Help me dress like a primary school art teacher! [UK filter]

February 4, 2017 1:25 PM

I love love love Gudrun Sjödén style clothing. Arty/bohemian style (for lack of better words), good quality, lovely colours, comfortable but still with some structure to it. This is a good example of what I mean. Help me find more!

I am short and an in-betweenie verging on plus size (hovering around the 14/16 mark), I have 2 small children to cart around all day, and I'm tired of wearing black leggings with one of my old maternity tops (ugh). What are some other UK-based or willing-to-ship-internationally shops which echo this kind of style, preferably ones where I'm not having to spend over £50 for just a top (or if I am, it's because this top will still look amazing in several year's time, not fall apart if I look at it cross-eyed).

posted by catch as catch can to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (14 answers total)

Old Navy has some nice tops: Black western, Yellow tank, Navy embroidered, Striped lace-up, Striped dress.

Curved-hem tunics come in a lot of colours, and curved hems are very flattering and can make a comfy plain T-shirt look more special.

Jean jacket, floral sweater.

This Loose chambray dress is kind of similar to the boxy long jacket you liked.

And Old Navy Rockstar jeans are stretchy, durable, and EXTREMELY comfortable, it's ridiculous. The high-waist ones are also quite flattering on a lot of figures.
posted by spraypaint at 1:40 PM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

JJill perhaps? They have a similar-ish aesthetic, are reasonably priced and will ship to the UK.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:35 PM on February 4, 2017

Best answer: Oh, I love this look too. It's called lagenlook, which is a useful search term.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:46 PM on February 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

Anthropologie has flowing, colorful clothes, especially tops, tunics, and dresses. They can be had affordably from Ebay. Just be careful on sizes if you go that route as their sizes can run smaller than other places. You can put these pieces over your black tights or maybe knit pants and long skirts from JJill.
posted by Elsie at 3:01 PM on February 4, 2017

Monsoon has at least 3 or 4 nice bright print dresses in a jersey or other knit fabric every season, usually with very flattering darts and seaming, up to a US 22 or so. We don't have them most places in the US so I make my sister shop for me when she goes to the UK since they're a very common high street shop as I'm sure you know. I love them!!
posted by kickingthecrap at 3:29 PM on February 4, 2017

Best answer: Buykud has some of the things you want. Their linen is not the lightweight and wrinkled fabric that we usually think of, it's much heavier. I wear quite a bit of theirs, but am much older than you and call it "grandma chic" but they have a very young vibe.
posted by raisingsand at 5:25 PM on February 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

(The "This is a good example" link is doing that VERY annoying thing some sites do where, if you're coming from a different country, it just goes to 'which country site do you want to shop at?')

But Googling lagenlook -- you might enjoy Kania -- not cheap; outstanding quality; I expect my "signature" (ridiculously cozy, easy to dress up or down, momwear that isn't sloppy) to be handed down to my kid (two layers of very thick fabric). I can also vouch for Etsy's Moonseats, Eileen Fisher, and Flax.
posted by kmennie at 5:58 PM on February 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Desigual sometimes has the aesthetic you are looking for. It's not super cheap, but when they have sales it's in the price range you're interested in, and the clothes are usually good quality. There's a lot of variation from season to season though. I like their winter stuff best.
posted by lollusc at 6:12 PM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm a really big fan of East. Their clothes are quite expensive (though very good quality), but they tend to have a good selection of items on sale at great prices. I'm a size or two bigger than you, and have found the fit to be really good, and the clothes very comfortable.
posted by sueinnyc at 6:22 PM on February 4, 2017

Best answer: Sou-sou is not inexpensive, but they do have some beautiful prints & styles.

You might find some things at Zara as well.
posted by gennessee at 7:36 PM on February 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Came in to say Lagenlook as well. It can get pricey, but Ebay is a great place to discover a vast trove of designers, generally European. Some of the labels I like are Krista Larson, Sarah Pacini, Flax, lillith France, OSKA, Hanna for La Journee, and crea concept.
posted by Mchelly at 8:11 PM on February 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Cached link to OP's example.

Some Japanese mori girl pieces share this look. You can search ebay for "mori girl" and maybe "linen" (or another fabric) to bring up relevant search results. Unfortunately, I don't know the names of brands that are less floral, and more like your example.
posted by mayurasana at 9:42 PM on February 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mistral
posted by mymbleth at 4:43 AM on February 5, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! These look really promising, and a special thank you to PhoBWanKenobi for the search term, that's opened up lots of possibilities!
posted by catch as catch can at 1:09 PM on February 5, 2017