Flabby tums and builders bums top ‘Fashion Crimes’ poll

Call the fashion police: tubby tummies, muffin sides and builders’ bums have topped a poll of the UK’s worst ever crimes against fashion. The new research, commissioned by Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, revealed that letting your wobbly bits hang out is considered the worst ever fashion offence, with flabby midriffs on show coming in at number one, as voted by six in ten Brits.

Other notable fashion offences included shell suits tucked into socks, g-strings showing over low rise jeans, head to toe animal print and the mullet hair cut.

The UK’s top ten, in full, included:

1. Showing off a flabby midriff 61%
2. Shell suit tucked into socks with trainers 47%
3. Showing G-string above the jeans 36%
4. Socks with sandals 33%
5. Sporting a builders bum 27%
6. A ‘muffin top’ over low cut jeans 22%
7. Head to toe animal print 22%
8. A mullet hair cut 16%
9. Head to toe Burberry check 15%
10. Wearing black shoes with white socks 14%

Angela Poplett, Lakeside’s Personal Shopper, says, “When it comes to crimes against fashion, we’ve all been guilty of the odd misdemeanour, but there’s no excuse for sloppy dressing, and less is definitely not more when it comes to getting dressed. Even if you’ve got the tightly toned body of an Olympic athlete, there’s still a fine line.

“However, some of these so called offences are more a sign of the times – wearing black shoes with white socks was the height of fashion when Michael Jackson led the trend, although I wouldn’t necessarily want to see it come back!”

The research also delved into the wardrobes of over 1,000 Brits to find out exactly what fashion skeletons are hiding in them.

Shell suits emerged as the most disastrous fashion item for men, according to almost two thirds of those quizzed (61%), closely followed by sequined suits (44%) – favoured by celebs like Elton John and Jonathan Ross – platform shoes (30%) and hammer pants (28%), made infamous by 80s music icon MC Hammer.

For women, puffball skirts topped the poll of all time closet catastrophes, according to half of all respondents (49%), closely followed by shoulder pads (47%) – which have made a recent come-back – and ‘Juicy Couture’ style flannel track suits (44%).

Of course it’s not just Joe Public that’s guilty of crimes against fashion. Even celebrities, despite having world famous fashion designers at their feet, and access to the best stylists, can get it very wrong.

The survey asked respondents to name the worst dressed male and female celebs. Top of the list for worst dressed female was Amy Winehouse, according to four in ten people quizzed, with Jodie Marsh and Peaches Geldoff in second and third place respectively, with 20% and 10% of the votes. Russell Brand took the lead as the most fashionably challenged male celebrity according to almost a third of respondents (29%), followed by Michael Jackson (16%), Simon Cowell (9%) and Mickey Rourke (9%) – who turned up at a recent awards ceremony in what looked like his slippers.

Top 10 male fashion disasters

1. Shell-suits 61%
2. Sequined suits 44%
3. Platform shoes 30%
4. Hammer pants 28%
5. Speedo trunks 23%
6. Jesus sandals 23%
7. Hawaiian shirts 19%
8. Novelty ties 18%
9. Luminous socks 18%
10. Leather trousers 15%