2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Fizz2015

Hello please can I join? 2023 was shocking what I bought (5 pairs of new shoes), 2 waterproofs, underwear, whole summer wardrobe, cardigans, jeans, sunglasses and thats what I can remember buying! Will keep lists for myself, OH and Dd. We have plenty of clothes, shoes etc and the amount with price tags on is shocking. Will also be focusing on selling bits via different means. 

Laura_Elsewhere

weenancyinAmerica said:

My favorite cardigan is one I inherited from my father - no one has ever noticed that it buttons the opposite way. I've been wearing it for 17 years and my father had it at least 20 years before that. It is an Izod and may outlast me.

For years now I've made all my skirts, blouses and cardigans fastening the 'male' way because I find it easier for my fingers. The idea of male or female opening-sides is a recent idea anyway...
You'll find lots of stuff online about how it's to do with men needing to draw their swords, etc., but in the days when swords were common, men's clothing had virtually no buttons- shirts did up with tied cords (no, not the criss-cross lacing beloved by fancy-dress pirate-costumes and known to clothes historians as "soap on a rope shirts"!) and breeches had buttons on any old side, or in fall-front breeches on both sides. Women's clothing was mostly tied until the mid-late 19th century so again, not really related to centuries of breastfeeding nor servants dressing them through many centuries... 
It's much like pink-for-girls and blue-for-boys... a recent thing that is often presented as an ancient tradition!  

Wraithlady

There is/was a theory that the 'sides' thing came about because women's clothing was more elaborate and therefore women were dressed by their maids whereas men dressed themselves. Not sure how much provenance there is in this, tbh

Laura_Elsewhere

Wraithlady said:

There is/was a theory that the 'sides' thing came about because women's clothing was more elaborate and therefore women were dressed by their maids whereas men dressed themselves. Not sure how much provenance there is in this, tbh

Well, yes... the proportion of women dressed by maids would have been, what, 10% of the female population in Jane Austen's era when there are virtually no buttons involved and therefore no 'sided' openings, and maybe 20% of the female population by 1900 when there are buttons everywhere, many of them on the 'male' side...!  

I think as humans we like to build back-stories to account for things we can't otherwise account for. 

I couldn't find it on a quick search but I did once read an article about how industrially sewing-machined clothing differs from hand-sewn clothing in terms of buttons and 'sided' openings- and men's clothing was machine-made in bulk decades and decades before most women's clothing was... I strongly suspect it was simply cheaper for mass-manufacturing but that's less of a good story, so...  

flamingo747

If you make one thing 'womens' and one 'mens' you can sell more and at a higher price. For example, pink razors! 

CapricornLass

It might also be because people lower down the social scale copied what those at the top were wearing, to be thought better socially and more fashionable.  A bit like teenage girls aping what popstars are wearing.  Also, a lot of the upper class women would have passed on their clothing to their personal maids when they no longer wanted them, who could then either wear the clothes themselves, or sell it on.  It was regarded as one of the perks of the job.

Fizz2015

flamingo747 said:

If you make one thing 'womens' and one 'mens' you can sell more and at a higher price. For example, pink razors! 

That drives me mad! I use a mens razor and just buy the blades. Lasts much longer than the pink version. 
The quality of men's underwear compared to females is also shocking. Mine are 3 or 4 years old and worn so thin the fabric has ripped and recycled in rag bag. OH's last forever. I have a drawn full of new stuff to actually wear but prefer the comfy ones 🤣

PipneyJane

flamingo747 said:

If you make one thing 'womens' and one 'mens' you can sell more and at a higher price. For example, pink razors! 

There is an excellent episode of the BBC Podcast, The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, where they examine razors.  When asked about the difference between men’s and women’s razors, a dermatologist responds that women’s are “pink, so they can charge three times more”.  There is no difference beyond marketing, so don’t be a mug: buy a man’s razor.

- Pip

Cherryfudge

I'm already there with the razors and the men's ones are far better quality: far fewer scrapes and itches, and I bought the same brand as my husband so I get 'free' replacements.  

boultdj

Can I join please?
And I buy men's t-shirts, thermal vest because they are longer and keep more of my back warm, so do I pay their price for them?