British Named Worst-Dressed in Europe

by Erin Donnelly (Subscribe to Erin Donnelly's posts)
Posted Mar 19th 2010 at 12:26PM

42 Comments

Helena Bonham Carter in her usual wacky wardrobe. Photo: Michael Loccisano, Getty Images for MOMA

Panic on the streets of London!

Britain is licking its wounds after a new poll deemed it the worst-dressed country in Europe, The Sun reports.

This is so Helena Bonham Carter's fault.

To pour salt on the wound, the Brits "won" the title with a whopping 44 percent of the vote, according to the paper.

The poll -- which was conducted by shopping Website Ciao and surveyed voters in seven European countries -- reportedly named Italy the best-dressed nation (shocker), with only three percent saying it had bad sartorial sense.

The Germans, meanwhile, weren't so lucky, with 33 percent calling them out for crimes of fashion, The Sun reports.

But those lederhosen still managed to beat out the garb worn by Brits.

"The contribution that Brits have made to the fashion scene over the years includes icons like Vivienne Westwood, Kate Moss and Alexander McQueen," Ciao director Tom Hyde told the paper.

"We were shocked to discover that Britain is seen as the worst-dressed nation in Europe."

The poll reportedly suggested that the Brits' love for budget fashion could be to blame.

"The Primani habit has led Brits to sartorial disaster," Hyde told the paper, referring to a slang nickname for the low-priced UK chain Primark.

According to the survey, 85 percent of British shoppers spend the least amount of money on their wardrobes -- less than £100 (about $160) a month.

By contrast, Germans spend about £200 per month and the Spanish fork out more than £500, the survey found.

Brits were also seen to have their accessory priorities out of whack, with 29 percent calling sunglasses their most important accessory, and just 11 percent of British women reportedly seeing their handbags as a fashion statement rather than a necessity.

This coming from the country that gave us this season's red-hot Mulberry Alexa bag? For shame!

Meanwhile, it's not all bad news -- check out this roundup of the most stylish women in Britain.

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Filed under: Fashion, News
Tags: best dressed, best-dressed country, britain, british style, Europe, Helena Bonham Carter, Italy, Polls, primark, style survey, Surverys, worst dressed, worst-dressed country

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READER COMMENTS

(42)Add A Comment

GB, 3-22-2010, 6:37AM

What do you expect from a bunch of poofs???

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Paul, 3-22-2010, 7:29AM

How about the worst dressed country in the world... USA. That's who

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snowmassey, 3-22-2010, 10:34AM

Paul
Nothing but the finest threads come from walmart.

richard nicoletti, 3-22-2010, 7:39AM

That Helena Bonham Carter!Is she for real? She looks like she slept in that dress for a week. And that hair! I'll bet she has BO.

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Claire, 3-22-2010, 9:50AM

No one has mentioned her shoes with that dress!

wordman238, 3-22-2010, 12:53PM

Everyone knows that the Europeans and the Brits in particular have the absolute worst hygene between us and them. Especially teeth. Have you seen theirs?

David H., 3-22-2010, 7:45AM

I haven't spent that much time in the UK but all you need to do is look at the proliferation of UK designers selling their clothes in downtown NYC. The natives may not wear the best stuff being made by their countrymen but they actually do know how to dress well. The US should have been the winner of the worst dressed, at least excluding celebrities. Been to a mall lately?

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Ruth, 3-22-2010, 7:54AM

Don't feel bad, Brits, your food stinks too.

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anonymous, 3-22-2010, 10:06AM

Does anyone here besides me see a basic problem here?

Please observe that picture of Helena Bonham Carter in a slept-in Halloween getup.

Now, observe the 'designer' names listed above: Vivienne Westwood. Alexander McQueen. Kate Moss. Freaks and drug addicts, all, scaring up new atrocities and horrors every year to parade on runways.

Folks, consider - what is the unfortunate result when the ordinary peon attempts to ape their betters and actually try to wear those eyesores???

OK, ok, the real problem is the low-rent clothing available to the average un- or under-employed pleb from Primark. Don't know what that is like - K-Mart? Walmart? Target? So why don't the Brits develop some nice clothing to put in this Primark? It can't be the entire fault of the ordinary Brit accused of having no fashion sense! PEOPLE ONLY BUY WHAT IS FOR SALE. And for crying out loud, this is like the emperor's new clothes - Kate Moss? Alexander McQueen? Vivienne Westwood? These indulged druggies churn out nightmares, get big appluse, and then everyone is surprised the Brits are badly dressed? F that. Put Helena BC in a nice Italian knit, she doesn't look edgy or anything else except homeless and demented.

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panhermes, 3-22-2010, 8:33AM

Dear An Onymous,
Greatly enjoyed your fashion op ed Mz. Onymous, An if I may (?) Surely you are being less than forthright in revealing your specific desire to achieve the status of designers who have achieved a certain happy recognition. Mrs. Burton dresses like an eccentric damsel in distress purposely making patently clear her personal desire for fashion negative. Have you viewed fashion mags or even the NYT 'ladies' fashion recently,like during the recent decade? OK, truth time, we can't recall which came first, haute couture from designers or H B C's utter refusal to bother with dressing in anything other than what her hubbys character's wear in Nightmare Before Christmas. However Mz, Onymous, An if I dare, not to worry your brow, these things always swing back, the Brits will go off the deep end but always swing back to adorable. Whereas mature adults in the USA who shop the department discount retailers you name seem to demand style negative in favor of sweat outfits, women in butch haircuts, unshaven, the men too, and all so over weight their carbon footprints may be viewed almost every place as either flip flops or gym shoes. Thank the urban fashion fairy for sparring cities from them, though Helena must seem to fit right in wherever any cyclone occurred. Those of less, shall we say, artistic bent or talent never bother with anything but attempting the end result. H B C must surely one day grow out of her desire to see how far her joke will go and shock us all by appearing next as oh, shall we say, Audrey H. ?

panhermes, 3-22-2010, 8:31AM

Helena, her mode of fretful, statement damsel in DIS dress quite simply shows the brilliant artistic bent of her personal eccentricities. However, as has been practiced for decades, film stars oft are seen as role models for those of lessor artistic bent. Mrs. Burton creative storm would indicate she sorta kinda arranges bits and pieces, piles a mop to top it all off and then stands outside in a storm yet cannot be bothered attempting to readjust the entire thing. Thus the copies never bother with the effort of her specific DIS arrangement, instead the lazy pretties go directly for the final result making this the Brits amusing latest gaff of style negative.

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alschrod, 3-23-2010, 11:00AM

Panhermes: Have you taken some sort of ersatz course in communication--what the heck kind of gibberish are you trying to lay on a normal reader? I have a BA in English Lit. so can (probably) decipher you, but why should anyone bother trying? Is this topic so difficult to understand that weirdos feel the urge to "help us?"

jnzcram, 3-22-2010, 8:18AM

What do you expect from a bunch of damn socialists

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JV, 3-22-2010, 8:45AM

Many of the well-knowns in front of the lens are wearing clothing that the designer lends to them. The public then bankrupts itself trying to keep up with them. Swag rules their world, not ours. If you can't afford it, don't buy it, and while style is art, being a slave to it is vapid.

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Greendayer, 3-22-2010, 9:02AM

Actually, from the UK to France to Italy to Iceland, we laughed at how they dressed in the Euro uniform. All in black all the time. No one dared diverge from the uniform. A reminder of 1960s USSR where everyone dressed the same.

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deblip, 3-22-2010, 9:02AM

The Brits are smart not wasting their money on clothing. Clothing fashion changes each year A good handbag or jewelry accessory can stay in style and last for years. . Why spend it on the designers who have become millionaires from the idiots who waste their earnings on a necessity not a luxury!

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Yes, 3-22-2010, 2:41PM

I agree with you 100%

Joel, 3-22-2010, 9:32AM

The reason why Brits spend so little on clothing is so they can spend that money in Disney World, over and over and over again, going there 17 times in 10 years.

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