What does your wardrobe say about you ?

[Brindleboy123]

Love this thread Susie! Well, I'm pretty sure that each time I open my wardrobe it shouts out..."we're full, don't even bother trying to push us closer together"!

I too have gone from the power dressing suits from my managerial days to a more relaxed leggings and tops when I was caring and comfort eating! These were replaced by trousers and jeans when I too lost 3 stone and started volunteering for a charity and now need to look smart when I am out and about doing publicity work. Also I find that since I have lost weight I want to wear the more modern looking clothes but have to be mindful that I'm no youngster and I don't want to be what Tony calls a back to front woman! Looks 25 from the back and then when you turn around you look like an OAP!!!

Bell x

[bowlingbun]

I love Tony's phrase about being a "back to front" woman.
We have wonderful charity shops down here in the New Forest, I always pop in when I'm walking past. Now property prices have gone through the roof, and lots of posh people have moved in, there are rich pickings to be had. Even wonderful stuff to be had at the tip. M's Laura Ashley curtains came from the tip (sorry, it's renamed waste recycling centre!). Two lovely pairs of LA curtains just cost me £10, almost new, but the header tape was falling off. His Ercol extending dining table also cost me £10 from there!

[Anne001]

Interesting. My wardrobe says that I like clothes. I have a lot, just that most are very old. I recently binned a pair of shorts which were 30 years old!

I have the power dressing look from the 80s with brightly coloured jackets. I have a couple of suits from the 90s, quite a lot of dresses worn for work more recently I love a dress as only one thing to think about.

I also have the carer's uniform of jeans, t shirts, sweatshirts. What I don't seem to have is anything between the two. I either have work clothes or scruffy. I feel a shopping trip coming on!!

[susieq]

I feel a shopping trip coming on!!

I seem to have got out of the habit of clothes shopping - if was an Olympic event there was time that I would have won the gold; especially where shoes were concerned (what is it with us women and shoes !!!) These days I just can't seem to be bothered - as long as I'm clean and tidy and won't frighten the horses when I go out then that's good enough !

Like Bowlingbun I shop a lot in charity shops; over the years I've picked up some really good bargains -

designer jeans that normally cost £70 for 50p
a beautiful navy beaded evening dress originally on sale for £90+, charity shop £15
Eastex day dress, originally on sale for £79 - charity shop £5
Numerous M&S jeans, trousers, skirts originally on sale for £25 - £40 - charity shop average price £4
In fact when I look through my wardrobe now the majority of clothes hanging there are "pre-loved" items. Like BB says there are rich pickings to be found if you pop in regularly

Bell -

I don't want to be what Tony calls a back to front woman! Looks 25 from the back and then when you turn around you look like an OAP!!!

or what my Mum used to call "mutton dressed up as lamb"

[Henrietta]

or what my Mum used to call "mutton dressed up as lamb"

I nearly said exactly the same thing.

[Eun]

My problem is because i am only a child's size 1 in a shoe and I cannot wear a heel due to the balance problems caused by my deformed feet due to the thalidomide. So because I cannot get a nice shoe or a sandal I can't really wear pretty summer dresses (they don't go well with clumpy trainers, lol) Even for my graduation from University the only black shoes I could find to fit were a school shoe with red lights in the heel - you can see the lights flashing in the video when I am going up to collect my certificate! I don't like wearing a sandal because people stare at my feet and say things like oh look that women hasnae got toes - if I could get a pair where the toes are covered that would be good. Other problem is that although I take a child's length in a shoe my feet are the width of an adults and with regard to boots I cannot get full length leg boots because of the muscle swelling in my calves due to the DMD. The hospital made me a pair of the ugliest shoes you have ever seen which I refuse to wear.
I found a couple of boxes of sparkly shoes in the back of the wardrobe yesterday - a gold pair and a silver pair with little bows on the front. I cannot wear them outside as I am walking out of one of them (I have one foot about an inch bigger than the other) and that might make me fall outside so I have decided to try wearing them as slippers. They look so nice and look like proper "adult" shoes. I am a bit old for things with Elsa from Frozen on them. I have a liking for patent and I have a pair of chelsea boots and a pair with gold studs and a tiny gold heel that look just like adult shoes but they won't look right in the summer. Oh i also have a fake leopard skin pair but the heel is a bit high. I know I should be grateful that I can still walk a bit etc when you consider what damage thalidomide has done to other people but I do still have my vanity and a weakness for shoes!

Eun

[Violet]

Eun, I remember a good while ago reading your post regarding the difficulty of finding shoes to fit.

I never had thalidomide but know some people who were prescribed with what at the time was hailed as wonderdrug, only later experiencing the terrible consequences. You say you should be grateful that you can walk a bit considering the damage thalidomide did to so many others but I just wish there were still skilled shoemakers as there used to be who could make footwear exactly to fit your needs. xx

[MumWhoCares]

Oh Eun that must be so hard to find suitable things that, as you say, don't have kids' themed decorations! I remember a friend of mine who was incredibly petite complaining that the only jeans she could find that fit had pictures of Mutant Ninja Turtles all over them. I'm glad you've dug out the sparkly ones, they sound really lovely.

[MumWhoCares]

I'm with all of you on the charity shop bargains, I hardly ever buy new clothes, they nearly always come from charity shops, as have my curtains and most of my bedding. A friend recently turned up with five big laundry bags full of clothes so I must confess to having more clothes without holes in them than I am used to at the minute There was a beautiful fur coat in there, fake fur, obviously, but so luxurious and luscious, I think I might wear it next time I go to Lidl

[bowlingbun]

I bought a fake fur hat, at the end of the winter it gets washed in the washing machine! Must be at least 10 or 12 years old. It's a bit like an upturned flower pot with a rim. If it's quite cold I wear it stylishly, if it's freezing I can ram it down until it sits on my ears. Wore it to a lorry auction in Lancashire where it was snowing and bitterly cold, especially for a soft southerner like me. Afterwards, many of my lorry mates asked why I wasn't there. They'd seen a woman they didn't recognise in a fur hat and wondered who she was though!!!