Le ridicule ne tue pas....les Parisiennes de Mumsnet

[AuldAlliance]

New thread for those hoping to add a bit of Parisian je ne sais quoi and je m'en fous to their style.

Does Sainsbury's serve lunch? I really can't remember being in one, I mean I'm sure I've been to one at some point but I just don't remember anything about it. Obviously we'll all wear berets and pretend we're at a Carrefour MNHQ needs to make me a beret wearing emoji,

Strategic boob tape, Thebirthday? Think you'll need lots of help and surgical tape. I think I'd self combust with all the effort. There are some strapless bras out there where the back criss-crosses around the waist so it can sit lower, but they often pop out at the sides still.

As an aside, for whatever reason I really like the term soutien-gorge. Probably because I have quite the literal gorge in between them and I suppose 'throat support' is always appreciated

Oops forgot to attach boob tape pics.

As somebody who barely has time to blow dry her hair on the rare occasion I go anywhere exciting, I think I will have to give that top a miss sadly. Ah well my credit card will thank me for it.

birthdayparty, I think that dress is not really meant to be worn. Not by anyone with a chest at all, and probably not by anyone requiring to move...

My mother (a very good seamstress) made a halterneck long evening dress with a similar cut when I was at Uni (it had a long piece of chiffon that threaded through the neck and reached the ground on either side).

I was however only 21, slim and with pert boobs!

And auldalliance - I was at St Andrews, so even did ceilidh dancing in it!

.....if only I'd fully appreciated the figure I had back then

Part of my problem is I sometimes think I have my pre kids figure before my hips expanded!

Indeed

I thought I was fat at 8 stone/5' 5"

And I also thought I was a 34B - but by today's measuring, I was probably a 30 (or even a 28!) D! (Nowadays I'm a 34 DD/E but still quite pert )

prettybird bringing back memories there. My mum made me a dress for a ceilidh at school. It was burgundy velvet skater style and would have been bang on trend A/W 17!!

Surgical tape? I think I’d need full on surgery at this stage.

Since no one is shopping here are some pics of eBay Altuzara trousers. They arrived withnet-a-porter tags so a bit of a bargain at €100. Very safe work outfit, but I think right for the environment when I have meetings. Maybe I’ll gradually make my way to more adventurous work wear.

I am shopping, but nothing's arrived yet and I won't be sure if I like it till it does.

I used to think I was fat at a size 8-10 too...Wasted so much of my life thinking "ugh" about myself and getting into a cycle of "nothing matters anyway because ugh."

Nice trousers, Elle.

My MD jacket has been delivered but I doubt I'll have time to go and collect it till Sat.

I may, or may not, be very closely watching something on eBay. Shhh, no one tell the Pope

I am glad I'm on the Fashion lent today though, am I the only one that finds all the retailers interpretation of International Women's Day as a marketing opportunity a bit odd? I've had everything from Power Dressing editorials (was fine with that), stupid t-shirts, to the 'treat yo self' nonsense. It's all a bit, I am woman, hear me take out my credit card

I was wondering how those Altazurra pants worked out for you, Elle, your silence on them had me worried my rec had been a dud. They look great on you as I predicted. Maybe it's the shadow in that picture, but they do look a touch long for you? Taking them up a few cms would possibly make them sit a bit sharper.

But bo being a woman is all about frocks and lipstick doncha know?

I complete agree with you on the commercialization of IWD botemp and floisme. A lot of brands treated it in a disappointingly reductive manner. I could sort of get behind the t-shirts for charity as a concept if the NAP ones weren't so damn hideous, but it was unclear how much exactly was being donated. the blurb says profit after taxes, shipping, crating, storing etc, but was it NAP's profit? In which case, was the designer still making a profit on the production of the garment?

I think you're right botemp and they are a touch long. I had planned to wear them with a slightly higher heel, but couldn't be bothered dragging 2 pairs on a 2 day business trip! I think that even with the higher heel they do need to be a touch shorter. They work with the Chloe jacket and the outfit has a kind of 70s vibe that I like!

I saw this bag appear on NAP today. I'm not familiar with the brand, but it has a similar feel to some of the small bucket bags we were discussing a few pages ago.

I ordered the silk t-shirt attached from Sezane - called Warry blouse. Hopefully it'll be nice for work in the summer. I'm still ummming and ahhhing over a swimsuit. I'm tempted by the J Crew one. Time is very much on my side. I love the back of this black swimsuit but might be a bit much at the front.

I'm looking forward to seeing the jacket auldalliance

But, Flo, I thought that was only if they're pink. Having a lady brain is hard*

I tried on a similar looking bucket bag to the Staud one the other day but it's just hugely unwieldy. I'm going back to the drawing board on bags or the eBay listing works out in my favour I did see this one that got me all excited but it's not much of a summer bag and that colour and finish isn't on sale at the moment.

No one steal that, I'm having it trademarked and will be selling it on t-shirts for the make bo* rich charity.

Hello AuldAlliance- I’m flattered to now be addressed directly on this thread, despite my shaky debut here! My Salon experience was not Macron, but Marine le Pen, whom I ran into literally 3 minutes after entering the Pavillion d’Outremer. I think she was wearing a navy skirt suit. Still, it was a good experience, the highlight being the pavillion representing the different regions of France, with the opportunity to taste and buy ( no great pressure) some of France’s best produce. I did have a few glasses of wine.
Much as I enjoy this thread, I feel a bit of a fraud as when I’m not at work, I’m usually to be found in my allotment trousers and Mountain Warehouse fleece. But I’ll keep checking in, and aim to up my game, if only out of pity for poor DH.

Certain irony in Marine being allowed outremer!

I can sympathise, I spent yesterday in a wet field surrounded by ponies doing a customer demo. In my defence, my wellies were French and I still wore Ruby Woo!

My wardrobe and lifestyle are rather odd, rural/coastal village with accompanying mud and dog versus more and more European travel when I try to live up to this thread. I aim to have the best of both worlds.

That’s a healthy attitude! I’m finding as I get older I’m getting better at shedding the guilt I have usually felt whenever things work out well for me.

Did you sample bouchons and samoussas, bob? I do miss those from my time outremer...
Marine and her ilk sadly have a following outremer. Far less than here, but more than you might think.
Years ago, I remember a student from the overseas département I lived in saying that as he was, like most of the population, mixed race, he was often asked for ID in mainland France. "If we just got the FN in for a bit to sweep out the Arabs, people like me wouldn't suffer so much racism," he claimed.
shock

I have the green MD jacket, just need to try it on in daylight tomorrow. Looks very much like a keeper, though...

Yes, that must have been bizarre Auld. I grew up in Algeria, so I was introduced quite early on to the idea that racism was not just white people on darker skinned people. In my experience it’s a Venn diagram with arrows going off in all directions. The antisemitism ( Algerians towards Jews) for example was quite something.
The samoussas were much in evidence, I had some Accra’s at one of the Reunion stalls.

Place marking

Sorry, need to catch up properly first, but this article is exceptional good reading and is concisely bringing forth the arguments about skin care and how it is being discussed in wider media lately that has been bothering me more and more. It's about skin care but not really, and that's sort of the point and heavily touches on the insecurities that are preyed upon albeit in a much more disguised fashion now:

The skin care wars, explained

Sorry! Wrong thread, but it actually makes an interesting read for here too as it very much touches on this superiority of the effortless myth, which if it isn't apparent by the extended chat on here is never truly effortless.

I’m new to this thread, but I’ve just been having a read back on this and the original thread and noting lots of useful tips/ brands that I haven’t come across before. Thank you all!

I have a couple of specific queries that I wondered if anyone could help with...

Firstly, where to get decent, well made flats in a true size 3 (eur 36). In the last few years I’ve found a real change in vanity sizing with footwear. I’m petite (5ft) and I don’t have particularly narrow feet, but even previously trusted brands size wise like Office have upped size 3’s so that they literally fall off my feet. It isn’t that my feet are shrinking either as previous size 3 leather ballet flats still fit fine! I was hoping that French brands might fit truer to size but I don’t know where to look. Would also like stylish but hard wearing styles for work that can cope with a bit of walking and in a style/material that can cope with a bit of British rain. Happy to pay for decent quality (though nothing too crazy - I’m not that flush).

I also read in the original thread that French women take better care of their clothes, so just wondering whether anyone had any tips in this department (other than ironing everything). Do French women actually spend hours hand washing all their delicates or do they outsource it somehow? (and how to their hands look so well groomed if they do?) Curious to know!

I wouldn't say I take good care of my clothes - I'm too lazy - but I've found it pays to wash my cheaper clothes just as carefully as my expensive ones.

I don't handwash anything (see above) but I'll wash a H&M viscose top on the delicate cycle, in a pillowcase. And I'll wear it with my best bra too because then it hangs better.

Conversely I can leave my Margaret Howell shirt at the bottom of the laundry basket or on the bedroom floor and it still looks fine. And although I've never tried washing it on 90%, I wouldn't mind betting it would survive.