at least. That's fine, I GUESS. BUT, it appears that the new fashion is to add these Ye Olde Touches to **work attire,** as in a fitted sheath dress that looks like something Joan from "Mad Men" would wear, except the sleeves are all slashed Elizabethan-style. Just...what?

Because--as we know from reading too many Philippa Gregory novels--the function of slashed sleeves was to show the expensive undershirts, and the function of long hanging sleeves was to hide Anne Boleyn's rumored sixth finger. None of this functionality is needed at a board meeting on a Tuesday or a lobbyist's office on a Wednesday. There IS no intersection of Wall Street and Whitehall Palace. I am so mad.

Random Shit

There were so many times, at so many stores where I reached for what I thought was a BASIC, only to find that it had some random shitty detail. Like, not a blouse with pretty jeweled buttons, or a pair of pants with a ribbon sash or anything nice like that. No, I'm talking about a basic long-sleeved button-down with...a sequined pineapple on the pocket. A pair of shoes that had no fewer than seven buckles across the top...and no, they weren't boots, they were flats.

I just don't understand why pants have to have umbrellas on them, you know? I feel like clothing manufacturers got together in 2008 and just decided they were done producing clothing that made sense.

Nobody Wants Middle-Aged Money

I wandered into J Crew, and clearly I am too old. I tiptoed into Talbots, and was confronted by a pair of stretch pants with an olive/martini glass print, so I am clearly too young. Why does no one want to cater to me, a boring, middle-aged mom with a job who just doesn't want to wear olives or pineapples? I'm too chubby for cropped tops, plus also, I can't wear crop tops to work OR to the park with my kids. On the other side of the coin, I just kind of feel like stirrup pants would make me tumble into menopause at an accelerated pace. Why does no one want to make some basic clothing and take my money?

I want my shoulders to be warm, and not to wear a vagina shirt. Is that too much to ask?

I could go on, but I will stop. Please tell me I am not the only one in this group with the worst wardrobe I have ever had, including when I was 6 and owned a terry-cloth romper that made me look like a strawberry, or when I was 19 and had at least three items in my closet that were purchased at Charlotte Russe.

Thank you for your consideration.

The word you are looking for is subjective, not objective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth is with the ruffle in the middle of your bicep trend?

Is it this year's version of the shoulder pad? Ditto with cold shoulder? To make your shoulders look as broad as possible, but with a hideous "feminine" twist?

I sort of hate to ask, but photo/link of the bicep ruffle, please?

There may be an actual "fashion term" for this, but I don't know.

Bicep Ruffle at Loft:
https://www.loft.com/ruffle-sleeve-sweatshirt/437841
https://www.loft.com/striped-ruffle-bell-sleeve-tee/444725

J.Crew:
https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens_category/sweaters/pullover/sweater-with-ruffle-sleeves/H0113
https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens_category/shorts/novelty/ruffle-chambray-short/G8100

Anthropologie:
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/eulalia-ruffled-cardigan?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/tiered-ruffles-pulllover?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/currentelliott-ruffled-striped-tee?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=014
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/ruffled-v-neck-pullover2?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001

Cold shoulder AND bicep ruffle in one:
https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/ruffled-open-shoulder-pullover?category=SEARCHRESULTS&color=001

My retinas! AUGH! My rods and cones are all messed up...

[Anonymous]

Gag me. Gagging so much. Blech. Want to kill myself. Hideous. Put me out of my misery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even BR is getting into the act:
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1061551&pcid=1014739&vid=1&pid=876157002

FFS.

This is truly horrible. Unless it was a Tim Gunn scrap fabric challenge: you have thirty minutes and a bucket of 2" wide fabric scraps to make a garment. Go!