How can anyone take us seriously in these dimity florals and huge shoulder ruffles?

[Anonymous]

I was already forced into the ruffled, flounced, and smocked floral prairie dress look back in the ‘80s when I was an actual child.

I’ll happily check out Quince if it has clean lines and solids.

[Anonymous]

All clothes are costume. You get to choose what you want to put on and if it sends the message you want to send.

There does seem to be a lot of ridiculous stuff out there these days. I'm content to ignore most of it.

[Anonymous]

I have always liked Tuckernuck style dresses. I am wearing them to work, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love dressing like that. I'm wealthy and educated, and above all, I don't have weird American hang-ups about what constitutes femininity in 2025.

Before it was a style in the US, I had to spend hours online looking for stuff sold in Japan. Or go to Japan (and see my cousins).

You don't need to wear only what you find in stores. Some decades will be harder than others to find what YOU like to wear, but a little persistence pays off!

I just don’t buy that women have to be infantilized to look feminine.

This exactly. I’m with OP. It’s harder to find blouses and dresses that don’t look like they were designed for toddlers or workers at a Renaissance Fair.

[Anonymous]

I'm not having any trouble avoiding the frilly junque.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These clothes aren’t my style therefore there must be a conspiracy against women!!!!!!!

It’s not a conspiracy but if you think fashion trends are totally unrelated to social and political trends, you really need to read a book on fashion. This has been true for maybe 1000 years. It’s a symbiotic relationship though — the designers try to pick up on underlying social trends, then produce clothes accordingly, which then can have a tendency to magnify those trends.
I mean, look at the wide leg pants and broad shouldered power suit jackets of the 1940s compared with the “get back to the house” shirt dresses and Peter Pan collars of the 1950s compared with the psychedelic prints and shot hemlines of the 60s compared with the let it all hang loose long flowy skirts and macrame looks of the 1970. These are all expressing and magnifying social/political views of women’s role. And yes you can kick a$$ in a boardroom in a shirt dress with a Peter Pan collar if you like (lord knows the early suffragists wore some pretty retrograde looks!) but that’s not the message that dress is sending.

[Anonymous]

Do you remember the "baby doll" dresses from about twenty years back? All of those dresses on all those racks sitting, with no one buying them. No, I don't want to go to work dressed as a baby. Strange how that works.

[Anonymous]

One more thought — I often watch Mexican TV shows and the Mexican businesswomen in the TV shows have awesome outfits that are both feminine but look like real power clothes. I’m sure they are super expensive but I would love to see mid price versions of a lot of those outfits.

Also, a few years dated but the Jane Fonda on Frankie and Grace had awesome fitted floral button downs that were here signature look. I loved them so much I googled and found a story saying basically the designer made them by hand specially for the character as she couldn’t find anything quite right from stores.

So there are ways to do feminine and florals and pretty colors without just adding a bunch of flounces to a shapeless floral dress..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you remember the "baby doll" dresses from about twenty years back? All of those dresses on all those racks sitting, with no one buying them. No, I don't want to go to work dressed as a baby. Strange how that works.

I feel lkke every 20 years of so designers try to sell us on the baby doll. It’s obviously cheaper to make since they don’t have to worry about sizing/tailoring and can use less fabric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not having any trouble avoiding the frilly junque.

Where are you shopping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more thought — I often watch Mexican TV shows and the Mexican businesswomen in the TV shows have awesome outfits that are both feminine but look like real power clothes. I’m sure they are super expensive but I would love to see mid price versions of a lot of those outfits.

Also, a few years dated but the Jane Fonda on Frankie and Grace had awesome fitted floral button downs that were here signature look. I loved them so much I googled and found a story saying basically the designer made them by hand specially for the character as she couldn’t find anything quite right from stores.

So there are ways to do feminine and florals and pretty colors without just adding a bunch of flounces to a shapeless floral dress..

Telenovela: I don’t understand a word she’s saying but I like how she’s saying it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All clothes are costume. You get to choose what you want to put on and if it sends the message you want to send.

There does seem to be a lot of ridiculous stuff out there these days. I'm content to ignore most of it.

I feel like most of the clothing in major stores is sighing “I’m here in the office because we need the money, but I really want to be skipping through a meadow with my five kids under 10 and our schnauzerpoo while DH takes care of me.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more thought — I often watch Mexican TV shows and the Mexican businesswomen in the TV shows have awesome outfits that are both feminine but look like real power clothes. I’m sure they are super expensive but I would love to see mid price versions of a lot of those outfits.

Also, a few years dated but the Jane Fonda on Frankie and Grace had awesome fitted floral button downs that were here signature look. I loved them so much I googled and found a story saying basically the designer made them by hand specially for the character as she couldn’t find anything quite right from stores.

So there are ways to do feminine and florals and pretty colors without just adding a bunch of flounces to a shapeless floral dress..

Can you link or post pix of some of these TV Mexican businesswomen? I'm so curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post some photos, please? I'm not sure what you all are talking about.

https://tnuck.com/products/lemon-blanca-midi-dress

https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/the-peregrine-square-neck-midi-dress?category=dresses-midi&color=030&type=STANDARD&quantity=1

https://www.hillhousehome.com/collections/nap-dress-shop/products/the-ellie-nap-dress-farmers-market?variant=41363556728875

You’d want to be “taken seriously” in an office environment, a professional conference, an interview, a meeting at your kid’s school. These dresses are for wedding guests, parties, fun events, vacation, going out, date nights … I agree women’s professional office wear kind of sucks these days, but Anthro and Hill House were never selling clothes for the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All clothes are costume. You get to choose what you want to put on and if it sends the message you want to send.

There does seem to be a lot of ridiculous stuff out there these days. I'm content to ignore most of it.

I feel like most of the clothing in major stores is sighing “I’m here in the office because we need the money, but I really want to be skipping through a meadow with my five kids under 10 and our schnauzerpoo while DH takes care of me.”

Lol. This.