Puffed Sleeves - Argh!

They are horrible, especially if you are wee and fat like me! They make me look as wide as I am tall. 🤣

Recently I bought a knitted dress in a sale and never noticed how wide and puffy the sleeves were. However, I liked the dress and it was a bargain, so I altered the sleeves.

I'm waiting for pedal pushers to come back in.
And bathing suits that actually covered bums and boobs!!

FannyD What you call stiffened shoulders (padded shoulders) are back! I like having dressy or formal wear have some shape since many women’s shoulders sag and it gives them a tailored silhouette.

I do agree, and would never wear myself, those exaggerated peaked shoulders in some clothing lines - they are over-the-top for some. I just love the gently padded look that fills out a blazer or jacket.

We all got so used the natural, unstructured look which is great on younger women. For informal and sportwear it’s perfect.

For years I followed my mother’s diktat that no woman ‘of a certain age’ should wear very short sleeved or sleeveless dresses or tops. This would no doubt have included puffed sleeves, which she disliked as making you look like ‘an all-in wrestler’. I beg to differ and believe you should wear what you feel comfortable in and what you think suits you. As my mum herself was on the larger side, I can understand her ‘rules’ but I decided one day not to follow them as I am myself quite slim and don’t (yet!) have the dreaded ‘bingo wings’. So I have a few things with moderately puffed sleeves. What I hate is flared sleeves or wide sleeves with no cuffs that dangle in your soup!

I was having a look at my old dress patterns and gosh - they were so pretty and feminine .
Could those 1970's designs be worn today - yes certainly !
And I know that I mentioned it before but last year M and S was full of dresses , which had a strong 1940's vibe .
I bought several .

I have go out this afternoon and regret wearing tracksuit bottoms and several layers , but my going out involves a lot of walking and then going on the bus .
I want to be comfortable - not cold .

Come the warm weather , I plan to wear my nice dresses .
And I've bought some lovely cardigans and jackets to go with them .

One of my friends is mid - fifties and usually wears tight , brightly coloured gym wear rain or shine chosen by her daughters .
She's not slim and they look terrible really emphasising her arms , tummy and bum - so much so that people have made derogatory comments about it .

But it's her choice .

We all have a choice .

My friend - who is clever enough to do a decent standard of tailoring (has made fancy jackets for herself to wear at 'dos') - said that the puffed sleeves look may help those with wide hips as it balances out the overall effect?

I'm really not concerned by what others wear, not my business. If an elderly size 18 lady feels good in puffed sleeves then she should wear them. We should live our lives wearing what makes us happy and is comfortable. In my mid 60s, size 12/14 some days I like my 50's dress complete with petticoats but mostly is my Dammart trousers and tops. I don't want to be laid on my death bed thinking why did I worry so much about other people judging me. Just to note, the reason I wouldn't wear puffed sleeves is they are a nightmare to iron, not because I think they look bad.

Fashions zoom in and out, anything to make shops money. As Esmay says "I went out today and saw many middle aged women looking truly awful in leggings or jeggings ." - quite so, anyone over perhaps a size 10 wearing such things should be FORCED to gawp at themselves in a mirror. As Mr W's mum said once, their legs look like badly wrapped sausages.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Casdon

I agree, I would never wear them. I really don’t like tiered skirts or dresses either, they also look seventies naff - I wouldn’t have worn them even then.

Tastes differ - I did wear them throughout the seventies and eighties and if they really come back into fashion - no sign of that here yet, I probably will wear both the tiered skirts and dresses and puffed sleeves!

FannyD

Absolutely agree! Last year I was looking around desperately in need of a summer dress. Eventually I saw on from Boden which was lovely - guess what, it was only when it arrived I realised the sleeves were puffed, more fool me. Of course it went back. Looking more closely at their range last year, most of the sleeves were puffed!
Another real hate of mine is overly stiffened shoulders in a formal jacket- very 90’s but … now???

Gosh yes, I just remembered I bought this Boden puff sleeved knit at Christmas. Far too wide across the top, (and sickly colour!) Off to the charity shop!

If you don't like them. Don't try them on. Don't wear them. Make your own style. Don't try n follow others

I actually like them on jumpers and cotton T-shirts, or on otherwise very ‘masculine’ shirts, but dresses and other tops just look too fussy.

I think they look silly even on young slim women. They’ve been hanging around far too long now, I wish they’d just disappear. It seems like most of the normal clothes suppliers are on the bandwagon and you can’t get away from them.

I can honestly say that I've not worn puff sleeves since I was a small child and I'm not about to start now!

Absolutely agree! Last year I was looking around desperately in need of a summer dress. Eventually I saw on from Boden which was lovely - guess what, it was only when it arrived I realised the sleeves were puffed, more fool me. Of course it went back. Looking more closely at their range last year, most of the sleeves were puffed!
Another real hate of mine is overly stiffened shoulders in a formal jacket- very 90’s but … now???

Mass produced fast fashion is a horror. Designs always skew young with nary a thought for older women (30 and up.) Puffed sleeves are a joke for the most part and are made for 8-10 yr old girls. I have NEVER seen an older woman pull off that look. The Chinese need to get better designers!

So go into the next higher spending bracket for more stylish garments. You’ll pay a tad more (or way more?) but you’ll end up getting something appropriate and attractive for yourself, getting a better quality made garment in the process.
You get what you pay for!

My daughter has two white puffy sleeve "work shirts" - one is like this bit white - may even be this I'm white.
They are both pretty smart - but she is slim!
www.hollandcooper.com/products/clarissa-shirt-caramel

I was a bridesmaid at the age of thirteen; at that age chunky and with braces and glasses. The dress was scratchy, I had a 'petal' type nylon hat on a wire alice band grip that was digging into my head, it was a boiling hot day, my shoes hurt, and to finish off the torture the dress had scratchy puff sleeves with a tight band around the upper (chubby) arm. I have never knowingly got within ten feet of a puff sleeve since then.

I always liked puffed sleeves and wore them in my 20s and 30s. I do have narrow shoulders and used to be skinny so I was the right shape. I don't wear them now as I think they suit younger people.

Those in Josann's pics are puff sleeves.

I think they're hideous too.......and so darned difficult to iron

Stella14- theyre not puff sleeves.they are more 'bell shape'

And another

Definitely not for me and one or two of my friends with these look a bit silly in them !