I can identify a frumpy look when I see it, but I find it hard to articulate what frumpy means. So I thought I would take a bash at isolating the aspects of a person’s style that are particularly susceptible to frump. 

• Fit: Clothes that are too large can look frumpy. Unstructured clothing can look frumpy.
• Length: Skirts and dresses that are too long, regular length trousers that are too short, and leg shortening capris can look frumpy.
• Hair: I find this element the hardest to explain, yet it probably is the strongest contributor to an overall frump factor. An outdated hairstyle can look frumpy, but it’s not just that alone.The colour, the length, the way it curls, the way it lies flat, the way it’s layered, or the way it’s tied back can make hair look frumpy too.
• Footwear: There is something about the silhouette of a shoe that can increase it’s frump-factor. Sometimes it’s the colour, the fabrication, the height of the vamp, or the shape of the heel. Sometimes a shoe does not look frumpy on the shelf, but it does look frumpy on our feet.
• Accessories: Dated eyewear and watches can look frumpy. Often it is not so much the accessory itself, but how it has been styled and what it has been paired with in an outfit that increases it’s frump-factor. When worn in a certain way, scarves and necklaces can look particularly frumpy. Yet style those same accessories differently and they look fab. 

My list describes where frump often comes in, but it still isn’t definitive about what exactly makes something frumpy. Why is this so hard?

Well, first of all, frump often depends on the wearer. There are people who can look very stylish in something that might look frumpy on the rest of us. For example, we just recently discussed how bad fit can look cool. And wearing vintage and retro items, although dated, has it’s stylish appeal. Clearly what looks frumpy on some does not look frumpy on others. 

And second, frumpy today can be trendy tomorrow. As I have said before, things can look frumpy right up until the point that they look fabulous. When midis first started trending, midi apprehension was rife because of the frump factor people associated with the length. Today, midis are more on trend than ever. Wearing socks with sandals and flat oxfords used to be very frumpy, but not anymore.

That’s why I find it impossible to create the “how not to look frumpy” guidelines. I’m afraid I’m going to have to stick to the I know it when I see it approach for now.

Over to you. You know frumpy when you see it, so what is it about a look that makes it frumpy? How do you decrease the frump-factor? Do you ever feel frumpy, and if so, how do you take the frump out of what you are wearing?