Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 16:22     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
I challenge the premise. People did not look better in the 80s.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 14:41     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's partly our fabrics and the rise of fast fashion. Cheap fabric and poor construction drapes horribly, and people look sloppy when they wear it. Especially if overweight.


Cheap fabric, poor construction, and we’re still paying a lot for it. There is no reliable brand or retailer anymore.


But we aren't "paying a lot for it." People are paying such cheap prices at places like Shein that they buy a haul of clothes and then literally throw half of it away. And then get another haul.


I think PP's point is that I can buy ridiculously cheap clothes at Shein or expensive clothes that are similar in fabric and construction from Nordstrom (at least some of the brands) that are priced up because they are at Nordstrom not because they are made from good fabric or sewn well. There's no real place you can go and be assured of quality for your dollar.


You will get much better construction buying a garment at Nordstrom vs SHEIN.


Will you? I stopped shopping there when the things I was buying were splitting at the seams. But then again I don't shop at SHEIN. I just know Gap was better quality than what I was paying more for at Nordstrom. Though I wasn't being picky about brand there.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 13:27     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:Covid. Post pandemic, women AND men just started wearing baggy sweatpants or yoga pants everywhere. Many more people also work from home, so that doesn't help.


At school pickup (affluent area) virtually every parent of either sex is wearing what appears to be workout clothing. If you actually worked out in that earlier today, gross. If you’re heading straight to the gym after pickup, ok then but every single parent?
I’ve occasionally stopped at the grocery store after the gym and I always pray I don’t see anyone I know.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 13:23     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:I just think we've changed expectations and I'm happy about it. Also some things that used to be considered an "event" are now just run of the mill. Like flying. My grandma always talks about how she would wear heels, a pencil skirt, and a cashmere sweater on a plane. But she only flew a few times in her life. She has a similar photo of herself dressed like that at a kids amusement park with her toddlers.

Sorry, but if that was the expectation, I'm glad it has shifted. I think we correctly care less about looking dressed up. Clean is important. Dressy is just not. I'd rather spend my time and money on other things and be able to fully participate in life rather than clomping around in heels and a tight skirt or sweating in pantyhose.


To be fair back then you weren’t expected to strip and get an intimate pat down before flying, you didn’t have to get to the airport 3 hours before takeoff, and seats were roomier.
The one time I flew dressed up (I was going straight to a funeral from the airport) I got VIP treatment for some reason.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 13:18     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:Nobody said anything about wearing heels and pencil skirts to go to the grocery store. The point is that an huge swath of society is struggling with minimal effort to look minimally put together - like there is a mystery on how to do it. What I’m hearing here is lots of people just don’t even care or want to add grooming and style to their daily routine because they don’t give a F - and they don’t have to. If crocs and pajama pants are the future of fashion so be it - from many of these comments it seems on brand with the solitary, isolated, screen obsessed society we live in.


Nobody owes you a put-together look.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 13:16     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's partly our fabrics and the rise of fast fashion. Cheap fabric and poor construction drapes horribly, and people look sloppy when they wear it. Especially if overweight.


Cheap fabric, poor construction, and we’re still paying a lot for it. There is no reliable brand or retailer anymore.


But we aren't "paying a lot for it." People are paying such cheap prices at places like Shein that they buy a haul of clothes and then literally throw half of it away. And then get another haul.


I think PP's point is that I can buy ridiculously cheap clothes at Shein or expensive clothes that are similar in fabric and construction from Nordstrom (at least some of the brands) that are priced up because they are at Nordstrom not because they are made from good fabric or sewn well. There's no real place you can go and be assured of quality for your dollar.


You will get much better construction buying a garment at Nordstrom vs SHEIN.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 12:11     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
Nobody said anything about wearing heels and pencil skirts to go to the grocery store. The point is that an huge swath of society is struggling with minimal effort to look minimally put together - like there is a mystery on how to do it. What I’m hearing here is lots of people just don’t even care or want to add grooming and style to their daily routine because they don’t give a F - and they don’t have to. If crocs and pajama pants are the future of fashion so be it - from many of these comments it seems on brand with the solitary, isolated, screen obsessed society we live in.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 11:40     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:The rise of athleisure and “tech” fabrics that essentially rebranded polyester as a fashion forward choice.


I pretty much only shop at GAP and J Crew, looking for 100% or 99% cotton or linen/cotton blends.
I can't believe all the plastic crap that dominates the clothing market now. $45 for a children's plastic Tshirt??
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 11:38     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Covid. Post pandemic, women AND men just started wearing baggy sweatpants or yoga pants everywhere. Many more people also work from home, so that doesn't help.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 11:27     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:1950s Street Scene - Los Angeles



This is like 70 years ago. If those folks were to look back 70 years, what would the fashion look like? Think about that. What if people from 1885 were to look at this video? The would find it unfortunate that women were showing their legs, at best, I'm sure. And the 1950s women would look back at the 1885 dresses and feel fortunate that they don't have to put on a bustle (as we feel fortunate that we don't have to put on pantyhose).


I wonder what the clothing situation will be like 70 years from now.


I sometimes think that and it's really hard to imagine! We've already gone pretty extreme as far as showing skin, so it's hard to imagine that trend continuing unless we're all going to be walking around in cellophane. I've seen some sci fi that predicts a return to covering everything up, due to increasing pollution, skin cancer, etc. Or we're all just be sitting in houses living our lives through avatars like Ready Player One.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 11:24     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
I just think we've changed expectations and I'm happy about it. Also some things that used to be considered an "event" are now just run of the mill. Like flying. My grandma always talks about how she would wear heels, a pencil skirt, and a cashmere sweater on a plane. But she only flew a few times in her life. She has a similar photo of herself dressed like that at a kids amusement park with her toddlers.

Sorry, but if that was the expectation, I'm glad it has shifted. I think we correctly care less about looking dressed up. Clean is important. Dressy is just not. I'd rather spend my time and money on other things and be able to fully participate in life rather than clomping around in heels and a tight skirt or sweating in pantyhose.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 09:16     Subject: Re:Serious Fashion Question
The internet is obviously a huge part of it too. I remember poring over Seventeen and Vogue magazines as a teen to help figure out what I should wear or aspire to wear. Some fashion influencers have a good eye, but there are no more semi-universal standards for fashion, even if standards always differed by wealth level and country.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 09:02     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's partly our fabrics and the rise of fast fashion. Cheap fabric and poor construction drapes horribly, and people look sloppy when they wear it. Especially if overweight.


Cheap fabric, poor construction, and we’re still paying a lot for it. There is no reliable brand or retailer anymore.


But we aren't "paying a lot for it." People are paying such cheap prices at places like Shein that they buy a haul of clothes and then literally throw half of it away. And then get another haul.


I think PP's point is that I can buy ridiculously cheap clothes at Shein or expensive clothes that are similar in fabric and construction from Nordstrom (at least some of the brands) that are priced up because they are at Nordstrom not because they are made from good fabric or sewn well. There's no real place you can go and be assured of quality for your dollar.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 08:53     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's partly our fabrics and the rise of fast fashion. Cheap fabric and poor construction drapes horribly, and people look sloppy when they wear it. Especially if overweight.


Cheap fabric, poor construction, and we’re still paying a lot for it. There is no reliable brand or retailer anymore.


But we aren't "paying a lot for it." People are paying such cheap prices at places like Shein that they buy a haul of clothes and then literally throw half of it away. And then get another haul.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 08:49     Subject: Serious Fashion Question
Anonymous wrote:It's partly our fabrics and the rise of fast fashion. Cheap fabric and poor construction drapes horribly, and people look sloppy when they wear it. Especially if overweight.


Cheap fabric, poor construction, and we’re still paying a lot for it. There is no reliable brand or retailer anymore.