Come to India!

Madam is required usage here

I wondered why a sleeveless dress was so wicked myself Wilma. Now if I were to go in public now in one flapping my bingo wings, that would certainly be an awful sight.

My bingo wings never see the light of day either!

Was telling my Mum about this thread and she reminded me that my youngest brother was escorted by the police from Owen Owens for demonstrating in the fur department! Changed days.

I do not remember PT's in Edinburgh but my school uniform had to be bought in Forsyth's.

I used to go with my mother to Draffen's in Dundee but I cannot remember if they only sold furniture or if they sold clothes etc. This was long before the Tay road bridge was built.

Just smiled sweetly! It was a very expensive suit. I always had to look very smart at my office!

Drafferns was a 'proper' department store with all the usual departments including clothes. I think it might be Debenhams now, but I'm not sure. Dundee had DM Browns too which was bought by House of Fraser (originally a Glasgow company). DMs became Arnotts before being closed about 10 years ago. IIRC Drafferns was more expensive than DMs, but when I watched Are You Being Served? it was DMs I thought of, not Draffens.

Charleygirl I was taken to Forsyths for my school uniform too. The Forsyths version was slightly different from other shops version -skirts longer, tweeds hairier, hats a different shape. So embarrassing. Mum just didn't understand! Forsyths was dark and a bit intimidating. A bit like an old cathedral for clothes. Not sure if they sold other things though.

Anybody remember the old Gamages? lovely old Victorian building, and a marvellous toy dept.Assistants called you 'Modum'.?
Smartly dressed 'floorwalkers' kept on eye on customers in case they needed anything ( these days it's security who keep an eye out, but for different reasons!)
Chairs to sit on when needed, and purchases wrapped beautifully ( now it will be shoved into your own bag, or a charge of 5p for a thin plastic bag.)
The dept stores used to be a special place to shop, mainly because they made the customer, be they ever so humble, feel special for shopping there and their custom was appreciated.No such feeling now, sadly.

Jane10 the "shorts" I wore would be described now as a divided skirt! They were also below knees- the nuns certainly did not want our knees on view.

I thought that Forsyth's was an expensive clothe store? I could be wrong as I have not been in it since around 1955.

Galen after that first visit, do you think they would recognise the 'smart' you?

Just remembered a dreadful memory of shopping in McGills in Dundee with my Granny. I was probably about 10 years old and we were great pals. I loved going shopping with her because I was the first GC and spoilt rotten! There's a photo somewhere taken in Dundee city centre by a DC Thompson street photographer of us shopping when I was about 5 or 6 years old and it appeared in the evening paper. But this shopping adventure scarred me for life. She took me with her to a new corset fitting. .

I sat on the chair out side the fitting room as the fitting went on and I still remember the 'foundation garments' being carried in and out of the fitting room by the assistants. My eyes were probably huge because I'd never seen anything like that before. I remember that on this occasion, in addition to a 'normal' corset (not sure what that was tbh), she was trying on a pink rubber thing that went over the top of it and had to be rolled on. It was years before I twigged during a conversation with my Mum that it was actually called a roll on.

The other thing I remember is how expensive it was and couldn't believe something you wore could cost so much! I hadn't really got a clue how much clothes cost, but I knew you could get an awful lot of Enid Blyton books from Menzies for a cost of the that corset!

Forsyth's alas doesn't exist any more does it? It always used to be very "tweedy" and as you say, expensive as well as old fashioned. My university gown had to be bought there and I was as proud as punch, not realising that to be truly "in" you should have had a second/third hand gown preferably your mother's or auntie's!

roses yes I remember Gamages - it was just down the road from where I worked. At the time I was 'saving up to get married' (do people still say this? ) and I would spend my lunch times wandering around this lovely old store dreaming of all the things I wanted to buy for our first home.
When I started work at 17, in a solicitors' in Grays Inn Fields, I got a Christmas Bonus of £5. I went straight to the fabric department in Gamages and bought two pure wool dress lengths, two patterns, cottons, buttons and zips. All out of that £5! You wouldn't even get a pattern for that these days . I can still remember those two dresses I made - they were much admired!
I still have a few knives, forks and spoons left over from the first 'bottom drawer' item I ever bought - a cutlery set costing £2/10s in Gamages! I also have the large meat platter from a Poole Pottery dinner service I bought there.
I was so sorry when I heard it had closed down in the early '70s.

Revived my memories of Griffin and Spalding in Nottingham and also Jessop's now John Lewis. There was a smaller store on the market square but the name escapes me. G&S was superior though.

Ah the bottom drawer. Wonderful!!

When we bought our first house in Nottingham, we went to Griffin and Spalding for our bed (now in my spare room with a replacement mattress) and my first ever automatic washing machine. The rest of our furniture was mostly hand-me-downs from parents and other relatives. When the boys were little, I used to dread walking through Jessops which kept delicate glass and crystal at an unfortunate child level!
Alea, I did 'inherit' a red gown from my Dad which had also been used by at least one cousin. It was so decrepit that it only lasted a term before being consigned to the rag bag.
My favourite department store of all was Draffens - Dundee's 'posh' shop. I spent my first tax rebate there on a beautiful suede coat and used to meet up with my housemate and her colleagues from DC Thomson (publisher of Dandy and Beano among many other family favourites) for a light lunch in the top floor restaurant. Alas Draffens is only a memory now.

You e just brought back lovely memories Indinana. I used to get taken there as a child around Christmas time and it was such a treat. So sad when Gamages closed. No I'm sure nobody saves up these days. Many are already together and you never hear about a bottom drawer. like you I loved collecting things.

You, not you e !

ad do you remember the long receipts you got in Drafferns? There was a picture of the store on every receipt (an artist's drawing) that made it much longer than a receipt from DM Brown or Cairds, etc. Rumour was that it was done to show Drafferns was a cut above all the other department stores. A great marketing strategy!

Can't say I remember those, Wilma. Maybe that was after I left Dundee in 1965?

I remember sharing a flat in Dundee and it was 2 doors away from M&S. The 4 years I lived there I could not afford to buy anything there so never entered the door! I would not mind being next door to an M&S Food store now. Sorry, slightly off piste.

There was a Gamages in Yeovil when I was a child. I remember one Christmas Santa's Grotto had live monkeys in cages to walk past at the entrance.

I think Drafferns always has the picture ad, on the hand written receipts from pads and the till receipts, but it was the till receipts that fascinated me as a child (I was 5 in 1965 ).

Charleygirl was that when M&S was in the Murraygate? I wouldn't mind living next door to one of their food halls either.

grandma60 real live monkeys! Changed days indeed.

Yes Wilma I think there were pets like rabbits and guinea pigs as well. Certainly wouldn't be allowed now. thank goodness !

Yes, Wilma it was.

There was a huge department store in Glasgow - Lewis's Polytechnic, commonly known as the Poly. It certainly had a pet department from which my parents bought a puppy for my grandmother - a sort of Welsh collie, of very uncertain temperament, a cute puppy though!