How to Dress

[Gardenarian]

I just don't understand clothing anymore.

The pants that are in style don't go with the shoes that are in style, and NOTHING that is in style is very comfortable.
All the tops are thin and require tank tops/camisole/bras underneath (my daughter has one of those sheer muscle shirts, and she wears a skin tone bra AND a tube top underneath.)
The skinny pants look ridiculous with most shoes - really, they only work with boots or ballet flats. (And not the sensible kind of boots and flats I wear.)
All the pants are so long, it's crazy. My dd is a leggy 5'7" and still has to hem or roll up her pants.

And why are all the sneakers only available in neon colors? Those are colors that shouldn't be worn by anyone over 12 years of age.

So many things are poorly made - they don't seem like they'd make it through one wash. I bought a pair of fleece leggings, and after one day they were already pilling and loose threads were raveling. Very shoddy.

A popular look with the students around here: Long sleeve thermal top with a T-shirt or tank on top; short-shorts over tights; thick, thigh-length stockings (over the tights) and high heeled boots. All worn together, usually with a scarf, hat, and stylish but useless jacket, and topped with a canvas backpack. Nope!

I'm not a slave to fashion, but I really don't know what to wear anymore. I want comfortable knit cotton pants with pockets (straight legs, not skinny/not flares or wide leg) that actually look good, and some nice sneakers (I wish Converse All-Stars were comfortable!) I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes I've ordered and sent back. (Thank you, Amazon Prime.)

Of course, I do most my clothes shopping at Goodwill (where you can still find quality), but I do look online and I don't see sensible clothing available at any price. (And buying clothes online is a crap shoot anyhow; most places don't have free returns.)

For now, I'm in old sweatpants and hiking boots, and I had to put a new waistband in the sweatpants because the original came up to my armpits. My dressier work pants are all so old and baggy, just awful, they look 20 years out of date, because they actually are.

It seems like most people fall back on jeans. I can't wear jeans, because the stiffness is very irritating to a medical condition I have. And my feet need wide shoes and TLC. So my options are limited, to just about nothing.

Not long till summer, and summer is easier - skirts and sandals...but there's the problem of trying to find cool shirts that don't require a pound of elastic bra to wear with them. Wrapping yourself in Lycra underneath kind of defeats the purpose of the breezy linen tank top.

Oh, well.

[mschrisgo2]

Ah, yes, the clothing/shoes dilemma. I have been wearing polyester slacks with 3/4 sleeve length shirts to work (elementary school) all year. I bought a pair of Clark's loafers last fall that fit beautifully; unfortunately, when I tried to buy them in another color, I gave up after 5 pairs of different sizes- they just did not fit.

Now that it is warm here in California, I'm back to wearing cotton crop pants and tee-shirts to school. And I bought a pair of tan Skechers, GoWalk2, that I LOVE, and highly recommend.

My summer wear-around clothes, are the same style, crop pants and tees, and Teva's. In colder weather, my inside wear is sweat pants and sweatshirts; when I go out casually, I wear jeans and put a long sleeve shirt under the sweat shirt .

Not terribly stylish, but all very comfortable and easy care. I just can't be bothered with stylish anymore, because it is all pure junk, as far as I can see.

[rosarugosa]

Gardenarian: I really struggled for a long time to find my style (such as it is). I believe we're about the same age. I definitely favor jeans for casual wear, and I've found Not Your Daughter's Jeans to be really comfortable. (My Mom & my sister wear them too; we told Mom she needs to call hers something else!) I do have some very loose-fitting, comfy linen pants from Talbot's that I love, and I don't iron them, I just hand smooth and hang them out of the wash. LL Bean has some knit jeans that allegedly look just like jeans but are as comfortable as sweats. Those might be worth trying. If you have an LL Bean visa, they do free return shipping. There's a store called Soft Surroundings that caters to our age group. They have lots of loose, pretty, flowy things. Most of their stuff is too big for me, even in the smallest petite sizes, but they might be worth checking out.
I don't have any special foot issues, but comfort in footwear is non-negotiable to me. I love the Encore Breeze from Merrell:
http://www.merrell.com/US/en/encore-..._color=J48250W
I also do well with Clark, Naturalizer and Reiker.
None of the options I've mentioned are particularly cheap, but if you are agonizing about what to wear, I think it's worth it to have a small number of high-quality pieces you will feel good about wearing. Remember how delighted Tradd was a couple of years ago with a few great items she got at Talbot's? It can be money well spent.
I just don't get skinny jeans. I'm sure they look great on some gymnast-ballerina somewhere; I just haven't seen her yet. They look awful on just about everyone else.
Good luck!

[pony mom]

Try being me----size 4 and most size 2s are too big on me. What do I do, shop in the Jr. dept. and wear pants that come up to my pubic bone? Tiny tight jeans? Microscopic shorts? Being thin I rarely get any pity when I complain, but what do you do when there aren't any smaller sizes?

I shop mostly in thrift stores and can manage with petite sized capris. I have long legs but the length doesn't matter with capris. Recently I spent $59 on a nice pair of straight leg jeans from LL Bean because they came in a size 2 and the waistline was perfect---they felt like they were made for me. I'd rather have one pair of jeans that are perfect than the 3-4 that I'm not happy with.

New clothes in most stores are made very cheaply and are cut strangely; who are they made for? And they're ugly!

My go-to shoes are brown loafers in the fall/winter http://www.6pm.com/anne-klein-slip-n...&kpid=34353881 and Sperry Topsiders in spring/summer. They seem to go with everything. Lately I've been chanelling the look of Jean Seberg and Muffy Aldrich so my nautical/preppy style is easy to find.

[Zoe Girl]

for the shoes, check out vans. there are many styles beside the checkered slip ons, and they are way more comfortable than you would expect.

So some may think i am overdoing it but i sew. i get frustrated with so much, when i adjust for my middle age waist i am wearing a 14 or so, but hip size i am a 10, the wonderful LL Bean knit pants my mom got me slide down and look a step above, sweatpants. i wear them a lot. i found amazing knit fabric that is partially bamboo fibers through an on-line fabric store so i can make a few basic tank top or t-shirts.

honestly, if you don't sew you may want to seek out a seamstress, especially if you have a medical condition to wear comfortable clothes with. it depends on how urgent a professional wardrobe is. if you can dress casual then keep searching out the thrift stores, otherwise having someone sew some classic items is an option.

[lessisbest]

I choose classic styles for clothing that fit well - in a limited pallet of colors that coordinate - and have a less-is-more wardrobe. I've seen bell-bottoms come and go at least 10-times now.... I haven't purchased bell-bottoms since they were groovy in the 70's.

I don't give a rip whether pointy-toed shoes, or rounded-toed shoes, are in "style", I buy good quality shoes that last for years with good care and I have feet that feel good after wearing them for a whole day. And I don't have very many pairs of shoes compared to most people.

I also knit/crochet most of our sweaters in classic styles that will last generations. I wore an adorable knitted skirt my older sister wore, then I wore, when I was a child, that has been worn by 3-generations now.

I'm more interested in cost-per-wear than the original price. For instance, in 1976 I spent what was considered a LOT of money back then for quality snow boots. My winter coat is 25-years old. I'm still wearing both of them, so the cost per wear is very little. But that black suit I bought for "special" occasions has a very high cost-per-wear since it's been worn only a few times since it was added to the wardrobe. The lovely dress coat (even though it was purchased used) has only been worn to a few weddings/funerals, so the cost-per-wear is very high. I purchase most of my clothing used, especially now. The fabrics available are so shoddy the clothing won't last one season - and it doesn't matter which store you purchase it from, nor how high/low the price. Quality will generally last much longer. I also never purchase anything that is "dry-clean ONLY". What a waste. Not to mention the toxic chemicals associated with dry-cleaning.

[Miss Cellane]

I've stopped shopping the thrift stores around me, because all the clothing seems to be from Walmart, Target or Kohls, and it is not in good shape.

Instead, I buy a few things every season from some of these stores/catalogs: TravelSmith, Land's End, LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, Soft Surroundings, Pyramid Collection, NorthStyle and Coldwater Creek (they closed, but are back on-line). They all follow the trends, but still have wearable clothing. For the plus-sized, Making It Big has some unusual but well-made tops and pants.

The cost per wearing that lessisbest mentions is key. My Land's End parka cost about $115 when I bought it full-price 15 years ago. I have no idea what the cost per wearing is now, but I wore that thing daily from December to mid-April this year. And I've worn it every winter in-between. The ribbing on one cuff is starting to wear, but I was able to sew it back up. I don't want this parka to die, because the newer ones don't have as many pockets.

The clothes that I buy aren't cheap, but they tend to last for years.

Another alternative is to shop the major department stores, but just the clearance racks. I learned this helping a friend who is visually impaired go shopping. She regularly shops places like Macy's and Nordstrom's and only hits the clearance racks, not the sale racks. She's taken home end-of-season clothing for under $5 an item--not much more than the thrift store prices, and the garment hasn't been worn out before she buys it.

[pinkytoe]

Clothes and shoes are my conundrum, too as I am still working and mostly with younger folk who wear the trends. I despise the skinny, shrunken pants look (a la PeeWee Herman) and wouldn't wear it even if it looked good on me which it doesn't. I don't like all the drapey, misshapen tops, either. I like clothes that FIT so I have finally found a line of pants that work that I buy at a major dept store. They are straight leg, pull on (no zippers or buttons) and look good with longer tops. For tops, I favor quality boatneck, wrap or V neck styles. I frequent thrift stores and shop online occasionally - sales only at the classic places like Talbots. I used to shop at Land's End but the quality has deteriorated so much that I no longer do. I am 5' 3, 115 lbs so petite stuff is harder to find still. Right now, I am looking for a mother of the bride dress for DD's very informal wedding and am finding it very difficult since I haven't shopped for dresses in a long time.

[Mary B.]

I entirely switched my wardrobe a couple of years ago. When I was working full-time in an office, I mostly wore dress pants with jackets. I had the usual array of jeans and such for non-work hours. I now wear skirts almost exclusively, since I find they are incredibly comfortable and work winter and summer. (I'm in the Pacific Northwest, though to be honest since I'm in Canada it the Pacific Southwest.)

So -- winter = a base layer of footless tights with knee-high socks, plus a tank top. (Almost always black or dark grey. If you go footless, the tights don't have to be precisely the right length). Top layer of a skirt, varying from shortish to knee-length, and topped with either a tunic top (draping, sorry pinkytoe), a long-sleeved t-shirt and/or a sweater. When it's cold I just keep putting things on until I'm not.

Summer -- same skirts, often the same tank top or a short-sleeved t-shirt. I don't usually shop at Target (and neither did anyone else in Canada, obviously!) but I did get three loose-fitting tees with a deep v-neck. I wear them either right-way-round or backwards -- I like the straight-across neck and the v at the back pleases me.

Feet -- winter = short boots, summer = sandals. A lot of the time feet = gumboots, it being gardening season!

I mostly work at home so I don't need a work wardrobe most of the time. When I am meeting with clients or doing something corporate, I keep the skirt, change the leggings for tights, wear a long-sleeved t-shirt or sweater and add a jacket on top. I wear the boots of it's winter, and regular pumps if summer. (And of course if it's really summer I skip the tights.)

If you are a thrift store shopper, one thing worth noticing about skirts is that they tend not to be worn out the way pants often are. Not sure why -- maybe because they fit more loosely and there aren't as many rub points??

[shadowmoss]

This is going to be an unusual post from me, about fashion. My disclaimer is that I work nights and spend a lot of time just crusing the internet. I've lately gotten into fashion blogs. le sigh.

The blog I like the most because I like most of the clothes she shows is: http://www.theviviennefiles.com/

From that blog I found Uniglo: http://www.uniqlo.com/us/women.html It may be because the style has moved back to what I personally like, but this place has basic stuff for a reasonable price. I haven't bought any bottoms, but I did get some sweaters, and they have other basic tops.

Another blog ( http://www.awellstyledlife.com/ ) referenced a site with basic tops: http://coveredperfectly.com/ I just found it tonight, so don't have a personal recommendation. Again, it could be that fashion has just swung back to what I like, basic colorful tops and easy bottoms.

I can't believe I'm posting about fashion...