Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

moneyistooshorttomention

Thoughts turning now to capsule wardrobe to be sure I've got.

Well that's going to be my laugh for the day working that one out then - as it'll have to be 2 capsule wardrobes.

"The" capsule wardrobe and, bearing in mind an advice list of what to pack for Wales (ie it rains a lot), then a 2nd capsule wardrobe for here.

So the Wales one will be I think:
- selection of umbrellas (including a very heavy-duty one that can put up with strong winds)
- raincoat
- good-quality rain jacket (suitable for walks)
- couple of pull-on attractive hats (is there such a concept?:rotfl:)
- fold-up rainwear (got a lightweight windcheater)
- black ankle boots
- "heavy-ish" style flat knee boots
- 2 pairs casual blue jeans
- 2 pairs walking boots
- warm (but still attractive) black gloves

Think that's the "Welsh side" catered for?

Now to work out "the" capsule wardrobe....

Floss

Why a "Welsh" wardrobe and a "capsule" wardrobe, when you live in Wales? Surely it's just one?

maman

That's great news chanie. You're fortunate that with your skills and living where you do you'll be able to find something else. I do hope your offer is accepted.:D

Floss wrote: »

Why a "Welsh" wardrobe and a "capsule" wardrobe, when you live in Wales? Surely it's just one?

I'm wondering if Wales is a holiday home? Reading MM's list it's a very casual, outdoorsy wardrobe.


I'd add some smart jumpers/layers to the list. I find it really useful to be able to go for a country walk and then stop at the pub/coffee shop and look reasonably smart underneath. I do the same on city breaks as we often stay out all day and have our dinner before going back to the hotel so no chance to change. I find it hard to find hats that don't induce what my friend who's a biker calls 'helmet hair'. In Poland, I noticed that those ribbed, woolly hats with massive fur bobbles were very popular.


Will the capsule wardrobe be a working wardrobe? Or for 'ladies what lunch'?;)


When indie used to post regularly she was very into colours. I remember she used a company called Kettlewell for the shades that suited her. It's not a high fashion site but has good basics in a wide range of colours.
https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/


We're away from tomorrow until Tuesday. I'm at a conference during the day and eating out in the evenings. Layers will be the answer as I'm not sure how warm the venue will be. Sometimes the air con is fierce other times they can be stuffy. For the evening, I'll take a smart blouse but mostly it'll be smart jeans and jumpers as the weather forecast isn't brilliant. So, a job for later is to write my packing list. I've always done that but now I keep them and annotate with what I wish I'd taken, used a lot, need more of etc.


Hope the hair do works well LL.:)


I'm going to make a note of all the book recommendations and put it in my purse so I have it with me when I'm browsing CSs or library. Thanks all.:A

lessonlearned

Well I have a confession to make ......I could no more do a capsule wardrobe than fly to the moon. :rotfl:

I had quite enough of that when I was Corporate Woman and spent most of my time in business dress or very conservative evening wear when entertaining clients.

Now I can wear what I like, when I like. I can be like that lady in the poem ....can never remember.....something about wearing purple. And yes I wear purple, today I am wearing a purple sweater......

I love clothes and I find the idea of restricting myself to a limited range would be just too depressing for words. To me clothes are fun, I can play around, mix and match, try different looks to suit my mood. I can be sensible grey or I can be a scarlet woman (literally) :rotfl:

Although I have masses of clothes I really do not spend much, a mix of charity shop and sale bargains. I have recently discovered ebay and have bought some really lovely pieces for next to nothing. I do look after my clothes and keep my favourites for years.

Many of them are now vintage. I do not really do fashion as such now but I think I have developed a style which flatters my shape and suits my lifestyle, If I ever have granddaughters they will have a field day going through my wardrobes. :rotfl:

I love that Kettlewell site. I have not bought anything from them yet because whilst they are not wildly expensive I do not want to spend too much until I am nearer my target weight. I am on their mailing list though so I can pounce if I see any sale bargains.

Speaking of not spending too much.......I had a little spree in Primarni. It is a funny old shop ......some days it is full of the most dreadful tat and then another time they have really lovely things.

Well today it was a lovely things day so I went sightly mad. :rotfl:

I am delighted with my hair. I had all the old highlights cut out so am now sporting my old Judi Dench pixie crop. Pure silver. I doubt that I will colour it again.

The money I saved on the colour I spent in Primarni. Win-win.

Hats.....yes they always flatten my hair. But I am beginning to love hats. They are especially useful on bad hair days.......which I get a lot of.:rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

Floss wrote: »

Why a "Welsh" wardrobe and a "capsule" wardrobe, when you live in Wales? Surely it's just one?

As various people here have commented to me - we don't find a lot of use for more "dressed-up clothes" here, as one basically lives in jeans and so I'm alternating between that and hippy-ish type clothing. But I do have visits back to my home city - and so want modern/elegant/etc clothing too.

LL - I'm wondering whether to swop back to a pixie cut. I lost my nice French hairstyle I had when I moved here. I hadnt changed it all - but I looked up at my hair one day some visits later to a hairdresser here and realised I hadnt got "my" style any more - though I'd not requested the hairdresser to change it.

At which point I decided to drop that hairdresser on the spot and went through all the hair magazines and chose another style and had new hairdresser do it that way. I feel a bit stuck as to just which style to have these days - as I'd choose a pixie cut again all else being equal but "all else isnt equal" as so many other women in this agegroup have pixie cuts these days. So I feel stuck. Then I look at my hair (which has gone from fine to flyaway and feel stuck again).

Think I'll have to see if I've still got a photo tucked away somewhere of that French haircut.

maddiemay

LL I am with you on the non capsule wardrobe. I had a capsule wardrobe for many years when there was no money for anything else and I don't want to go back there. I love clothes and shoes and scarves and pashminas, oh I forgot brightly coloured opaque tights:D

I have champagne tastes and prefer to only spend beer money. I have for a couple of decades bought from CS and clothes agencies and in the old days jumble sales when I lived in a very posh area with lots of well off ladies donating their last season goodies to the good causes. Like you I have had some lovely buys from e-bay, my best buy was an Eileen Fisher lbd, new still bearing the tags from one of the expensive New York stores, the price ticket said $278, I got if for £23 inc postage, sadly since my unwanted weight loss it it a bit big, but might pay to have it reduced here and there.

Chanie - exciting times ahead for you, I am sure that you will not regret it.
Sugarbaby - I love reading of your trips to the cinema and theatre and am in awe of your organistional and money saving skills, I do hope that things are sorted out for you soon,
Maman - have a good trip away, I might copy your packing list tip for our caravan jaunts as space is at a premium and I like to take a good variety of things to wear. Difficult in the UK climate sometimes.
Sashybo - I hope your finger improves quickly, must be very awkward.

Apologies to those I have missed out, need to move my body and go out, still cream crackered from my gym session this morning.

maman

Curious what you bought in Primark LL . Spill the beans! I agree it's a strange shop but, like you, I think it's worth looking for the gems.

I looked through my skirts the other day and all of them are either CS, sales or Primark. Considering I wear them a couple of times each week for dancing, I more than get my moneysworth.

Hope you get a haircut/hairdresser you like soon MM. I think there's a fine line between the Judy Dench style that LL likes and the butch looking short back and sides that's become popular with women of a certain age.

lessonlearned

Maman.....I had to laugh at your description of the butch haircut favoured by some ladies of a certain age. I agree it can look very brutal and totally unflattering. I think that even with a pixie cut you need to keep a little bit of length so you can sort of joosh it up a bit, sort of make it look a bit funky.

Right I will spill the beans......here is what I bought..

A pale dusky pink suede effect loose unlined jacket, I think they call it micropore fabric. £10 reduced from £20. A sleeveless pale dusky pink with pale grey flowers crepe top. Perfect match £6

A flower print crepe loose kimono, grey background, pink flowers. £10.

A crepe light coloured, they call it ecru, loose jacket decorated with flowers and birds. It looks almost like a kimono but with a collar. £15.

I am not usually one for flower prints, in fact I usually go for block colours but these are quite unusual. The flowers almost have a kind of Japanese or Chinese look about them, rather than the more usual Laura Ashley type of English flower prints. They look quite oriental.

As I say sometimes Primarni have nothing that appeals to me but I just thought the jackets and kimonos were lovely. No warmth to them but ideal coverups or to dress up vest type tops in hot weather. Perfect for holidays. I think they would look good with either denim blue jeans or white or cream trousers or jeans or over a plain block coloured cotton dress.

I also bought four t shirts. £2 each. I like their slouch top ones. They cover a multitude of sins ........:rotfl: I picked out the colours of the flowers and birds in the ecru jacket, so there are two shades of jade and two shades of pink.

In all I spent a total of £49, a lot of outfits for the money.

I never know what to think about shops like Primarni. They say their factory workers are paid appropriately and have decent working conditions. I know that some of the higher end stores use the same factories and yet charge a lot more.

It is a very difficult one......

Are Primarni lying through their teeth or are the higher end shops charging too much. If they are telling the truth and their factory workers are treated properly then it must be their business model of piling it high and selling cheap that allows them to still make profits and not exploit their workforce.

I knew a lad who worked for them whilst he was a student. Yes he was on a minimum wage but he said they were treated fairly, had proper breaks etc.

I think their success is that they can copy the catwalk trends and get them on the shop floor in record quick time. Their cheapness means the good stuff just flies out the door, the quick turnover of stock means there is always something new so makes people keep going back and the profits rolling in.

If something does not sell quickly enough they just slash the price and get rid. Today they had really nice sweaters, acrylic of course, for £1. Obviously clearing them out to make room for summer stock. But at £1 definitely worth buying and putting away for next winter. Unfortunately they were not my size or I would have snaffled some up.

For me they can be a bit hit and miss. I can go in regularly and never buy anything for months on end but then, like today, I actually see plenty that I like so I have a little splurge. I did actually pick up several other items that I liked but I decided to exercise a little restraint and put them back on the rails.....:rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

I've decided probably one way to deal with things is to pick out those (chain) shops that are nearest to my tastes and get myself signed-up for their newsletters/check out "new in" stuff on them/etc and make that a starting point for looking for what I want.

With that - I'll probably land up picking out only around a couple of items per season anyway as my taste & likely to suit me.

Think that way of looking at things and looking for small modern individual type shops at intervals should cover a lot of bases.

lessonlearned

Money. Sometimes supermarkets like Asda and Sainsbury’s have pretty decent basics. I think Sainsbury’s have one of their 25% off promotions at the moment.