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Inappropriate clothing experiences - a laugh!

Sal

Veteran

I was thinking about my most inappropriate clothing experiences, two are long enough ago to be truly funny to me but one still haunts me for a bad decision I made!!

- at 23 when travelling in Denmark I wore black leggings and a flannel plaid shirt to a nightclub with birkenstocks. It was my only choice that was clean and warm-ish! I was dreadfully underdressed as I attended with one of the sons associated with the Carlsberg brewery empire. Oops.

- at 23 I went on a weekend away with my now DH to visit his friend who lived in a village outside Birmingham, England. We were not romantically involved and it is a miracle we ever became so after such a rocky start. Jon (DH) did not let me know that he was going to be four hours late to the train station by which stage I was locked out of my place as I had lent my key to my friend. Pre cell phones!

His friend did not know we were coming, we had the wrong address and wrong village name (he was using a more upmarket village name),and

I was quite cross by the time we found the friend who was moving OUT of his place that weekend. As I jumped out of the taxi my jeans ripped right across the butt, badly gaping open. That was my only pants option to wear all weekend!! So I spent the weekend with my sweater tied around my waist freezing on top to cover my underwear from gaping. We did have a great balti and a night at the pub to drown my frustrations!

- five years ago Jon and I went to the UK and attended the Farnborough Air Show. We had an invite into a Corporate Tent. I decided to wear a black shift dress with smart black sandals as the weather at that time was very hot and humid. As we hopped out of the bus to walk into the show a surprise thunderstorm struck and I got drenched, as in my dress was dripping, my hair was saturated and my shoes squelched. I then had to sit through a morning of meetings and seminars - everyone else was in a suit and with covered shoes. Whilst my dress was smart I had bare arms, as well as being totally wet. I felt totally inappropriate and had worn something that would have been acceptable in NZ but was far from acceptable in the much more formal UK.

Aah, anyone else care to share their errors!?

General

15 replies

Latest reply was from anne

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Oh, you poor thing! The ripped jeans! The flannel and leggings in the nightclub sounds like something I would have done at that age. When my husband and I were traveling in Eurpoe in our early 20s, the only shoes we brought with us were our Doc Martens. I remember being starving one night in London, walking from restaurant to restaurant, and every one of them had a "no boots allowed" sign on the door. We finally ended up finding a carry-out fish & chips place and scarfed it on the street. In our boots.

carter

Veteran

So funny! I think I must have terrific denial abilities, because I can't come up with any of my own incidents at the moment. I'm quite sure there must be several.

However, I can certainly remember two in which I was not the star. First, is my daughter, then around 20-21. She did an internship at the Hague one Summer. On her first day, she realized that her skirt was highly inappropriately short. No worries, she said. I wore some thick tights. Ok, fine. The minister was taking her to dinner that night as a welcome. She texted late morning her time that she had a huge run in her tights. No problem, she said, I'll just take off the tights for dinner with the Minister. I swear she could hear me screaming NOOOOOOOOO!! all the way from Atlanta. Fortunately, she was able to find some dark hose at lunchtime.

Next is my Dad. He was desperately smitten with my stepmom long before he even registered as more than a dinner date with her. She was living and working in London at the time. He was furious that she would not come back to the States in order to pursue a relationship with him. So he showed up on her doorstep in London one day wearing one sneaker and one loafer. He had flown across the ocean like that and no one said a word. After she pointed it out (and fell for him then and there), he checked into the Dorchester like that, not caring one whit!

Jules

Veteran

I went to the kind of nightclubs where flannel and leggings were sexy and come-hither.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

These stories are making me cringe and laugh at the same time!! So fun.

Thank you for sharing. Sally, I am shivering along with you at that UK meeting. Ouch!! Jenn, I'd be scarfing the fish and chips on the street alongside you. And Carter, I am also in love with your dad; no wonder your step-mom fell for him!

I have been pretty lucky with my fashion choices, all things considered. I can't remember a time where I felt completely wrong in my garb.

But I do recall a morning when I set out with freshly washed hair in my nicest outfit to go meet with someone important at my university.

As I rounded the corner past my Chinatown (Toronto) flat, a bird pooped on my head. Yes, right on top of my head.

It was really, really gross. And really, really obvious.

Luckily, I happened to be walking past an old fashioned barber shop at the time.

I stood there, horrified, for about 3 seconds. And then I walked in and asked the nice Portugese man if he could please please please wash my hair for me.

They took pity and did it right away despite a lineup of 60-something gentlemen.

What a morning.

Summer

Veteran

It's a good thing you can laugh about it now, Sally - not so funny at the time, though, I'm sure.
I don't think I can claim anything to equal your disasters, but I do remember being horribly overdressed for a party - DH in suit and tie, me in a smart maxi dress (this was back in the '70s) - with everyone else dressed really casually: so embarrassing, especially as I hate parties, anyway!

Jenn, good old fish and chips have saved the day on many occasions.

Carter, I love the story about your dad.

Suz, I admire your presence of mind after such a horrible experience. Such aplomb!

Astrid

Veteran

Great stories! As a teen I once had a three week prescribed treatment at a health resort. It was on one of the North Sea islands, in March. I took no warm jacket and no rain jacket either. I foolishly thought I would be fine with layering and a corduroy jacket I had. Don't ask me why, I have no idea. My mum didn't say anything because she thought I had packed my outerwear in the bag. I had to go and buy a jacket on the second day I was there.

Another story, although the clothing wasn't really inappropriate - when I was in Sweden on a school trip I slipped and fell halfway into the ocean. I had to walk around half a day with one wet leg (I wore jeans) and squishy wet chucks.

plonkee

I wore a pale pink Union Jack top and purple-pink sparkly skirt to a Goth club in Budapest. In my defence, I didn't know it was a Goth club.

And I always worry about being underdressed at weddings. This must stem in part from my first wedding as an adult guest where I wore herringbone trousers, a plain plum sleeveless top and a lilac cardigan. It was a fab office look but not right for an autumn wedding.

Stephanie

Newbie here! This is such a great topic and funny reading all the replies. These stories called to mind one specific incident in high school...

I used to have trouble deciding on the right shoes to wear with my outfits (fine - I still have trouble sometimes), so I'd put one of each on and then ask my mom and sister which ones they thought complimented my outfit best. Imagine my surprise when I got to school that day and realized I had never changed my shoes...so I was stuck walking around ALL day with two different color/style flats on. It was so embarrassing and ingrained in my memory forever!

old chic

Two incidents come immediately to mind, which isn't so bad, given that I'm 66.
About 20 years ago, I landed in Edinburgh, Scotland for the first time. I was sporting a leather jacket, heeled boots and a brand new pair of long (to the ground at the back of my heel) stretch pants that I had made myself and had not washed yet. As we were walking around the center of Edinburgh, rather far from where we were staying, there was a monumental downpour. We were both soaked, which was bad enough. But the worst thing was that the saturated pants decided they would stretch out by at least six inches in length. They dragged along the ground behind me and wrapped around my feet, making it impossible for me to walk. I was too embarrassed to seek shelter in a pub in that condition. And it was very difficult to get a taxi in that weather.
Another time, I dressed hurriedly for work in my almost dark closet and by feel selected two different and completely incompatible earrings that did have the same kind of hooks and were about the same length. After a morning of business meeting, I happened to notice that one was a silver-with-red flower and the other a gold pearl and citrine cross. I asked one of my coworkers if she'd noticed earlier, and she confirmed she had and thought it strange indeed, but didn't say anything because she "thought [I] might have done it on purpose."

UtahDesert

I think I must have blocked out my most inappropriate moments too (or they've been so deeply shrouded in denial from the very start that I never registered them). The one incident I remember was my first day walking over to the institute in Warsaw where I was to be a research fellow for that academic year. I assumed I should dress up (later I figured out I didn't have to), and was wearing a rarely worn light-weight skirt with a half-slip underneath. I was strolling down the sidewalk in perhaps the busiest block in the city, past the largest department stores in Poland, across from the huge square around the Palace of Culture and Science, when I realized that my slip was slowly slipping down and down and down. (The elastic had died.) I pretended I didn't notice what was happening, stepped out of it when it finally hit the ground, and continued on.

Sal

Veteran

Thanks all for sharing your funny stories...........but this post has made me wonder if I am particularly prone to embarrassing moments as I could have chosen others as well. Lots of tops worn inside out, and definitely the odd skirt tucked into the tights look over the years.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Oh Sally, I put on tops inside out so often I barely even notice anymore. Once I discovered I had PANTS on inside out. Luckily, it was at-home loungewear.

Anonymous

Haha! I am prone to looking foolish in general (walking into lamp posts, for example) . I don't think anything has broken or torn on me yet (phew!).

I remember I was at the cottage and I'd forgotten my bathing suit (I'm very absent minded--how could I forget this key piece??). My aunt, who was at least 75 at the time insisted that I wear her old one. She is someone I can't say no to. She's not one to notice about clothing and all that.

So I put on her bathing suit, which is of course about 30 years old, with zero stretch left in the leg and arm holes and 15 sizes too big. I'm concerned about her body fluids on this item, but I suppress my urge to leave my underwear on, and press on, trying to ensure adequate (if not perfect) coverage of my various regions. I tie a knot in the back to eliminate some of the bagging.

At this point, I'm mostly concerned about making sure nobody but my aunt and uncle see me.

I go for a swim, to humour my aunt, and when I get out, who should be standing there but a guy I really liked! Gah! Towel towel, where's my towel?!?! In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I wasn't even alive to him, so I shouldn't have been so embarrassed. But still. Mortifying to be caught in Aunty's bathing suit.

Anonymous

These stories are very funny. Thank you for sharing (and making my day).

anne

Veteran

I went to an 18th party in the same dress I had bought for high school graduation but like many people, I had put on a bit of weight starting university.
And the dress ripped up the back seam right up to my bottom......