Most of the ready-to-wear midline labels we were used to from the 80's through the early 2000's are now downgraded or gone. New ones have taken their place, but I'm not sure what. This is a typical fashion cycle. Names that resonate get stuck in a certain genre and times change.

I sold women's suits at Nordstrom in the late 80's/early 90's. We had brands like Hickey Freeman for women, Barry Bricken, Freedberg of Boston, Ruff Hewn and Pringles of Scotland. We also carried suiting by Burberry and I had a couple adorable blazers. That was also the time DKNY launched and it was a huge deal. Women loved it. When Lafayette 148 launched, it was not at such a high price point as you see now, but there stuff fit right in.

I like natural fibers and well made clothing. For this reason, I now buy mostly used designer clothing with backfill of t-shirts and jeans.

The day Austin Reed stopped making ladies‘ trousers, my mother went into a decline. From then until the day she died, which was about 20 years, she lamented the fact that she couldn’t buy decent, well-fitting pants.

Sometimes I go out shopping and come back with nothing. When you remember buying well made and tailored clothes with lining built in, there isn't much out there that compares.

I've bought quite a few things from INC at Macy's and the quality has been pretty good, but I noticed that even they have gone down in quality slightly the last 2 years.

Designer labels have been making lesser quality goods to sell in outlet malls for a long time. One of the reasons I never go to outlet malls. Since I'm looking for quality goods and am not impressed by just a label the whole thing has always kind of puzzled me. I want xyz designer quality. If I were to find xyz at an outlet and it's crap I'm unlikely to ever buy that brand at a regular store. Unfortunately it does appear that the outlet quality of some brands has found its way into the regular stores too. Bit them in the butt.

I remember wearing all of those mentioned by martinca when I was working. Could always find very professional looking clothing for work. Ann Taylor was ok too, and those Spanish mentioned.

I was watching a morning program the other day and there was a piece about a new designer who has a line of lovely practical suiting pieces for women. The jackets are lined and have inside pockets for glasses, ID and cash so women aren’t always tied to carrying a handbag. Very streamlined, beautiful colors and nice. I’m sorry I didn’t write down the name. Don’t know the price.

I have been on a rant for the last few weeks-- it is VERY hard to find sweaters that aren't acrylic. It used to be it was only the cheap sweaters-- but I just saw a $200 sweater that was 60% acrylic. I did a last minute check on a long boiled wool blazer I was going to buy at Talbots-- acrylic! At least the Talbots jacket was a low % acrylic .. but still. That's the best they can do?

I still have an Austin Reed navy double breasted blazer, and have for 20 years. It is so classic, I still wear it and my DD borrows it. I alsohave some St. John and Lafayette 148 suits.

And yes, most of the stuff at most outlets is outlet-specific fare. I think I shared this stat before, but there is currently more sq footage of outlet retail space than non-outlet retail space. So clearly "outlet" means something different than the old impression.

However, I think many of them still sprinkle in some bits of jetsam and flotsam from their other operations. That is, if i see 10 identical, fairly standard looking blouses at NM Last Call, I can assume it was made for Last Call. But if I see, say, a bright yellow sequined plus sized ballgown with a tail, wrinkled and with a dangling sequin, that probably WAS a castoff from a "real" NM. If it is hideous, unflattering, damaged or just a little whacky, it may be a legitimate markdown.

I guess this is why I still have all my nice business attire from 30 years ago though I’m sure I’ll never wear it.

Amen to everything said thus far. I still have some Austin Reed, Dana Buchman, Ellen Tracy suits that look as stylish and new as the day I bought them, notwithstanding the regular use. I even have some Ralph Lauren that still looks good. Silk, cotton, wool and linen with detailed tailoring is a thing if the past unless you spend a fortune. I still find a few quality pieces from St. John and similar brands, but am just disgusted by the cheap disposable clothes everywhere.

Back in the mid 90's a friend had a connection to an Ann Klein warehouse/distribution center. Invited people could shop at 75% off list. She invited my mother and me. I think we bought $2k worth for $500, which was still a fair amount of money then. We all wore those outfits for a very long time. I might still have a skirt from that shopping spree!

Is the blouse an Elie Tahari blouse or just Tahari? I'm wondering if it's a knock off because ET blouses are $$$$.

Fashion the past couple of years has gone downhill.

My oldest, who has her own sustainable/organic clothing line mentions "fast fashion" all the time.

The younger generation is all for eco-friendly and we might soon start seeing a change is the way clothing is constructed in order to make it last longer.

Any time I browse through kohl’s I can never find anything made from a non acrylic fabric. Yes I know it’s not higher end clothing!

In the eighties my mother worked part time at a large department store and she worked in the designer dress department and bought me my clothes ( she also got 25% off including sales and coupons) and they were incomparable to today's clothing. I mostly wore dresses and some separates and they were silk or fine wool or linen. The tailoring, the linings, the details....

I have kept a few of the jackets although the styling is out but they are so beautiful. A christian dior houndstooth jacket that I could never find today for instance.

I despise all these acrylic sweaters everywhere!

I have been lamenting the same....shopping for a new tote. I hate this nylon La Plage, or whatever it is. I had 2 Hunters previous, and they were cute colors, and wore well. NM no longer carries those, and I bought some evening and cocktail dresses from last call, but almost ALL of the totes are Pleather!! Cheep, cheep.

I despise clothes shopping. I guess that's why I so rarely do it. Don't mean to highjack, but this thread has me looking up some of the aforementioned better brands on Ebay. Found this like new Austin Reed coat which has potential to be quite nice, I think, along the lines of some of the outfits shared in the recent thread on wearing white in winter.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FANTASTIC-AUSTIN-REED-WOOL-AND-CASHMERE-SMART-CAMEL-LONG-COAT-Size-16-L-K/233383317010?hash=item3656bace12:g:qVcAAOSwLwtdt2OC

For anyone who can wear a size S sweater, this is cute. Austin Reed, merino wool, new.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Austin-Reed-fair-isle-merino-wool-cardigan-ribbon-tied-NWT-Size-S-179-00/254403455075?hash=item3b3ba0a863:g:e68AAOSwNNVdt560

Most of these brands are now owned by private equity firms or larger conglomerates; Kate Spade was Liz Claiborne, bought Dana Buchman, then sold DB to Kohls. Some brands, like Pringle, were "rescued" from almost-ashes and reimagined into something entirely different; but it's that "different for a new generation" that's making money. And for a lot of the brands, the money comes from licensing deals -- sunglasses, jewelry, perfume, etc.

eld, I hope you're right!

This is gorgeous and one of you who leads a much less practical life than I do* should get it,

Vintage Austin Reed ivory silk cardigan at Etsy

* Today's activities include bathing our 70-lb Great Pyrenees puppy, who ran through the oil pan while my son was changing the oil in a tractor. And cooking a large meal for the Mennonite harvest crew we're expecting, if it doesn't snow. Again.

As much as I like the well made clothing unless you choose very carefully and wear them with new items, it's easy to morph into an old lady look.

That can be true, Bumblebeez, and classic pieces can often be brought up to date. I have a Liz Claiborne suede blazer that's 20+ years old that I still wear in the fall with jeans and boots. It doesn't ever go out of style.

When I first started working in the early 1990s, my budget was tight and I bought my first suits from Casual Corner. They were lined and well-made, but reasonably priced. Even those seem better than most of what's available today.

Fun fact: I have a 25-year-old North Face parka that I bought back before the brand was ubiquitous. It's still in great shape, and I will probably wear it the rest of my life.

When I first started working in the early 1990s, my budget was tight and I bought my first suits from Casual Corner.

I did the same thing when I graduated from college in the mid-eighties lol.

Casual Corner! I hadn't thought of that store in years. I liked it and they did carry merchandise that was quite a good quality as I recall.

I expect acrylic from kohls and macys-- I don't expect it from Nordstrom, NM and Saks! I don't even expect it from Talbots.

I have recently purchased 2 Lafayette 148 pieces and they do indeed drape beautifully... I am lusting for either the shirt or dress in this silver sage snake pattern!

In the 90s I had to wear suits daily, I liked Jones of NY because they had feminine lines and cuts. The quality was probably middle of the line but so much better than anything I see today! I remember finding a beautiful Dana Buchman jacket at Filene's Basement -- it was a size too big but I bought it anyhow! I checked her out recently and everything is polyester and looks so matronly.

You all want quality fabrics/clothing? I agree that mostly this is a pipe dream, belonging to the past. Case in point: Just today, I was showing off a lovely Victorian two-piece ensemble to my son, the family archivist. He had come to visit in order to show me his latest "finds" of ancestral things, which he is currently going through. So, as we were discussing my great-grandmother (his great-great), I mentioned that I had, easily accessible, this outfit, and I brought it out to show him. Gorgeous plum-colored cut velvet and satin, long sleeves with a dozen covered buttons and pleated bodice, skirt panels of satin and cut velvet to match, with side panniers and double pleating on the bottom. Scrumptious!

The thing that struck us both was how amazingly fresh the fabric was -- no discoloring or degradation -- it really is almost pristine, straight from the dressmaker's hands. For clothing that is approximately 140 years old, it is impressive. They sure do not make fabric/clothing as they used to!! (Of course, it is unwearable, as Great-Granny was a size 1 by today's standards. She was TINY. Hers was the wedding dress I wore 51 years ago, tho I couldn't wear her cream satin bridal shoes -- they were a size 2! I still have those as well.)

Yes, I come from a long line of pack-rats! lol.

I expect acrylic from kohls and macys-- I don't expect it from Nordstrom, NM and Saks! I don't even expect it from Talbots.

But this is where we are. The dress you shared above, Funkyart, is lovely. But it's more than $600 on sale (and it's mostly viscose). I love the dress and its pattern. But no matter how wonderful the drape, I couldn't justify the cost on that type of item. I would only consider spending that on a "wardrobe staple." Even my friends with ridiculous amounts of disposable income wouldn't spend $600 on a dress.

We tsk-tsk the Millennials and post-Millennials for their fashion choices, but we put them and clothing manufacturers into the financial situation of acrylic.

But, but...aren’t acrylics and polyesters completely different than they used to be? It seems like there has been a good bit of development of fabrics that have different, desirable qualities? For example...the wonderful, sweat-wicking fabrics for exercise, or the oh-so-soft minky fabric that lines the Ugg hoodie I just bought. And styles today seem to be less constructed than in the nineties. I remember my first interview suit in the early nineties and it was so lined and HEAVY....I don’t think that is what designers are going for now.

And I do agree that there isn’t as MUCH mid-level clothing available. There are super cheap stores like H&M where you don‘t expect ANY kind of quality, and the very expensive designer brands....and the middle which used to be department store brands is eroding. Probably bc there aren’t as many department stores...been taken over by TJ Max, etc.

This is why I have only kept 2 things from 6 Trunk Club boxes. They send $150.00 tops that will be out of style next year or are so style-specific that I could wear it once as a stand-out item. I am not trying to Keep up with the "You Know Whos". I just want comfortable, sort-of-well-made, clothes that I can wear for a few years. I used to hate buying cheap clothing but now you almost need to or else you are spending money on expensive clothing that really is still cheaply made and will look dated next year (cold-shoulder tops??).