STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Bastet · Kate Spade

RE: Did your mother influence way dress\dont dress?

atlgirl · Gucci

I'd have to say "yes and no" too. My mom was a young woman in the fifties and sixties, and she looks cute in photos (not that there are many) from those eras. I don't remember much of what she wore from the seventies, when my bro and I were young, and in the eighties she went back to work. She always looked put together (if conservatively so) for work and she definitely influenced my love of classic style. But for casual - she just does jeans and tees, but not in a flattering way, necessarily. Or shorts and tees (hey, we grew up in Arizona, where shorts are very much a necessity).

Now that she's retired and living in a small town, she does mostly jeans and tees, and some clothes that she makes herself. While some of the handmade clothes are very nice, some of the others give DH and I quite a chuckle. But hey - she's retired and in her sixties, so I guess she can do what she wants. *s*

I think that I have a hard time with "casual" style - I am a heels and dress-up girl. I feel better when I'm a little more dressed up, and some of that's probably because I Feel like I am at a loss for cute casual styles.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I definintly have my own style. My mom is a little clueless when it comes to fashion. When I was younger I was worried I would lose my sense of fashion because obviously my mom lost hers because she embarrased me by the way she dressed! Though I know she was looking fab back in the 70's because she still had her cool wedges and dresses (even though she didn't wear them anymore). Today she dresses much better since she doesn't have children to tend to, but still needs a little help from me!

luckylily · Gucci

No, my Mom didn't really influence my style. In fact, when I stilled lived with her, she did everything she possible could to tone me down. I was totally one of the kids that changed clothes on the way to school. For example, my Mom believes that you should *always* wear socks, so she would never let me out of the house without socks on.

She always looks fine, but very boring, IMO. She usually wearings pants or jeans w/ a sweater set or t-shirt. Other than her wedding ring and stud earings, she doesn't assessorize.

I do have a style icon/mentor in my family tho. It is a woman who was married to one of my Dad's uncles. She actually died long before I was born, but I was given a lot of her jewelry throughout the years. I also have a handful of pictures of her, mostly from the 20s. In each picture, she looks perfect. Her outfits are looks that would still look great today too. Plus, she always looks like she is having fun. I'm kind of obsessed with finding out more about her, but everyone who knew her died long before I discovered her photos.

halleybird · Hermes

My mom loves clothes, and she has a ton of them, but she doesn't always put them together. She pays more attention to which colors work with each other than which styles work together, if that makes sense.

My mom is also cheap as can be, and that influences me to buy nicer things. She also refuses to buy anything that has to be ironed. I learned a lot from my stepmom, who dresses well (but very simply). She is a strong believer in quality over quantity, while my mom is not.

My grandma is actually a great dresser. She has nice (though not really name-brand) stuff, and she is completely coordinated all of the time. I have never seen her in the same outfit twice, and neither has my mom.

My mom has been dressing nicely these days, though, because Cali has been picking out her clothes.

ETA: Although this post is about moms, does anyone get influence from their dads? My dad has always been a great dresser (he is 50 now, but still rocks his Chuck Taylors). He is a little more conservative now, but he was smokin' in the '80s -- brightly colored blazers, penny loafers, etc. He's an architect like Renee's mom, so I wonder if it's an artistic thing. These days, he wears a lot of well-tailored pants, nice sports blazers, etc., but it's always very "put together."

-- Edited by halleybird at 19:22, 2006-01-19

Elle · Hermes

Hedvig wrote:

My mom loves shopping and she's a bargain hunter to the extent that it's quite ridiculous. She'll buy anything if it's cheap enough - she doesn't really care if it's the wrong size or a terrible color. She doesn't even wear most of the stuff she buys on sale and there are piles of clothes all over the house, which doesn't always make my dad very happy, I might add... I do have the same weakness for sales but I try to keep my wardrobe a bit more edited. I actually like the way she dresses for work and her style isn't all that different from mine. Mine is just younger, and I care about brands whereas she definitely does not.

Me, too - verbatim . She's still hanging onto a couple of 90's-style things (some chunky shoes come to mind ), but she likes to look nice and is a bargain-hunter to her core.

And I'm terribly jealous, because even though we're the same height, her legs are longer so she can wear regular length pants .

bumblebee · Coach

my mom has really great, if conservative, taste. she definitely influenced the way i dress myself--and especially the way i shop. now that she is getting a little older, she doesn't wear much that is very fashion-y anymore (unless it's casual and comfortable), but she still tends to know what the trends are and will incorporate one or two per season if they are something that fits her lifestyle. last winter, for example, she decided that she had to have a tweed fitted blazer and a sparkly brooch to wear on it, so she went out and looked for the perfect one. this last summer, it was trouser jeans.

she has gotten into the expensive-schmatte look (think metallic jackets from chico's and j.jill). it's okay, and it's what all her friends wear and it's age-appropriate, but i know she has it in her to be a little more creative. she is definitely into the matchy thing like everyone else's mom.

-- Edited by bumblebee at 19:58, 2006-01-19

Liz · Kenneth Cole

My mom definitely influenced the way I dress now as well as how I dressed back in high school, but not in the ways you would think. My mom is what people around here call FOB Korean (fresh off the boat, terrible I know). If you've ever seen a little Asian woman wearing a shower curtain-like printed t-shirt, bright colored leggings, socks with her slippers, a bad perm, and carrying an umbrella like a parasol when it's sunny out, then you've seen my mother. She was hella hot B.C. (before children) not so much when I was growing up though.

My mom was really focused on my education and expected me to be as well. She didn't understand the point of worrying about clothes when I should have been worrying about studying. Because I didn't have the most fashionable attire, I wasn't popular, so I hung around these really nice girls who were into punk and ska. Then I started listening to the same type of music and dressing like them, too. I swear, there were days that I would be in biology class, look down and think,"Gee, I could've sworn that lavender and army green looked good earlier." I was a terrible punk rock girl- I didn't have enough edge and I looked way too innocent and nice to pull off studs and chains. I don't even want to think about the pink hair.

When I moved out to go to college, I got a job and could spend my money on whatever I wanted so of course, being so "clothing deprived" I just bought a lot of crap that I hardly wore. I'm still a little like that and I really have to stop. I still struggle with having an individual style and am influenced by what other people wear. Deep down, I think I am a classic, leaning toward preppy kind of girl, but I can't help buying trendy things. Like this summer, I dressed a little boho and I looked cute, but I doubt I'll wear half of those clothes again.

I am a sick, sick girl.

Sorry about the long post, but this was a great question. It really made me think.

ranchera20 · Marc Jacobs

I actually feel very lucky because I know I can trust my mom to go shopping for me and every thing she will bring back will be perfect! I think its because she sees that me and my 2 older sisters have the same sort of style.

She has this sweater that looks very similar to this one and I LOVE to wear it! It was hers when she was dating my dad about 20 something yrs ago!

Ben Stiller (left) and Owen Wilson trade quips as they present at the Oscars.

honey · Gucci

bumblebee wrote:

my mom has really great, if conservative, taste. she definitely influenced the way i dress myself--and especially the way i shop. now that she is getting a little older, she doesn't wear much that is very fashion-y anymore (unless it's casual and comfortable), but she still tends to know what the trends are and will incorporate one or two per season if they are something that fits her lifestyle. last winter, for example, she decided that she had to have a tweed fitted blazer and a sparkly brooch to wear on it, so she went out and looked for the perfect one. this last summer, it was trouser jeans. she has gotten into the expensive-schmatte look (think metallic jackets from chico's and j.jill). it's okay, and it's what all her friends wear and it's age-appropriate, but i know she has it in her to be a little more creative. she is definitely into the matchy thing like everyone else's mom.-- Edited by bumblebee at 19:58, 2006-01-19

chico's is the bane of my existance. the thing is my mom will wear stuff from there and it totally looks great on her, but i hate being in there. my mom has recently gotten over her love of cache. i honestly think it's a southern thing -- not in a bad way. but when i think of southern style i think of stuff that's very bold and glitzy. not for me, but it works for my mom. now she's all about anthro, but i can support that.

scarlett · Marc Jacobs

My mom has been a big influence on the way I dress; we still really enjoy shopping together and asking each other's advice. She used to make all my clothes when I was little, and she said I was very particular even then about what I would wear. She was an art major in college and then an art teacher in her 20s, and I've seen pictures of her with waist-length, straight blond hair and kicky little outfits from the 1970s. She's very good with color and proportion. She is about 5 or 6 inches shorter than me and weighs a good 30 pounds less, but we wear the same size (she's a petite, though) and have the same size feet, so sometimes we've been able to share clothes. However, now she buys most of her clothes at Talbot's! They have a lot of clothes for short women. She loves Anthro but thinks it's too young for her, so she enjoys going there with me and helping me pick things out. She also loves BCBG for me. She was always good at encouraging me to buy quality over quantity and invest in good shoes. I've been able to get her away from "mom jeans" and pleats.

-- Edited by scarlett at 23:45, 2006-01-19

sfclinevandy · Coach

My mom is the #1 influence in the way I dress. She's a total clothes horse (as is my grandmother) and has great style. Her wardrobe has a lot of color but also a lot of great black staples, great accessories, awesome bags and a killer collection of costume jewelry... all of which can be said of my wardrobe too. She has some gorgeous evening gowns, dresses and suits (not boring ones, but meant for a lady who lunches). She also only wears heels because 1. she's short and 2. she's convinced her high arches make it too painful to wear a shoe with less than a 2 inch heel. Anyway, my mom and I are so much alike that we often buy the same thing or get ready to go somewhere and realize we are in the exact same outfit.

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

my mother absolutely influenced the way i dress as well as my style in general. she's just got this amazing eye. it made growing up during my teens easy (in the clothing respect, at least) because we'd never fight about clothes. she knew what looked good on me and i agreed so shopping together was just so much fun. i also think she lives vicariously through me to a certain extent because after my brother was born, she never got her figure back and so sometimes she calls me her "doll." cheesy, i know but i love her for it. oh and she sews too. i remember my first slumber party all the other girls wore sweats and t-shirts to bed whereas i was in this ivory silk nightgown she'd made just for the occassion, i loved it! and to this day she makes the coolest halloween costumes, the year before last we went to downtown LA to buy fabric and we got this amazing royal purple chiffon and gold accents and she made me a belly-dancer/genie costume and it was soo fabulous. she's also a better shopper than i am i think. she has more stamina and i dunno, hunting sense, i guess? like she can go to stores like ross or nordstrom rack and just search and search and find these absolute gems whereas i don't have the patience or the skill to do that. what a thought-provoking thread, it made me want to call her and thank her