Merchandise

[Serial_Apologist]

I have never heard the phrase 'unlonely aloneness', that's very good. There is too much pressure for people to join in, be festive and merry, through gritted teeth and wondering how soon it is before you can go home without offence!

Back ontopic re merchandise. What saddens me is so many High Streets looking identical, no character, no specialist shops, just chainstore after chainstore so you could be anywhere. My sister lives in Barnard Castle, I don't know if anyone knows it but the High Street is an absolute delight with wonderful, individual shops and a very good weekly market. Mary Portas (who has been designated Czarina of Shops or something by Dave) made a plea for markets to return to High Streets.

When I visit relatives in Lancs I'm often dragged along to the Trafford Centre. That is my idea of Hell on Earth, endless, endless stores all selling very much the same. I'm really not much of a 'consumer', which means I'm not helping the economy am I? So that does make me feel rather guilty.

Sorry, I think I'm still offtopic. The subject is drabness. It strikes me that people are just too shy (scared?) at showing any individuality when it comes to dress but perhaps it's always been that way apart from brief periods like the New Romantics, Hippies, Punk, Goth? Better to conform and feel one of the crowd. Or, were those brief excursions into style made when the economy was good? Is there some sort of link? I think there must be. I'm sure none of this makes sense but I'll post it anyway!

But the point is, in the 60s and 70s *everyone* looked different. The question of conforming didn't arise to anything like the same degree. Sure, there were fashions and fashions; but the stylstic range of attire was much broader... and there wasn't then the current polarity between two sorts of drab: dark suits or sportsware. Today we have sartorial fascism - or Stalinism: pick your term. I'm not just talking "casual casual". In 1978 I bought a great 3-piece suit in herringbone tweed in Marks & Sparks, and it wasn't expensive. Where, outside Jermyn St or Saville Row, would I get such an an affordable item today? It would be made-to-measure and damned expensive. Come on lads, we'd have laughed gymn shoes right back to the race track in the 60s!..... baseball hats, hoodies and trainers... Fashionable?? Cool??? Been around donkeys' years! I'm talkin'guys here, mind: women's clobber looks just great if you search around, and it doesn't take too much searching. Respects and that, but how much longer can those of us looking for alternatives depend on charity shops?

[Serial_Apologist]

or just maybe the overwhelming mass of humanity that it's hard to deal with

Mostly the overwhelming mass of badly presented, undifferentiated product

[Anna]

I'm talkin'guys here, mind: women's clobber looks just great if you search around, and it doesn't take too much searching. Respects and that, but how much longer can those of us looking for alternatives depend on charity shops?

Well, obviously I ain't a bloke but a lot of men I know like Rohan or Boden. I like linen jackets and trousers on men, they are not difficult to source and look delightfully crumpled. Most men I know are connected to farming or allied professions. So, plenty of Harris Tweed, cords, sort of relaxed without overdoing the Game Keeper's look of moleskins tied up with baler twine.

[Serial_Apologist]

So, plenty of Harris Tweed, cords, sort of relaxed without overdoing the Game Keeper's look of moleskins tied up with baler twine.

You omitted the green wellies, flat cap, shot gun and brace of pheasants over one shoulder, Anna!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

brace of pheasants over one shoulder, Anna!

The posh alternative to "moleskins tied up with baler twine"?

[Serial_Apologist]

The posh alternative to "moleskins tied up with baler twine"?

The posh accessory, more like...

[Anna]

You omitted the green wellies, flat cap, shot gun and brace of pheasants over one shoulder, Anna!

My wellies are Life Boat Men yellow, and I wear a Peruvian knitted hat but only In Extremis! With tassles, whilst wading through snowdrifts. Just picture that. No, please, don't!! It will destroy my Street Cred totally as being Super Uber Cool

[teamsaint]

Shopping Malls are deliberately disorietating.

Place like B and Q are also very dispiriting, not just because you can never find what you want.

And as for the "Next" in Salisbury..........its like another dimension, and not a better one !!

[Anna]

And as for the "Next" in Salisbury..........its like another dimension, and not a better one !!

Well, you only have yourself to blame. What an overpriced, under designed, pile of carp that it! And an insult to koi.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

clothes can be managed as suggested, a mix of charity shops and top end outlet stores [but a car is essential] ... i find shoes much more of a problem .... going to the states helps for shirts etc [Target is very good on cotton stuff] but surely the 50s were drabness itself .... funnily enough i was looking at the Stan Tracey Quartet and wondering where the sharp Italian tailoring of yesteryear had gone .... never mind the sales will be on next Tuesday in John lewis, not bad for a suit!

[teamsaint]

Well, you only have yourself to blame. What an overpriced, under designed, pile of carp that it! And an insult to koi.

a bit harsh.(on me, not next !) Mrs TS has popped in on a couple of occasions, with me for shopping support, looking for a tasteful top, or a desireable dress.... to no avail. its now off the radar. You learn by your mistakes.

[Anna]

Actually, it's nice that the blokes on here are in a quandry about fashion! Bit of vice versa. Shows their feminine side coming the surface.

[Osborn]

Place like B and Q are also very dispiriting, not just because you can never find what you want...

...but also because a life size replica of Alan Titchmarsh peers & smirks at me at the end of every aisle as if he's spotted that my zip's undone.

[teamsaint]

...but also because a life size replica of Alan Titchmarsh peers & smirks at me at the end of every aisle as if he's spotted that my zip's undone.

well if it was,and it made you notice it, you would be thanking the cardboard presenter !!

[mangerton]

My wellies are Life Boat Men yellow, and I wear a Peruvian knitted hat but only In Extremis! With tassles, whilst wading through snowdrifts. Just picture that. No, please, don't!! It will destroy my Street Cred totally as being Super Uber Cool

Anna, at this time of year I think it's far more important to be Super Uber Warm. Anyway, I'm sure you've got plenty of Street Cred left.

I speak as one who is currently suffering (at work) from a howling draught down the back of my neck. Still, I have been assured that the problem has been "added to a spreadsheet".

So that's all right then.