Monday 6 August 2007

Boden Girl: Quality counts...

I’ve been given a back handed compliment, one as I sit here I am NOT enjoying – but are you ever meant to? No of course not. For you see I am being picked on this time because of my name and certain attributes are being applied to me regardless of their veracity.
I am a Boden-Blogger. A named Boden Blogger. Fair enough I like Boden. I like the clothes. I aspire to wear the clothes. Unfortunately I am far too ungainly, unsophisticated and fat for the clothes and frankly I cannot afford them. But hey! How many women who read Vogue can actually aspire to wear the clothes let alone look good in them?
I admit I have blogged about Boden. I admit I have envied those who wear Boden. But only in the case of a wistful longing to be as stylish, sophisticated, fashionable and well turned out as those who do. Doesn’t every woman yearn for those things from time to time?
I am being portrayed by the Times and in particular by columnist Kate Muir as a fluffy airhead wannabe who makes token gestures to the latest fashionable cause in the wake of the trend setters portrayed in the society columns of the really smart tabloids such as the Telegraph, the Times and Saturday’s How to Spend it magazines.
I am the excluded deluded middle class neither one thing nor the other. Considered a fool because of my innate sense of fair play, taken advantage of as I allow others their say first, derided for my “posh” accent and old-fashioned manners.
And I am deeply offended. My secret is out. I have NEVER worn Boden. How on earth will I hold my head up high when I get back on the school run?
Isn’t it bad enough that I cannot afford a new Land Rover? Actually I cannot afford a new car full stop. Bugger the carbon footprint the damn thing is still roadworthy ergo I drive it. A simple cost analysis reckoned that it would be cheaper for me to carry on driving the gas guzzling death trap for the next ten years than to buy the latest eco car and that even factored in diesel at £2 a litre!
As for travelling abroad – wot???!!! Have you seen our mortgage?!!! Yurt! Please – I have a lovely Kyham Classic XXL as recommended in Good Housekeeping. Saved a fortune at a friend’s Fortieth the other month.
And would you like to know what I am wearing now? A pair of rapidly disintegrating Wrangler jeans - boot cut 'cos Hell I have to try to balance out somethings in my life - a vintage (well it was bought in 1993) navy blue Benetton polo shirt with bird poo effect white paint splotches and the biggest secret of all – matching bra and panties from Rigby & Peller still going strong some three years on…quality counts you know.

15 comments:

Pondside said...

Go get 'em, Tattie Weasle!! Very spirited blog and to the point. I'm sure that Ms Muir is smug as all get out in regulation summer black linen in her minimalist apartment dining on organic whatever from the local supermarket - shall I be as flippant as she and make grand assumptions about the lifestyle of someone who makes a living by writing such silliness?
I wish you lived next door to me - or at least within driving distance as I like your style!!

Norma Murray said...

Go for 'em girl. My underwear all matches too. It's simple, just wash them all together with a nice red wool walking sock. They come out an interesting pink.

toady said...

I bought a Boden T shirt on ebay and frankly it's Ok but nothing special. Don't you find that a lot of the women columnists these days all seem to have attended special smirking classes. Bring back Katherine Whitehorn I say.

patsy said...

Haven't you got things in perspective Tattie! Corsetted like a Queen, the rest is just top dressing! Go Girl!

bodran... said...

My matching underwear is all grey!!
and to be fair if the article hadnt been pointed out i would have skirted over it anyway, the silly woman..xo

bodran... said...

New Quay!! One of my favourite places just as pretty and not as far as the other one.. our next adventure planned is camping in New quay but going down on the vespa with Nell pillion, if it doesnt rain that isXX and yep we all seem to be travelling all over but in different directions.
I came home with a gorgeous honey blonde greyhound whose already stolen our hearts ..

Anonymous said...

Well said Tattie Weasle! I hadn't heard of Boden until I read about it on Purplecoo. I suppose in one respect you are famous! And thank you for sharing your inner most secrets with us, perhaps Ms Muir wears belly warmers.

Crystal xx

Suffolkmum said...

Great blog Tattie, how dare they take on the purple crew! It is niggling and annoying, isn't it, but as they say, no publicity is bad publicity .... I feel like dressing myself in head to toe Boden and re-christening my children Octavia and Hecotr or something!

Chris Stovell said...

Very well said. I feel very cheesed off that we were lumped together as stereotypes but I would have been spitting if I'd been 'named'. Good defence.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

great blog and I love your style. Kate Muir obviously hadn't read any of the blogs of those she named or she would have known she had missed the point. never hd any boden either but not because I don't like it, more that it just doesnt fit my life being neither intimidating business suit for when i am imitating an accountant or scruffy jeans and tshirt for when I am sweating over the veg garden and cleaning out the cottage. so have a weakness for lovely underwear though!

countrymousie said...

Trust you to have matching undies. I wore a bit of Boden whilst mowing - I felt naughty today! I dont have any posh undies - I need to smarten up in that department.

Frog in the Field said...

Dear Tattie Weasle,
well said, what a great blog!
I decided to see who was being picked on (I usually read the Telegraph), I shall visit again when all is calm and you are able to write what you wish instead of having to defend your perfectly fine sounding lifestyle.

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

Oooh matching underwear here too M&S and . . er . . also rather old . . .but actually still ok. Got my old Blue Harbour (M&S) stone coloured jumper and last years (new in my book) trousers with pockets all over the place - think they were actually M&S as well.

So KM - what do you think of our Tattie now - just one word lady - one word . . . . and you will have the whole of Purplecoo after you and we are a force to be reckoned with . . .

Sally Townsend said...

You spend your money on the necessary things in life I note ! After my very tongue in cheek post on PC I discovered I did in fact possess Boden after all, a very smart white linen skirt picked up at a 'new to me' shop recently. And very thrilled I am with it too.

Anonymous said...

Dam it TW, you've ruined my day!!!! There I was thinking I was great in my 1995 Reebok track suit bottoms [bought on sale in local sports shop closing down at the time] and my 1994 navy blue product advertising polo shirt that was one of those give-aways at something or other...and you go and beat me with 1993? Cheek, woman, and me so proud of myself with my "vintage" clothing, still, I'll forgive you, you write a glorious blog. U/wear? Not the red sock for me, a black tee-shirt that slipped in somehow. Paler shade of grey shall we say?

Go on you know you want to...

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