Well, that's my wish list. How about you? If I really thought there was enough demand I might... only might... look into doing something about it. Myself and a couple friends talked about this last year over a few gins…but sadly that's where we left it! Maybe it's time to re-evaluate the closet…………

This is difficult because tastes are all over the place.

I prefer the slightly elegant, but casual classics.

Breathable fabrics with a lovely feel to them.

Toned down colours and patterns.

For fun times, I get into hot pink and rich turquoise and such.

No dangly bits, no fluffy frills, no big buttons with shiny things glued on.

No lace or big appliqué parts machine stitched across the front.

No large pookie pockets where the hips will always be (either on pants or tops).

I can but dream... I have not been able to find any 'slightly elegant but casual classics' for the almost 15 plus years I've been on this side of the world. And when I do take a stab at getting clothes made, the 'slightly elegant but casual classics' is always a miss (but for sanity sake, I pretend otherwise).

My boy friend love me for who I am, and not what I wear.

I think he prefers me that way.

Yoshitaka - no offense, but for many of us women dressing up or down is not necessarily about pleasing boyfriends.

i personally dress to please me. of course societal norms dictate some of what we wear, as in, if going to a formal party, we tend to dress up more, or if going to an office environment we dress accordingly. but those issues aside, I do not dress specifically to please any one guy, or any one woman (myself excluded).

each of us have different styles, and within those styles Im sure most women harbour different looks for different situations. jeans and tee on some days. dresses on some. shorts and tee on some. heels at times. flip flops at others.

I think women will have to be progressively be more and more particular on how we wear as we age.

Also how we do our hair, our make-up, etc...

MiG16, I mean women in general, and not refer to you or any specific woman.

I don't know if this is appropriate for this topic or not but it came to mind while reading this thread. About heels in Thailand.

If you are a fan of wearing nice heels, do so occasionally or your foot shape will change. A fellow expat neighbor of mine is pretty upset that over the years of wearing non-closed toe shoes and nothing but flipflops has made her feet widen and her toes spread out and now she can't get into a decent pair of heels without stretching them out and being uncomfortable. Folks who grow up wearing closed toe shoes have a different foot shape than folks who grow up in flipflops or without shoes. Just look around at some of the local girls' feet and notice how the toes are more spread and often their feet are much wider than yours. Their feet are closer to the normal natural human foot shape. And if you don't get yourself into closed toe shoes or your heels semi-regularly your artificially narrowed feet will start taking on a more natural wider shape which does not look nice or feel nice in fancy "home shoes." I get into a proper pair of heels a few times a month even if it means I have to keep my eyes glued to the ground to avoid a twist. And even at that rate, I can feel the slight changes in my feet and can see the change in where my toes are (by looking at the old toe marks on my home shoes compared to where my toes sit now in the same pair of shoes).

Minke, thanks, i never thought about that! ActuaIIy, ive been practicaIIy Iiving in fIips-fIops and open styIe shoes for 3 years now.. so you have me worried.

Think im going to have a few days of pain ahead of me...

Edited October 5, 200916 yr by eek

Style and comfort is really an essential thing to consider especially when we are talking about business suits. Clothing affects also the productivity of the employee!

everyone here calls me chameleon cause i change my style to fit the job: when with the goats, i was a jeans/work pants, boots, long sleeved flannel shirts even in summer, with hat; in the kitchen we had chef's clothes, and now at front desk its white shirts/black pants /skirts -- but being kibbutz, its any white shirt and any black pants which is less then professional. so out i went, to our local uniform store, and ordered button downs and pants/skirts to fit my size (im still small although have got a more full figure then two years ago... when im 'buttoned up' i look more professional and less 'little girl', helps a whole lot when dealing with clients of all sorts.. have gotten daring and added jewellery which ive always had and never worn (doewn work in kitchen or with animals) so suddenly i look 'different' , enough that on the kibbutz people have to comment about it... even wearing heels!!

its more professional than most israeli business places. friend just got back from greece and she mentioned that even the waiteresses were 'tailored' (meaning matchng sets of clothes and not just a t shirt witht he name of the coffee house on it)....

since ive gotten older, ive realized that i cant get away with the 'boho/shlumpy' look that i used to wear, as i look frumpy (since i dont colour my slightly greying long hair, nor do i wear make up)... so now i have a line between house/kibbutz clothes and work clothes. when i was wearing my 'goat' clohtes i enjoyed the occasional dress up. now its reversed...

will have to find pics of all stages ) ...

wow..awesome pics

Welcome to ThaiVisa, megan22.

Tip

childbirth pregnancy also change your feet shape and size...

as do your weight and age... mine have gotten wider and longer but i then, i just went out to buy some heels for job (i need the height cause the idiot that built the hotel reception desk made it for israeli men height and not most of us shorties)...most shoes are too wide for me but recently boguht a pair of hush puppy brand (beutifeel brand?) shoes...

i agree that i now have to take more care with colours and styles , at least when going out to the real world (city) or at work... so i dont look like an ageing teenager, but here, the line between ageing teenager and dowager is massive. no clothes for us over 40 women that want to look decent... i wont squeeze myself in to a skin tight black suit thing with gold chain around the waist, nor will i wear 'flowy' 'matron' styles which many older israeli women will wear...

ive learned to do what my eldest does: she buys stuff and then uses a few tools: scissors, needle, thread...) she remakes half her clothes, with not too much work on her part, and they come out as one of a kind things, even junk bought at the market gets a 'gourmet' boutique look ... so have started doing that also... i got a sewing machine aand have started 'remaking' my clothes...

im sure in thailand the tailors are cheaper then here,

of course health issues also change the way we dress: veins!!! having to wear bras (a punishement that until recently, id not needed to wear one but the boobs are growing back to their 16 yr old size ) --

and actually, i liked a lot of the clothes that i saw in thailand (ok, i like that 'look' and it tends to be more in trend here also: the sequins, feathers, glitz, pink shiny etc...)... people (men included it seems) really dont like the american/english style of dress, and make fun of it (u know, the l.l. bean eddie bauer styles).... here that is...

will have to find pics...

bina

I have had a sprained ankle for the past two months. So have had to wear the same pair of sandals with a splint, until I bought the famous trainers which solidify the ankle.

Now, having walked funny for weeks, I have had to retrain myself to walk normally.

I've missed out of the whole summer because of this.

I can't wait to put my boots on!!!

Clothes wise - Levi's are the best. with a summery floaty top.

Boots! I miss wearing boots.

I'd love a pair like this:

Boots! I miss wearing boots.

I'd love a pair like this:

Are you a biker, SBK? They do seem to match the whip. (Now trying to visual the rest of the matching outfit, with make-up accents (hopefully not globs of black mascara. ))

jeans! in thailand?......i find that i sweat even here in our dry heat... in thailand it was unbearable in jeans... yet the filapinas and thai men/and the few women i've met, seem to have no problems with sweating and jeans and the resulsting 'problems' .... really, jeans in tel aviv humidity similar to bangkok, sounds torturous..

i never really sweat much here, but sweat all the time i was in thailand and bras/jeans and anything else that was stuck to my skin was torture to wear... still dont know how those office girls look so crisp and fresh in heat and pollution, even taking int to cosideration that the offices are freezing cold; the travel by freezing bus or boiling to death on a motocy and getting off w/o having hair/clothing mussed and rumpled is beyond me....

i am seriously considering starting to wear skirts and jean skirts (and risk looking religous, here in israel)since my waist seems to ahve lost its flat teenage look... my age has caught up to me... sigh....

I've always worn jeans for nights out in thailand, I'm not really a dress or skirt person & apart from cotton trousers prefer the jeans look for going out to clubs or bars.

I never ad any problems with sweating or anything else & on occasion wear then in the dy but they can be too hot. I sweat in Thailand but not anymore wearing jeans than anything else.

If you spend an extended time there then you acclimatise much more than after a few weeks.

I too love swanning about the house in my pale green satin robe with batick style peacocks on it...

kayb: I used to get great bikinis and underwear at Zen CentralWorld... I did shed tears as I watched it burn for more than one reason... and some more when I went past the shell again in August... it was there once, will hope the opportunity comes again...

As I am not a fan of shopping I had found most of my thai purchased clothes in there (all large, xl or xxl, but don't mind as all were my stylish bits and bobs).

Thankfully I had the sense to go back and get a second version of the Triumph houndstooth bikini I love so dearly before they went up in smoke.

Was also the only place in thailand I ever found trousers that fit across my curves and the full length of my legs.

Living on the island I like the freedom to play down outfits and glam up if I feel like it, and love the fact you don't feel oblidged to dress up - but the option is always there if you want to take it. And I love the freedom of not bothering with footwear or the expense of it - flip-flops on, flip-flops off, irrespective of the rest of the outfit.

Usually I wing it in KL or Singapore to get most of my clothes by stumbling across something nice. Usually is Mr redfish who finds them for me to be honest, he has a good eye. Sadly even he couldn't help me in the Bangkok Zara boutique sale as not a single pair of jeans fit across my hipsor up my thighs there... sigh... though he found a lovely long skirt for me that I can't wait to wear when I get home.

I find I miss sytligh/glam/girly clothes when stuck here at work in my trackies and orange coveralls on the boat with the boys (watching a movie like the Devel Wears Prada is a fast track to an unhappy headspace here).

Yet when I go home feel such a fish out of water when I see my own clothes - let alone the glamourous SE Asian ladies in the big cities and airports on the way back... I look at their shoes, tranfixed, then look down at my sneakers or steel toes... sigh

I do love that the thais go for the cute things a-la the Pairs Hilton quote, and must admit have a few items that work here that just don't in Aus or anywhere else.

Am going to give Central Chidlom a go on the way home this week as (gulp) my old faithful Elle jeans from Singapore gave up the ghost and wore through in the most unfortunate places when I was enroute to work a few weeks back, leaving me to feel a bit akward in Chinese immigration... so it will have to be tracky dacks on the way into Bangkok this week, trying to glam it up with a Mango tank top and shirt picked up in Singapore on the last trip through... shame as I like to make the effort for airlines, immigration, hotels and Bangkok.

Any tips for hassle free jeans shopping in central Bangkok welcome - am a size 10-12 in Australia

-edited for spelling mistakes, although there are probably a few left as a bit tired-

Edited September 13, 201015 yr by redfish44

hassle free jeans shopping. There's an oxymoron if i ever heard one.

... a possible solution would be: Get clothes made by a tailor (refering to my thread a couple of days ago which nobody replied too...where do I find the weeping smilie???

Shakun

You can get basic tees and tops in Tesco and Big C in XXL (about a size 10-12!) and even something called "2XXL" which I imagine a size 12 or even 14 could squeeze into Crap quality but cheap.

If you want anything fitted off the peg, forget it. I think the problem is that western ladies are simply bigger-boned (not a euphemism for fat; a fact). I don't have a lot of surplus flesh but I've yet to find a Thai brand that fits properly on the shoulders or around the armholes - the cut is all wrong, they're made for people with small frames. That's why the XL size fits large Thai ladies but not us reasonably svelte western gals IMO.

Still don't know what the solution is, though, other than regular trips back to the uk

I personally used to have extremely hard time shopping in my home country, especially for elegant business suits or high heeled shoes. Here in Thailand it's almost paradise for me - except that I'm too tall to fit into most dresses. It was a shock to switch from XS to M or even - dare I say it - L size clothes! Same with shoes, my size here is average while back home it is considered small and is either sold out in a blink of an eye or not stocked at all. But I agree that at Samui, for example, clothes selection at Tesco's is not satisfactory and I have yet to find a place where nice stuff can be bought. For shoes though I find Findig-Udomagg shops quite nice, and their high heels are even comfortable to wear here.

Having travelled the last 18 months I had a ZEN-wardrobe in my suitcase. But I got bored by it.

I like to dress up so once in awhile so this time I brought 1 pair of heels from Europe. But when will I be wearing them? No idea, I ride bike, so it's not very practical. And the streets will destroy them, so I guess I need a cab bringing me from door to door to door.

At home I wear a sarong, and on the bike long trousers, socks, long sleeves, scarf...anything to protect me from the sun.

I like to look nice and sophisticated, but I hate shopping, spending so much time on the looks. Sometimes I wish I had a (gay)friend who likes to do the shopping for me.

Oh, and there is 1 skirt I am truely in love with, but come on... 350 Euro for a black skirt... My flight fm Europe to BKK was 259 Euro.. Psychologically I just can't spend that money for a skirt, even if I like everyting about it.

Sometimes I see ladies looking perfect with make up and all dressed up and I wonder: How do they do it? Heat doesn't seem to effect them.

Well, I think I'll be continueing my ZEN-look and only dress up when I need to (which = never in LOS)

hassle free jeans shopping. There's an oxymoron if i ever heard one.

Agreed and had many giggles at this sbk : )

...but then... a miracle happened:

When I was on the way home from work last week, we stopped at a service station for fuel in a lovely small town (pm for details if you live southern krabi). Mr Redfish noticed a guy selling jeans off the back of a ute. Casting his super shopper eye over for 1.5 seconds, he was adamant they would be my size (which I was deeply sceptical of). Some more convincing from a few more locals who were sitting on the adjacent smoking bench, I gingerly took a pair to the ladies to try on and - I could not believe it, the were too big!!!

It took me a while to realise this, I thought I had done something wrong and possibly had a broken pair, but no, the heavens had parted and the gods were cutting me a break - yay! So I got to do something I don't get to do very often in Thailand and completely relished (this was so much fun to say): I had to ask for a smaller size : )

The only hassle involved was trying not to get soaked on the wet ladies loo floor or slip and crack my skull.

Am still rather stunned by it all the this day.

Brand: Versace (?!? - including a bunch of tags in Itlaian including a "Certificate of authenticity" and replacement button and little visace head stud doo-dads,; am guessing the Made in Italy label may not be so accurate).

With this new found "high end" retail confidence I tried a pair of denim shorts on in Siam Paragon yesterday - size XL, and while they fit fine across the caboose, the were a bit to snug around the thighs to enable circulation - welcome back to the real thailand for me : (

Then much rejoicing again later that day as I found both Paragon and Central Chidlom had some really comfy new Trumph bras that fit and were comfy and lok good (yes it's true!) - but sorry ladies, I bought all of their stock in my size as it was just too good to be true to find comfy bras that fit.

Looking forward to getting home tonight and kicking about in island clothes again after a week in Bangkok and SIngapore and trying to look half decent : )

selling versace labels off the back of a pick up in a small town gas station in Trang.

Amazing Thailand indeed