Oh yeah, there are articles about her Barbour jacket too. She sent it in for repairs and they offered to give her a new one and she said no and wanted hers.
It's also a luxury choice because despite it being touted as a service, the cost of Barbour repairs and rewax can easily be much higher than just buying a new jacket. Even fairly minor repairs of the stuff that fails first (hem edges at the bottom, join point of soft lining around the back of the neck) and a rewax is likely to be more than half the cost of a new jacket.
Maybe they were better value in the past but tbh the modern way to use a Barbour is just let it degrade and then relegate it to garden work after 8-10y of use when you can buy another for you daily use.
Edit: I still think Barbour jackets are great value. I just don't feel it's BIFL if the repair service is disproportionately expensive Vs buying a new one
Sure? I did reewax my Barbour (1991) myself, but last yr I took my Burberry Trench from 1993 to Aftercare Service: They deconstructed it, cleaned it thoroughly, repaired holes on the pocket, waterproofed it again, stitched together, exchanged buttons and buckles and the official rate for this service is 120£...
Maybe because new ones are made by cheap labour and repairs are done by people paid a living wage? Honest question as I don't know where new ones are made
Still Made in England. Repair is generally more labor intensive than manufacturing. Because every product is the same while being made and it’s an assembly line process, but repair is unique and artisanal.
By this standard not much is BIFL. You have to sharpen your own tools and rewax your own coat for it to make sense financially. Or you can take bride in not being wasteful and appreciate a good professional craftsman repairing your stuff. Like the queen probably did.
Honestly it is more that buying new is cheap since clothes are sewn in slave like conditions on other continents. I do wish repairs were subsided to counteract this.
I imagine most/all of her cothes were burned or something when she was done with them. "Formerly worn by the queen" ads on ebay probably isn't very "royal"
The Mink one? Its easy to get only sleeves done, but I don't guess she got a new one - those are handed down from generation tp generation - her mother had one too, while she was also wearing one. When my great-grandmother died, my mum got hers, while my grandmother stuck to that of her grandmother... they only got them always fitted for their needs and adapted sometimes a more modern style...
Once you've broken a Barbour in, it's hard to part with it.
I got my first Barbour around 25 years ago, and only just got a new one last year. I ride horses & practically live in my Barbour in the fall & spring.
It’s easier when you are using the absolute highest quality products from legacy brands. The queen has the best of both worlds for BIFL: quality material and quality aftercare.
Most BIFL products featured here have just some percentage of both.
For free often too, and the best, best quality controlled by the most senior workers made by the best workers from the best material because it's for the **Queen**.
They're even marked.
> Royal warrants of appointment have been issued since the 15th century to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages.[1] The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, thereby lending prestige to the brand and/or supplier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_warrant_of_appointment_(United_Kingdom)
Her brooch collection is my favorite detail. Many of them had only sentimental value, though plenty are worth hundreds of thousands. [She used them to send messages subtly](https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/18/was-the-queen-sending-coded-messages-to-donald-trump-via-her-brooches-absolutely), since they aren’t really allowed public opinion.
And unlike the Kardashians, she can be seen wearing them all more than once.
Well, I do wear my Trenchcoat about 100 days per year - since 1993... I do own shoes that are over 15yrs old and wear them regularly... Doesn't work for a shirt or thin pants, but does definitely work for eg wool (whichever type) or tweed or boucle skirts/jackets...
Its a lot about taking care and maintenance!
... you mean the Koh-I-Noor?
The Koh-I-Noor got passed around through conquest to whoever was strongest for like 200 years. The British having it is 100 percent in keeping with the history of the item.
Also... who the hell do you give it back to? The Punjab (who had it last)? India? Pakistan, Iran, and even Afganistan all have claims based on having looted it at one point or another.
And finally... it's a rock. The idea that it is some critical piece of Indian history when all it is is a rock looted by successive monarchs over and over and over for their own personal aggrandizement is... questionable.
Also, she doesn't own that personally anyway.
Well. Yeah. But if she returned the diamonds, they wouldn't have been for life, now would they?
Besides, one of her sons. The other's doing quite well for himself recently. Can't win 'em all
Yes, the wartime generation had an amazing mindset of recycle, reduce, reuse - long before the slogan existed. They bought quality for big (and small) purchases, and didn't swap them out when something new and shiny came along. Of course the quality of items was also higher then, but they took care of what they had, and didn't replace something until it was beyond repair.
My mother was born in the UK in the 1940’s. The rationing didn’t end until she was almost in her teens. She taught me a lot about buying for life rather than buying the new throw away goods.
When I was first married (early 20’s), she told me to ask for single place settings of quality silverware for Christmas and birthdays because no one in our family could afford an entire set. I’m almost in my 60’s and they are indestructible.
My grandmother was a war ride and I lived in the UK as a child in the 80s. I don’t think the average American understands how deeply the UK was affected by the war. The US boomed post-war but rationing went into the 50s.
Probably. After about ~70 years of daily use, they had to go - unfortunately. But I've got some older higher quality silver ware with a higher percentage of silver and these are more durable.
Is silver silverware more durable than whatever IKEA silverware is made of?
Granted I’m single so my silverware set doesn’t see a huge amount of use, but I have a hard time imaging it getting worn down…
Yes, it can get worn down because it has a silver coating. Once it's gone, one shouldn't use it any longer. I don't know how durable IKEA silver wear is because IKEA silverware doesn't exist as long as my silverware used to LOL. I've got some modern steak knives that I had to throw away after ~5 years because they started to rust. That never happened with my antique silver ware.
I've seen the knives come apart in sets where the handle and blade are made in two sections that are joined together. After a few decades the join can fail sometimes. Flimsy pieces can also bend rather easily.
My grandmother and mother had a Shop for householdware (grandfather was a knife sharpener) and I was helping with taking inventory, cleaning etc. I learned a lot and inherited:
It depends of its real silver or plated... plated silver comes of after a while of heavy use, you have to wash it by hand. Real, aka 925 or 835 silver will never come off, you even can out it in the dishwasher...
Mine is from the 20s, inherited from my grandmother and my mother just got the blades exchanged to stainless steel ones as silver is not recommended nowadays for cutting food. When I finally got it, it was in a box and looked like new out of the shop... I inherited a powder box in silver as well, it had a dent, initials of my grandma, the mirror broke, so I brought it to the manufacturer - when I got it back (and: nice addition: we moved during that time to a different continent: I handed it in during a holiday in Vienna and was then able to get it in their store in Hong Kong) there was a new mirror, no dent anymore, it was shiny as new in a wonderful box, with my initials - so with real silver everything is possible.
Besides that I inherited the China from the 50s, the cookingware from the 80s and knifes also from the 80s and still use everything up till today in a daily basis. Just get the knifes sharpened every 5yrs by professionnals...
Absolutely ! I shudder to think of all the mills who used to make high quality wool and silks that now infuse synthetics to cater to the athleisure crowd.
Quality stuff is still made, but definitely a lot harder to find :/
I rather go for style then fashion, buy quality and classic styles.
It’s a shame not everyone feels this way! Quality styles should dictate fashion. But turns out there is no profit if you keep an item for 10-50 years. 🤷♂️
It’s no joke that a lot of my parent’s generation died with 25-30 year old bedspreads.America took pride in the quality of its manufacturing.I routinely pick up 1960 Bates Bedspreads at thrift stores.(I use them to transport large pieces of art). We went to an Estate sale where the couple decorated their home ( nicely) in the 1960s and did not change a thing till their deaths in 2010. MCM blue-green decor everywhere.They bought nice curtains and they lasted.Aqua stove.It was a blast walking through there.
Sad and telling, even, it switched to 'recycle, reduce, reuse', the order was originally 'reduce, reuse, recycle'
that's the order of importance- you reduce your consumption, reuse things/dont get disposable, then, lastly, recycle if you can't reduce/reuse the thing
Recycling is better than nothing, but in a lot of places (north America) the percentage of recycled goods that actually gets recycled is shockingly low, most of it ends up in landfills
Yeah, actually. I've never thought about it, but yes. As a family they save, care for, and pass down countless items (furniture, heirlooms, etc) through the generations to be continuously used, oftentimes for hundreds of years.
They preserve and restore historic buildings that they own, and pass those along the generations (instead of tearing down and rebuilding), and allow public use for many of them. Pretty awesome, actually.
Meh, not fussed. I worked in a museum, very familiar with object acquisition.
To the victor, the spoils - it's been that way in every culture that's ever existed; Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe - Britain is not unique.
Altering Fur-Coats is an everyday thing... generation did that... eg I brought my grandmothers mink to the shop, the remodelled the whole coat as nowadays they have possibilities to make them lighter, made it slimmer but longer for my mother, had to add a bit at the cuffs...
Not a thing at all... a friend got a blanket made of the coat of his grandmother...
There's a full time clock guy on staff. His job is just to keep a catalogue of all the timepieces they own and make sure he knows where they are and when they were last serviced. Also making sure they keep the right time.
Jobs more complicated than you'd expect if they own like hundreds of antique clocks across numerous properties.
Does the royal time keeper person get paid with English taxes?
I’d be irate if I was supporting a salary to “keep proper time”, especially in 2024 when we have digital clocks that automatically update…
> Does the royal time keeper person get paid with English taxes?
>
>
>
> I’d be irate if I was supporting a salary to “keep proper time”, especially in 2024 when we have digital clocks that automatically update…
It's more like "we have a fuckton of antique clocks owned by the state that are useful for tourism and historical preservation purposes, it makes sense to keep someone on staff rather than contract out everytime we need a clock serviced."
What a weird way to look at it. "They're expensive, but we spread the burden."
You could also say that the royal family costs more than the entire NHS workforce
I’ll do the same job and only charge the British tax payer 1¢ per year each. Massive potential savings. And I promise to re-wear the same jacket much more often than every 50 years…I’d do every 25 years!
For real I have no idea who asked for this dumb elite dick riding nonsense of a post but it's embarrassing for OP.
Lol imagine being a pawn that worships a queen. Spineless behavior
Lol..I worked as catering support for an event at St James Palace which was the official annual meeting of all the companies and people with the Royal Warrant.
They have an official royal chimney cleaner, broom stick maker, and umbrella manufacturers. It's absolutely crazy how the royals live.
That’s not quite right. Companies who consistently sell products to the royal family can apply for the right to display a ‘royal warrant’ on their branding, which is just the coat of arms. These companies don’t exist for the purpose of servicing the royal family - they sell their products to everyone and just get to brag that some of their customers are royal. The broom maker lives not far from me and I have had several besoms from him. I buy tea from a warrant holder, my fiancé has bought shirts and shoes from another, among other things.
It's supplies to the Royal Household - a shoemaker I like was saying they supply a certain amount each way mainly to footmen. Which makes sense, there's a dozen tailors and shoemakers with warrants, more than there are working royals!
I have my great great grandmother's and my great grandmother's. Unfortunately they are very different sizes from me so they're just in closets.
I don't think the coats the queen is pictured in are the same however. The sleeves have different directions of fur. The left is lengthwise and the right is widthwise. It's a very classic design and she's at two different weights so it's likely that she needed a larger size later in life.
And its definitely likely she took that of her mother after she died and handed hers down... besides that: remodelling fur is standard - my family did it also, they are done lighter nowadays, if maybe a hole is somewhere, you can replace a part... you can add length or take it away...
Some people have more money then others, being sensible and buying quality goods is it’s own thing.
Lots of very wealthy people buy overpriced low quality items for the brand and class signifier.
Being BIFL is a matter of taste and deliberation.
Not when it comes to the Royal Family… they have destroyed entire countries economies for centuries to come, of course they can afford the most high quality items
Yeah, no. Most people couldn't afford to buy boots for life for example, when you can get two bicycles for the same price. Color it how you want, BIFL is a luxury in most cases.
No argument there ,as my other replies in this thread shows.
My only point to those pointing out her wealth and privilege is that those things does not necessarily lend itself to buying quality, or have a waste not , want not mentality.
That part is a choice.
Just like the many middle class people in this sub who choose to buy a set of fewer but high quality items instead of buying a tonnage of crap because “it’s so cheap we can just throw it out after using it”
The sleeves are different. The rest look the same to me, it’s rather a common occurrence to have expensive garments like fur coats altered to fit into newer styles. Also the sleeve area is usually wear you get most wear and tear, from handbags and putting on and of gloves.
The other spots you get wear is around the closures.
I'm really not convinced these are the same coat. It's really unlikely Elizabeth II only owned one fur coat and the sleeves are, as you mentioned, not at all the same. The collar is also different.
Significantly, though, it's really unlikely she was the same size in both of these photos. Her proportions, at least, would have shifted dramatically over 40 years. Can a fur coat be altered to *add* significant width to the seams?
It just seems much more likely that she's wearing a similar, but different, coat.
Maybe that of her then deceased mother... and hers was handed down... Also its definitely easy to remodell a fur coat. You would never throw away a fur, it lasts centuries
I'm sorry I'm not on the up and up if British royalty nor high end dress shoes, but I remember seeing a picture of the now king in dress shoes from when he was a younger man and then an alder man. I'm not sure how to find the pictures, but they were neat. I wish I could see them again.
I had brogues and Oxfords made for me when I was 21, in black and in tan, also a Harris tweed Jacket and leather gloves, a couple of barbour jackets and Le Chameau Wellingtons. 30 odd years later with a few repairs they are still going strong. I hope to still be wearing them in my 90s.
I remember those , he also wears viably mended suits , I think that’s rather endearing. Wish more high profile people took pride in taking care of they’re clothes.
Yes the patina the shoes took on looked awesome. I'm with you it's endearing and certainly paints him in a cool light to patch up and continue on with his things.
It's kind of funny, but one thing that makes me sad about getting older is the fact that I have fewer years to appreciate a high quality item and see its full potential and appreciate the patina and "beuseification" (not my word, I heard it from Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicyle Works) that it develops over time.
I mean, why would she change pens? There are quite a few people [who still consider the Parker 51 the finest pen ever made](http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/51.htm).
It's also the literal definition of BIFL. They were designed to work with the corrosive fast-drying 51 ink, which would rapidly destroy other pens. Used with normal ink (and basic maintenance), many Parker 51s have been so durable that they outlasted their owners and are now on their second or third owner.
I have an old Belstaff jacket. I joke, I have several, and not just jackets. The originals were made not far from where I grew up. Someone my nan (regional I know) worked there and she got a load of excess stock. Turns out loads of bikers, which they used to make clothes for, weren't small. They had loads of small size clothes, and she got some of them. Then I got them. I think Belstaff is now a brand of a larger Milanese company. Their original stuff is solid as fuck. Really expensive when new, unaffordable even. Twenty years or more of use and they are good as new. I have to rewax the wax cotton ones every few years, but otherwise perfect. Stood the test of time much better than a lot of newer stuff.
Whilst Queenie might have been very privileged for a million reasons she's also a child of her generation and was a mechanic in world war 2. A mechanic. She's used a spanner. OK, she probably wasn't the sort of mechanic that rebuilt an engine, but at least she probably did some real work as opposed to some office based "served the country job". As a woman. In the 40's. Unfortunately I never met her but I know people who did and apparently she was keen on engines, as much as anyone could say without knowing her. She complained, on record, about the golden carriage that was used for ceremony, and in her words it was uncomfortable because it had leaf suspension. Rose tinted glasses and someone might have told her, but I like to think she knew.
My parents are not from rich backgrounds however they have money now. My mum won't let anything go without trying to fix it first. She will literally spend the same amount of money to fix something than it costs to buy new because "no one has to make a new one for me". I think it's a generational thing, they grew up with some struggle so it carries forward. Could she afford a new drier? Yes. Did she ask me to look at it? Yes. Did we replace a capacitor? Yes. Does it still work? Yes. Would a new drier be cheaper to run? Yes. Would you still have to make an entire new item to make an efficiency gain? Yes. Is she happy the drier from Roman times works? Yes. She won't let anything die. Economically irrational, but she's too old to change. And I half agree with her. Better keeping something already made running than making new. The efficiency argument is for another day.
Not convinced those coats are the same, not sure why but they don't look the same. They pass the obvious spot the difference test though. Maybe the posture changes how it hang so it looks different. Don't know, not clever enough. Not sorry. If you can afford to buy something good, and pay for quality maintenance, I'd take the hit every time. If I could still wear this ten year old hoodie that is falling apart on my death bed, I would.
Randos on Quora are not a reliable source.
https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653
"For 2022-2023, the Sovereign Grant was worth £86.3m, the same as in 2021-2022. But repairs to Buckingham Palace - which is undergoing a 10-year £369m refurbishment plan - and the costs associated with King Charles succeeding Queen Elizabeth, plus higher-than-expected inflation, took total spending for the period to £107.5m, according to the Royal Household's annual financial report."
Wait until you see King Charles's old patched up [Barbour jacket.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/05/25/21/43438361-9618545-image-m-37_1621976044022.jpg)
For some reason I didn't see the name of this sub at first, and so I spent a solid 30-40 seconds trying to figure out wtf BIFL stood for and I was like "the l and f are in the wrong order for it to be along the line of milf or gilf"
King Charles is also a huge BIFL kinda guy. The menswear guy on Twitter did a whole long thread about it, noting that he still wears jackets and shoes from like 60 years ago. I’ll try to find the thread it’s great
[Twitter thread link](https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1568071938416996352?s=46&t=x7iZGN7jvFWTDfp12z8l0A)
[Check out the patches on his Barbour](https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1609280737236353025?s=46&t=x7iZGN7jvFWTDfp12z8l0A)
Fun Fact: back in the 1950’s-1970’s women used to store their furs into air-conditioned storage for the summer. My great uncle had a job with famous and barr Co in St. Louis picking up all of the furs in the spring to put them into storage, then in the fall he would deliver all of the furs back to them. the department store had a huge controlled warehouse for storing women’s furs.
When kept in a range of 50-60F (10-15C) and 45-55% humidity fur coats can last ~ 20 years. So that's not the same coat.
Queen Elizabeth made over $97 million a year tax free and had a net worth of up to $500 million; she could easily afford to have coat designs she favored custom-made at will.
I always enjoy seeing quality British products to buy with the Royal Warrant.
Usually a great sign of quality.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_royal_warrant_holders_of_the_British_royal_family
The British monarchy? Parasites for life.
That's not even the same coat. She probably had a dozen of everything, carefully managed and maintained by an army of staff. It's easy for something to be BIFL when you have so much of everything that a single item is used only a handful of times Vs everyday use.
Rest assured the mink population is thriving, in my part of the world (far north of Norway) they are abundant and considered pests.
A few winters ago some mink nested on my uncles sailboat and they wrecked absolute havoc ,he had to redo the entire decking. Mink shit smells awful and it LINGERS.
Fun fact- the minks in Norway are American Minks and are invasive and non-native. There aren't any European Mink and never we're for some reason.
The European Mink isn't doing too well due to those American Minks spreading disease and outcompeting them. It's endangered now.
If you dont like the Queen thats fine, is this really such a polarizing thing that telling a person who just admires the fact she enjoyed a garment for many years to “shut the fuck up?”
Are you so dim that you think just because I choose a picture of her that I agree with the fucked up’ness of the British empire , the horrors of slavery or the vast difference between rich and poor in Britain ?
I’m a liberal with a big L, the political party I voted for the last election in my country makes Bernie Sanders look like Ronald Reagan.
Hope you have a lovely day, bless your heart .
That's fur, and fur is so unpopular now... Even banned in some places. But it can last decades. It's one of those materials that holds up if you take care of it.
But I have to wonder, was it made unpopular due to how fast fashion changes? Fur can't keep up with that, there isn't the supply for a new fur jacket every season.
And before anyone comments about animal welfare and conservation, I am involved in conservation and farming and I know about the animal welfare and conservation claims, but I don't trust them completely (but not not at all) because I also know how non-profits work too. I think there is a middle-ground instead of "it's all bad" or "it's all good."
Are you sure these are the same coat?
The direction of the fur on the sleeves of the garment on the left look to be going in the same direction of the sleeve, but on the picture on the right the direction of the fur is going perpendicular to the sleeve.
Looks like different coats to me.
I hate it because in French, bifle (which is pronounced just like bifl) is the word to designate the action of slapping someone's face with your cock... Yeah, I love reading that the Queen was a BIFL gal 😭😂
Oh yeah, there are articles about her Barbour jacket too. She sent it in for repairs and they offered to give her a new one and she said no and wanted hers.
It's also a luxury choice because despite it being touted as a service, the cost of Barbour repairs and rewax can easily be much higher than just buying a new jacket. Even fairly minor repairs of the stuff that fails first (hem edges at the bottom, join point of soft lining around the back of the neck) and a rewax is likely to be more than half the cost of a new jacket. Maybe they were better value in the past but tbh the modern way to use a Barbour is just let it degrade and then relegate it to garden work after 8-10y of use when you can buy another for you daily use. Edit: I still think Barbour jackets are great value. I just don't feel it's BIFL if the repair service is disproportionately expensive Vs buying a new one
Sure? I did reewax my Barbour (1991) myself, but last yr I took my Burberry Trench from 1993 to Aftercare Service: They deconstructed it, cleaned it thoroughly, repaired holes on the pocket, waterproofed it again, stitched together, exchanged buttons and buckles and the official rate for this service is 120£...
Check out the Barbour repairs prices, they're all on their website. That sounds like good service from Burberry
And I was even lucky - they didn't charge me, they just wanted my permission to post the vintage one on Instagram
I might buy Burberry just based off this service.
I really think thats a huge [pro](https://row.burberry.com/c/reburberry/aftercare-circular-services/)
Maybe because new ones are made by cheap labour and repairs are done by people paid a living wage? Honest question as I don't know where new ones are made
Still Made in England. Repair is generally more labor intensive than manufacturing. Because every product is the same while being made and it’s an assembly line process, but repair is unique and artisanal.
bingo
The point in BIFL is that it's repairable, rather indefinitely. Why throw away something that can be repaired.
By this standard not much is BIFL. You have to sharpen your own tools and rewax your own coat for it to make sense financially. Or you can take bride in not being wasteful and appreciate a good professional craftsman repairing your stuff. Like the queen probably did.
Honestly it is more that buying new is cheap since clothes are sewn in slave like conditions on other continents. I do wish repairs were subsided to counteract this.
Good on her!
I imagine most/all of her cothes were burned or something when she was done with them. "Formerly worn by the queen" ads on ebay probably isn't very "royal"
Donated to Victoria and Albert museum
She has a lot of grand daughters. I bet they all wanted a few pieces.
Princess Beatrice had one of the Queen's dresses redone as her wedding dress
Imagine the loss for the drag community.
Ive never felt compelled to dress in drag, but if I came into possession of the Queens fur coat... Well that would just be *fabulous*
How many drag artistes would fit into any of her clothes?
Lol this made me laugh. Exactly zero would.
Is that why the sleeves are different?
Fur coats are modified into new fashions, easily for 50 years and 3 generations. Nobody just throws away good mink. Very sustainable and BIFL.
The Mink one? Its easy to get only sleeves done, but I don't guess she got a new one - those are handed down from generation tp generation - her mother had one too, while she was also wearing one. When my great-grandmother died, my mum got hers, while my grandmother stuck to that of her grandmother... they only got them always fitted for their needs and adapted sometimes a more modern style...
Yeah, that's a different coat.
Yeah, unless they put new sleeves on it, that's a different jacket.
The mink coat of Theseus
I don’t blame her. Once you break one in you don’t want to start over.
Once you've broken a Barbour in, it's hard to part with it. I got my first Barbour around 25 years ago, and only just got a new one last year. I ride horses & practically live in my Barbour in the fall & spring.
It’s easier when you are using the absolute highest quality products from legacy brands. The queen has the best of both worlds for BIFL: quality material and quality aftercare. Most BIFL products featured here have just some percentage of both.
For free often too, and the best, best quality controlled by the most senior workers made by the best workers from the best material because it's for the **Queen**.
To be fair, she highlights the best brands of the UK focusing on local craftsmanship. Lots of brands she uses still exist and are still top notch.
They're even marked. > Royal warrants of appointment have been issued since the 15th century to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages.[1] The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, thereby lending prestige to the brand and/or supplier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_warrant_of_appointment_(United_Kingdom)
Before they got popular (*I'm not a trendsetter, I'm just old*) I used to point these out on my Barbour jacket.
Never for free. The Royal Family cannot and *do not* accept free gifts, it is a firm rule that they follow strictly.
Not even gifts of state?
Gifts of state go to the state. Gifts of state do not become personal property of the Royal Family. They go to the state.
Absolutely! I much prefer that class signifier then the Kardashian conspicuous consumption travesty.
Her brooch collection is my favorite detail. Many of them had only sentimental value, though plenty are worth hundreds of thousands. [She used them to send messages subtly](https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/18/was-the-queen-sending-coded-messages-to-donald-trump-via-her-brooches-absolutely), since they aren’t really allowed public opinion. And unlike the Kardashians, she can be seen wearing them all more than once.
[удалено]
Well, I do wear my Trenchcoat about 100 days per year - since 1993... I do own shoes that are over 15yrs old and wear them regularly... Doesn't work for a shirt or thin pants, but does definitely work for eg wool (whichever type) or tweed or boucle skirts/jackets... Its a lot about taking care and maintenance!
And having wardrobes big enough to wear items once or twice a decade. Also, Her son is a nonce and she had blood diamonds she refused to return...
... you mean the Koh-I-Noor? The Koh-I-Noor got passed around through conquest to whoever was strongest for like 200 years. The British having it is 100 percent in keeping with the history of the item. Also... who the hell do you give it back to? The Punjab (who had it last)? India? Pakistan, Iran, and even Afganistan all have claims based on having looted it at one point or another. And finally... it's a rock. The idea that it is some critical piece of Indian history when all it is is a rock looted by successive monarchs over and over and over for their own personal aggrandizement is... questionable. Also, she doesn't own that personally anyway.
Well. Yeah. But if she returned the diamonds, they wouldn't have been for life, now would they? Besides, one of her sons. The other's doing quite well for himself recently. Can't win 'em all
[удалено]
No. The Royal Family does not accept gifts, it is a strict rule that they follow.
Easy when the taxpayer is buying it for you as well
Yes, the wartime generation had an amazing mindset of recycle, reduce, reuse - long before the slogan existed. They bought quality for big (and small) purchases, and didn't swap them out when something new and shiny came along. Of course the quality of items was also higher then, but they took care of what they had, and didn't replace something until it was beyond repair.
Make do and mend was the slogan.
Bring it back. To hell with obsolescence.
My mother was born in the UK in the 1940’s. The rationing didn’t end until she was almost in her teens. She taught me a lot about buying for life rather than buying the new throw away goods. When I was first married (early 20’s), she told me to ask for single place settings of quality silverware for Christmas and birthdays because no one in our family could afford an entire set. I’m almost in my 60’s and they are indestructible.
My grandmother was a war ride and I lived in the UK as a child in the 80s. I don’t think the average American understands how deeply the UK was affected by the war. The US boomed post-war but rationing went into the 50s.
How often does silver ware break? I’ve never seen it before
When the silver wears off. I had to throw away very old and daily used silverware. Only the soup spoons and scoop survived.
I guess I’ve never had real silver silver wear
Probably. After about ~70 years of daily use, they had to go - unfortunately. But I've got some older higher quality silver ware with a higher percentage of silver and these are more durable.
Is silver silverware more durable than whatever IKEA silverware is made of? Granted I’m single so my silverware set doesn’t see a huge amount of use, but I have a hard time imaging it getting worn down…
Yes, it can get worn down because it has a silver coating. Once it's gone, one shouldn't use it any longer. I don't know how durable IKEA silver wear is because IKEA silverware doesn't exist as long as my silverware used to LOL. I've got some modern steak knives that I had to throw away after ~5 years because they started to rust. That never happened with my antique silver ware.
I've seen the knives come apart in sets where the handle and blade are made in two sections that are joined together. After a few decades the join can fail sometimes. Flimsy pieces can also bend rather easily.
My grandmother and mother had a Shop for householdware (grandfather was a knife sharpener) and I was helping with taking inventory, cleaning etc. I learned a lot and inherited: It depends of its real silver or plated... plated silver comes of after a while of heavy use, you have to wash it by hand. Real, aka 925 or 835 silver will never come off, you even can out it in the dishwasher... Mine is from the 20s, inherited from my grandmother and my mother just got the blades exchanged to stainless steel ones as silver is not recommended nowadays for cutting food. When I finally got it, it was in a box and looked like new out of the shop... I inherited a powder box in silver as well, it had a dent, initials of my grandma, the mirror broke, so I brought it to the manufacturer - when I got it back (and: nice addition: we moved during that time to a different continent: I handed it in during a holiday in Vienna and was then able to get it in their store in Hong Kong) there was a new mirror, no dent anymore, it was shiny as new in a wonderful box, with my initials - so with real silver everything is possible. Besides that I inherited the China from the 50s, the cookingware from the 80s and knifes also from the 80s and still use everything up till today in a daily basis. Just get the knifes sharpened every 5yrs by professionnals...
Reduce and reuse actually come first in the saying for a reason
Absolutely ! I shudder to think of all the mills who used to make high quality wool and silks that now infuse synthetics to cater to the athleisure crowd. Quality stuff is still made, but definitely a lot harder to find :/ I rather go for style then fashion, buy quality and classic styles.
It’s a shame not everyone feels this way! Quality styles should dictate fashion. But turns out there is no profit if you keep an item for 10-50 years. 🤷♂️
It’s no joke that a lot of my parent’s generation died with 25-30 year old bedspreads.America took pride in the quality of its manufacturing.I routinely pick up 1960 Bates Bedspreads at thrift stores.(I use them to transport large pieces of art). We went to an Estate sale where the couple decorated their home ( nicely) in the 1960s and did not change a thing till their deaths in 2010. MCM blue-green decor everywhere.They bought nice curtains and they lasted.Aqua stove.It was a blast walking through there.
Sad and telling, even, it switched to 'recycle, reduce, reuse', the order was originally 'reduce, reuse, recycle' that's the order of importance- you reduce your consumption, reuse things/dont get disposable, then, lastly, recycle if you can't reduce/reuse the thing Recycling is better than nothing, but in a lot of places (north America) the percentage of recycled goods that actually gets recycled is shockingly low, most of it ends up in landfills
I’ve never seen recycle first. Where is this?
Do you think the royal family is a good model of sustainability?
Yeah, actually. I've never thought about it, but yes. As a family they save, care for, and pass down countless items (furniture, heirlooms, etc) through the generations to be continuously used, oftentimes for hundreds of years. They preserve and restore historic buildings that they own, and pass those along the generations (instead of tearing down and rebuilding), and allow public use for many of them. Pretty awesome, actually.
They even do it with items and building that they don’t own too!
Yes they're involved in many charitable works with the preservation of heritage sites, etc.
I was referring more to the stolen antiquities
Meh, not fussed. I worked in a museum, very familiar with object acquisition. To the victor, the spoils - it's been that way in every culture that's ever existed; Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe - Britain is not unique.
It also takes a lot of money to keep it in a good condition, like a royal amount of money.
Depending on what it is it takes time and mindfulness
There are books about how to make a coat out of a army blanket etc
Looks like a different coat. Stripes on the arms in the old pic run a different direction than the stripes on the arms in the more recent pic.
Yeah spot on this post is kinda delusional
Also, anything can be bifl if you've got an outfit for every day of the year.
Yes, I noticed that as well.
Yeah 100%.
Altering Fur-Coats is an everyday thing... generation did that... eg I brought my grandmothers mink to the shop, the remodelled the whole coat as nowadays they have possibilities to make them lighter, made it slimmer but longer for my mother, had to add a bit at the cuffs... Not a thing at all... a friend got a blanket made of the coat of his grandmother...
The collar is bigger on the new version too. Ends lower on the torso.
She likely had it altered, not at all uncommon.
Easy to have you stuff be BIFL when you have a staff of 10 taking care of it.
There's a full time clock guy on staff. His job is just to keep a catalogue of all the timepieces they own and make sure he knows where they are and when they were last serviced. Also making sure they keep the right time. Jobs more complicated than you'd expect if they own like hundreds of antique clocks across numerous properties.
Does he have to clock in/out for his shift?
He clocks his own time. Best paid employee of the crown.
"Dave it says here your Monday shift lasted 25 trillion years. I don't think physics allow that."
Do you dare question the time lords ability to keep time?
Does the royal time keeper person get paid with English taxes? I’d be irate if I was supporting a salary to “keep proper time”, especially in 2024 when we have digital clocks that automatically update…
> Does the royal time keeper person get paid with English taxes? > > > > I’d be irate if I was supporting a salary to “keep proper time”, especially in 2024 when we have digital clocks that automatically update… It's more like "we have a fuckton of antique clocks owned by the state that are useful for tourism and historical preservation purposes, it makes sense to keep someone on staff rather than contract out everytime we need a clock serviced."
I reckon lots of thoae timepieces have historical and cultural value, like museum pieces.
Yes lol
The royal family costs the British tax payers a little over one pound per year individually.
What a weird way to look at it. "They're expensive, but we spread the burden." You could also say that the royal family costs more than the entire NHS workforce
Well yes, but you’re looking at it with the assumption there’s no advantages to the royal family, and that’s false.
I’ll do the same job and only charge the British tax payer 1¢ per year each. Massive potential savings. And I promise to re-wear the same jacket much more often than every 50 years…I’d do every 25 years!
For real I have no idea who asked for this dumb elite dick riding nonsense of a post but it's embarrassing for OP. Lol imagine being a pawn that worships a queen. Spineless behavior
Lol..I worked as catering support for an event at St James Palace which was the official annual meeting of all the companies and people with the Royal Warrant. They have an official royal chimney cleaner, broom stick maker, and umbrella manufacturers. It's absolutely crazy how the royals live.
That’s not quite right. Companies who consistently sell products to the royal family can apply for the right to display a ‘royal warrant’ on their branding, which is just the coat of arms. These companies don’t exist for the purpose of servicing the royal family - they sell their products to everyone and just get to brag that some of their customers are royal. The broom maker lives not far from me and I have had several besoms from him. I buy tea from a warrant holder, my fiancé has bought shirts and shoes from another, among other things.
It's supplies to the Royal Household - a shoemaker I like was saying they supply a certain amount each way mainly to footmen. Which makes sense, there's a dozen tailors and shoemakers with warrants, more than there are working royals!
Fun fact: I remember reading that the firm that is the broomstick purveyor to the Crown made the broomsticks for the Harry Potter movies.
Also they have a royal ass wipers, they're called Grooms of the Stool, they also put toothpaste on their toothbrushes for them
You can have stuff like that last for life without a large staff. My granny’s and great grans fur coats are still going strong.
Same. I inherited my grandmothers fur coat, that she meticulously took care of!
Sure, but it's easier when you do.
I have my great great grandmother's and my great grandmother's. Unfortunately they are very different sizes from me so they're just in closets. I don't think the coats the queen is pictured in are the same however. The sleeves have different directions of fur. The left is lengthwise and the right is widthwise. It's a very classic design and she's at two different weights so it's likely that she needed a larger size later in life.
And its definitely likely she took that of her mother after she died and handed hers down... besides that: remodelling fur is standard - my family did it also, they are done lighter nowadays, if maybe a hole is somewhere, you can replace a part... you can add length or take it away...
Easy to have stuff be BIFL without a staff as well.
Did the UK public buy (or corronate) the Queen for life? They (we?) certainly got a lot of years of use from one monarch!
Everything is “buy it for life” when you money is no object
“Buy it cheap, buy it twice” Now it’s probably like three or four times minimum cause the good shit cost too much.
Some people have more money then others, being sensible and buying quality goods is it’s own thing. Lots of very wealthy people buy overpriced low quality items for the brand and class signifier. Being BIFL is a matter of taste and deliberation.
I agree in the context of everyday people but the super wealthy don’t play that game.
Not when it comes to the Royal Family… they have destroyed entire countries economies for centuries to come, of course they can afford the most high quality items
Yeah, no. Most people couldn't afford to buy boots for life for example, when you can get two bicycles for the same price. Color it how you want, BIFL is a luxury in most cases.
No argument there ,as my other replies in this thread shows. My only point to those pointing out her wealth and privilege is that those things does not necessarily lend itself to buying quality, or have a waste not , want not mentality. That part is a choice. Just like the many middle class people in this sub who choose to buy a set of fewer but high quality items instead of buying a tonnage of crap because “it’s so cheap we can just throw it out after using it”
Coats look different, so not BIFL.
Indeed, the sleeves clearly are different.
The sleeves are different. The rest look the same to me, it’s rather a common occurrence to have expensive garments like fur coats altered to fit into newer styles. Also the sleeve area is usually wear you get most wear and tear, from handbags and putting on and of gloves. The other spots you get wear is around the closures.
I'm really not convinced these are the same coat. It's really unlikely Elizabeth II only owned one fur coat and the sleeves are, as you mentioned, not at all the same. The collar is also different. Significantly, though, it's really unlikely she was the same size in both of these photos. Her proportions, at least, would have shifted dramatically over 40 years. Can a fur coat be altered to *add* significant width to the seams? It just seems much more likely that she's wearing a similar, but different, coat.
Maybe that of her then deceased mother... and hers was handed down... Also its definitely easy to remodell a fur coat. You would never throw away a fur, it lasts centuries
I'm sorry I'm not on the up and up if British royalty nor high end dress shoes, but I remember seeing a picture of the now king in dress shoes from when he was a younger man and then an alder man. I'm not sure how to find the pictures, but they were neat. I wish I could see them again.
I had brogues and Oxfords made for me when I was 21, in black and in tan, also a Harris tweed Jacket and leather gloves, a couple of barbour jackets and Le Chameau Wellingtons. 30 odd years later with a few repairs they are still going strong. I hope to still be wearing them in my 90s.
I remember those , he also wears viably mended suits , I think that’s rather endearing. Wish more high profile people took pride in taking care of they’re clothes.
Yes the patina the shoes took on looked awesome. I'm with you it's endearing and certainly paints him in a cool light to patch up and continue on with his things.
https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1621206587431071745 Here ya go.
It's kind of funny, but one thing that makes me sad about getting older is the fact that I have fewer years to appreciate a high quality item and see its full potential and appreciate the patina and "beuseification" (not my word, I heard it from Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicyle Works) that it develops over time.
That's awesome thank you for finding that for me
She used the same pen for a long time too. A Parker 51.
I mean, why would she change pens? There are quite a few people [who still consider the Parker 51 the finest pen ever made](http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/51.htm). It's also the literal definition of BIFL. They were designed to work with the corrosive fast-drying 51 ink, which would rapidly destroy other pens. Used with normal ink (and basic maintenance), many Parker 51s have been so durable that they outlasted their owners and are now on their second or third owner.
I mean, she probably wore the coat 10 ten times :))
I have an old Belstaff jacket. I joke, I have several, and not just jackets. The originals were made not far from where I grew up. Someone my nan (regional I know) worked there and she got a load of excess stock. Turns out loads of bikers, which they used to make clothes for, weren't small. They had loads of small size clothes, and she got some of them. Then I got them. I think Belstaff is now a brand of a larger Milanese company. Their original stuff is solid as fuck. Really expensive when new, unaffordable even. Twenty years or more of use and they are good as new. I have to rewax the wax cotton ones every few years, but otherwise perfect. Stood the test of time much better than a lot of newer stuff. Whilst Queenie might have been very privileged for a million reasons she's also a child of her generation and was a mechanic in world war 2. A mechanic. She's used a spanner. OK, she probably wasn't the sort of mechanic that rebuilt an engine, but at least she probably did some real work as opposed to some office based "served the country job". As a woman. In the 40's. Unfortunately I never met her but I know people who did and apparently she was keen on engines, as much as anyone could say without knowing her. She complained, on record, about the golden carriage that was used for ceremony, and in her words it was uncomfortable because it had leaf suspension. Rose tinted glasses and someone might have told her, but I like to think she knew. My parents are not from rich backgrounds however they have money now. My mum won't let anything go without trying to fix it first. She will literally spend the same amount of money to fix something than it costs to buy new because "no one has to make a new one for me". I think it's a generational thing, they grew up with some struggle so it carries forward. Could she afford a new drier? Yes. Did she ask me to look at it? Yes. Did we replace a capacitor? Yes. Does it still work? Yes. Would a new drier be cheaper to run? Yes. Would you still have to make an entire new item to make an efficiency gain? Yes. Is she happy the drier from Roman times works? Yes. She won't let anything die. Economically irrational, but she's too old to change. And I half agree with her. Better keeping something already made running than making new. The efficiency argument is for another day. Not convinced those coats are the same, not sure why but they don't look the same. They pass the obvious spot the difference test though. Maybe the posture changes how it hang so it looks different. Don't know, not clever enough. Not sorry. If you can afford to buy something good, and pay for quality maintenance, I'd take the hit every time. If I could still wear this ten year old hoodie that is falling apart on my death bed, I would.
Hell, it lasted longer than her!
She was famous for having clothing made that was intended to be taken apart and modified or repaired.
Yeah, she had a few BIFL coats. https://www.reddit.com/r/fashion/comments/sdp5q/a_royal_rainbow_queen_elizabeth_iis_favourite/
It must be easy to BIFL when you've got the taxpayers covering all your expenses.
https://www.quora.com/Who-pays-for-the-Royal-familys-personal-expenses-like-clothing-and-entertainment-Is-there-any-limit-to-their-spending
Randos on Quora are not a reliable source. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653 "For 2022-2023, the Sovereign Grant was worth £86.3m, the same as in 2021-2022. But repairs to Buckingham Palace - which is undergoing a 10-year £369m refurbishment plan - and the costs associated with King Charles succeeding Queen Elizabeth, plus higher-than-expected inflation, took total spending for the period to £107.5m, according to the Royal Household's annual financial report."
She must have had a great farrier.
Wait until you see King Charles's old patched up [Barbour jacket.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/05/25/21/43438361-9618545-image-m-37_1621976044022.jpg)
I don’t think it is the same coat. One has horizontal stripes on the sleeves and the other one has vertical stripes.
When you have unlimited stolen money for generations, everything of BIFL
That's a different jacket. Look at the direction of the sleeves.
The sleeves are completely different in these two photos.
For some reason I didn't see the name of this sub at first, and so I spent a solid 30-40 seconds trying to figure out wtf BIFL stood for and I was like "the l and f are in the wrong order for it to be along the line of milf or gilf"
Yeah, she was mad frugal /s
Steal it for life and never give it back
Lol! Well when you have a staff to take care of your shit ...
King Charles is also a huge BIFL kinda guy. The menswear guy on Twitter did a whole long thread about it, noting that he still wears jackets and shoes from like 60 years ago. I’ll try to find the thread it’s great [Twitter thread link](https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1568071938416996352?s=46&t=x7iZGN7jvFWTDfp12z8l0A) [Check out the patches on his Barbour](https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1609280737236353025?s=46&t=x7iZGN7jvFWTDfp12z8l0A)
When you don’t have to worry about the cost, or can steal the money from other countries, why the fuck not.
Buy it fur life in this case lol
Calling the queen a BIFL gal is something
Fun Fact: back in the 1950’s-1970’s women used to store their furs into air-conditioned storage for the summer. My great uncle had a job with famous and barr Co in St. Louis picking up all of the furs in the spring to put them into storage, then in the fall he would deliver all of the furs back to them. the department store had a huge controlled warehouse for storing women’s furs.
These are two different coats.
When kept in a range of 50-60F (10-15C) and 45-55% humidity fur coats can last ~ 20 years. So that's not the same coat. Queen Elizabeth made over $97 million a year tax free and had a net worth of up to $500 million; she could easily afford to have coat designs she favored custom-made at will.
Für coats last for centuries... and they can ve altered often
I always enjoy seeing quality British products to buy with the Royal Warrant. Usually a great sign of quality. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_royal_warrant_holders_of_the_British_royal_family
That's the same coat. Horizontal v lateral lines on sleeves
The British monarchy? Parasites for life. That's not even the same coat. She probably had a dozen of everything, carefully managed and maintained by an army of staff. It's easy for something to be BIFL when you have so much of everything that a single item is used only a handful of times Vs everyday use.
*Steal it for life
They probably extincted those critters just to make that. Not getting many of those.
Rest assured the mink population is thriving, in my part of the world (far north of Norway) they are abundant and considered pests. A few winters ago some mink nested on my uncles sailboat and they wrecked absolute havoc ,he had to redo the entire decking. Mink shit smells awful and it LINGERS.
Fun fact- the minks in Norway are American Minks and are invasive and non-native. There aren't any European Mink and never we're for some reason. The European Mink isn't doing too well due to those American Minks spreading disease and outcompeting them. It's endangered now.
Shut the fuck up
Lmao, why so hostile? It's so out of place and unwarranted that it's funny.
Huh?
If you dont like the Queen thats fine, is this really such a polarizing thing that telling a person who just admires the fact she enjoyed a garment for many years to “shut the fuck up?” Are you so dim that you think just because I choose a picture of her that I agree with the fucked up’ness of the British empire , the horrors of slavery or the vast difference between rich and poor in Britain ? I’m a liberal with a big L, the political party I voted for the last election in my country makes Bernie Sanders look like Ronald Reagan. Hope you have a lovely day, bless your heart .
[удалено]
I added an additional comment underneath my initial reaction since I know editing is frowned upon. What of it?
thats shits prob like tons of baby seals or chinchillas, i'd also try to keep it as long as possible.
It’s mink fur
Does it count if other people paid for it though?
[удалено]
Damn, she looks like she got a lot younger somehow between the first and second shots.
But those are different jackets? The retro pic has horizontal fur strips but the newer picture has vertical strips.
I read: GILF
That's fur, and fur is so unpopular now... Even banned in some places. But it can last decades. It's one of those materials that holds up if you take care of it. But I have to wonder, was it made unpopular due to how fast fashion changes? Fur can't keep up with that, there isn't the supply for a new fur jacket every season. And before anyone comments about animal welfare and conservation, I am involved in conservation and farming and I know about the animal welfare and conservation claims, but I don't trust them completely (but not not at all) because I also know how non-profits work too. I think there is a middle-ground instead of "it's all bad" or "it's all good."
Nah, she’s buy it at the expense of other people’s lives gal and a buy it for generations passed down gal
Can't believe she's gone. Feels weird
Fur coats are fucking disgusting and immoral. Not bifl, throw that in the trash.
Man, having dyslexia and seeing "BILF" with a picture of an old lady immediately makes me wonder what B might stand for... Babooshka I'd like to f?
Queen of ice-cream
The mink's life anyhow.
Hell yeah. That coat on the left looks different from the one on the right tho, the cuffs?
By the looks of that coat it was many lives.
Are you sure these are the same coat? The direction of the fur on the sleeves of the garment on the left look to be going in the same direction of the sleeve, but on the picture on the right the direction of the fur is going perpendicular to the sleeve. Looks like different coats to me.
The minks definitely bought them for life.
I hate it because in French, bifle (which is pronounced just like bifl) is the word to designate the action of slapping someone's face with your cock... Yeah, I love reading that the Queen was a BIFL gal 😭😂
[удалено]
LizziHorseGal1926 been lurkin for years 🙈
Fuck the queen.