What is your biggest fashion fear? - YouLookFab Forum

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What is your biggest fashion fear?

catgirl

Veteran

Tara's Elaine thread got me thinking about what comment I most dread hearing. I think it would be someone telling me I look older than I am. I don't mind being my age at all, but I am used to looking my age or less, so being mistaken for older would freak me out a little.

How about you? Are you most afraid of being dowdy? Out of date? Standing out like a sore thumb? Mutton dressed as lamb? Lamb dressed as mutton? Trying too hard? Not trying hard enough? Boring? Or are you truly fearless and unafraid?

General

91 replies

Latest reply was from Fruitful

Sally

Veteran

Like you people thinking I look older than I am. Actually all of the above. I dont want to look like I'm trying too hard but then I dont want to look sloppy. I dont want to look like I'm trying to stay 20 but then I dont want to look like I've given up....it all gets too hard!

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

"when are you due?"

catgirl

Veteran

Rita, I'm DYING here laughing! I worked in a toy store once and a customer came in and actually argued with one of the other employees about being pregnant. ("Oh, don't be shy, dear - when's the due date?") THE WORST.

Refugee

Veteran

The one that I'd probably never actually hear. Someone looking at me and thinking, "Oh honey, NO!"

cciele

Veteran

Mutton dressed as lamb. I'm also one who is often mistaken as being younger (like by a lot -- one friend thought I was 15 years younger than I am!) and sometime I dress the age I look, heh.

san

Veteran

Internally I am a wall flower so my fashion fear is being noticed as too loud, or noticed as too frumpy, trying too hard, not trying hard enough, being different from the group I'm in, you name it, I've got a fashion fear. I guess mostly it would be mutton dressed as lamb, but I think I am finally starting to get a real understanding of how to avoid that , or maybe it's actually that the hemlines have come down and the sleeves have come down, necklines have gone up to cover what women my age want to cover that is making me feel more like I am dressing my age. Yay thank you designers for giving us options for a style season of modest dressing.

Elly

Veteran

I think mine wavers--- but honestly it probably is looking matronly. I have always had a terrible time finding off the rack clothing to fit me. To get things to fit my shoulders and chest I end up looking like a woman that is trying to hide my figure in my clothing-- I end up looking like I am wearing mom or grandmas clothing. However, as I have aged a bit and prematurely earned my forehead wrinkles and grey hair I get asked how old my children are and rarely get carded.

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

hm, looking cheap, I think.

that and my skirt splitting in the back without me realizing it! LOL...

RoseandJoan

Veteran

My biggest fear is that I spend such a length of time deliberating which handbag/ necklace in the morning that my girls go to school with odd socks and dirty faces. It has not happened yet but....

Scarlet

Veteran

I think my two fears are looking dumpy or sloppy.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

For me, it is that people will wonder if I have a mirror at home.

After reading Janet's post, I realized that looking bigger especially in the hips, is also high up on my list. I used to think I was a fairly small build as I wear a 6 or 8 even when carrying 5-10 extra pounds but with vanity sizing, it seems that a significant proportion of women who are interested in fashion are wearing 0-2. While I know height plays a huge role in how one's size is perceived, I am only 5'5" so that isn't the case.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Looking frumpy and looking "big" remain my two biggest fashion fears. Some fears die hard, and even though I've never been technically "overweight" I still worry that an outfit will make me look bigger than I am.

Queen Mum

Veteran

ha- my biggest fear is beginning a new season and realizing that everything in my closet is hopelessly outdated.

As far as my "personal dressing" fear, it's probably toss up between trying too hard and boringly classic. I tried the whole "funky, edgy, alot going on" for a while and don't think I did it very well. So, I moved over to simplifying a bit... not a bad thing by any stretch, but I would still like to create interesting combinations with my outfits. It's not an easy balance to strike.

sigh.... wearing a muumuu and playing canasta at the nursing home sounds appealing sometimes

rae

(website)

Veteran

Trying too hard. Like when I thought I was Bohemian. -_-

Queen Mum

Veteran

LOL Rae... "like when I thought I was Bohemian" that cracks me up.
We do have some fashion identity issues to work through along our journey don't we?

Mo

(website)

Veteran

There's a line in 'Airplane' - "that dress, that hair, and THOSE SHOES! Awful!" I don't want someone to look at me and think those things. Mostly, I don't want to look large (I'm talking to you, hips) and I don't want people to stare lol. I'm surprised I wore skinny red jeans with ease actually.

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

Goodness Gracious! i thought the great thing about fashion was it's only clothes, you can wear something different the next day, if it's so ghastly awful you can have the satisfaction of burning the durn thang !!!!!

but we do sometimes run across people who are pretty nasty and show it by saying mean things. i think it's much easier to change your outfit than a habit like that. steph

DressLover

Veteran

My clothing meeting unfortunate ends. Snagging, seams ripping, shoes scuffed beyond repairing, being caught in the rain in silk, idiots dumping red wine on me, etc.

Laurinda

Veteran

True confession time:

Not being taken seriously as a researcher.

I was 15 years post-PhD before I got my first pedicure.

Hopefully we are now in the post-post-post Feminist era, and can be girly and well-cited.

Mellllls

Veteran

looking heavier than i am, i don't think i will ever completely get over having a weight complex.

MsMary

Veteran

That. (See immediately above.)

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Wearing trousers and jeans that are too short.

Heather

Veteran

Appearing manly.

ironkurtin

Veteran

Going broke. My husband is so adamant that my shopping is some sort of mental disorder that will deplete our savings and force us to eat cat food after retirement that sometimes I actually wonder if he's right. Maybe I am being terribly compulsive, selfish and undisciplined (my words, not his).

Shu

Looking like a hulking Amazon. I'm 5'10"', and growing up, all my pants were too short until I discovered that I could choose my own inseam in men's Levis - which led to a looong tomboy phase. If the sleeves of a jacket or shirt aren't luxuriously long, I feel like Frankenstein.

Patty

Veteran

^^^ I know the Frankenstein thing, the not taken serious thing, the older thing.

Feeling not right--feeling like an idiot in clothes.

goldenpig

(website)

Veteran

Wardrobe malfunctions.
Once I jumped in a crowded pool and when I came up, I didn't realize my bikini top had shifted. Ack!

As an fellow apple, I also share Rita's fear about looking pregnant.

crwilson

Veteran

Looking ridiculous. I'm drawn to pretty dramatic clothes that are not always tasteful. This is despite being shy, too, so I think my biggest fear is wearing something that I love that's dramatic (velvet, animal prints, etc) but that actually looks silly.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

What a great thread! It's so interesting to read these responses in light of people's WIW.

Love this.

I think my biggest fear is the problem I've been most guilty of ALL my life: looking dull and boring, and NOT having fun with fashion!

Honestly, Angie, when I read that tagline, you had me right there. You mean this can be FUN???? Honest???? And someone will help me understand HOW???

The reason I'm here is to face my fear and start having the fun I want to have.

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