This thread is about as French as a Sainsbury's baguette

[AuldAlliance]

But we'll still enjoy it...

The nice thing about the Kavat booties is that they are unlined, so you adjust the padding yourself with wool socks. Not the best for -20, but def for 0 to -5 or for me on my way to work -10. :) Kavat use only vegetable tanned leather etc etc so an environmentally better choice and they offer a repair service.

Gorgeous pics of Monica Belucci!

I may look into getting that skirt tailored, Gah great idea. I've lost a little weight and toned up recently, so I need to see if I keep that up . It's a great all year round skirt though, bare legs in summer and tights with boots in winter, so may be well worth it.

Those Kavat booties sound perfect for British winter, then. Bonus that they are environmentally friendly too! I fact, I have quite a few lined boots for very cold days, but less unlined. Gorgeous.

Jeez those sandals. I cannot stand big, blingy logos at any price.

Please let us know if they sell bob. My guess is, they'll wait a couple of weeks (or however long the law says) then reduce them to £240 and mark them 'half price' - bet they'll be snapped up!

Thank you quirky's DM for confirming one needs an opera coat Will be on the lookout in Antwerp and Paris for one, I'm thinking they're about as useful as kimonos in S/S for the autumn. So basically, really rare odd weather days.

Bani holidays are usually the only time I can do the whole grooming treatments thing. I'm usually bored to tears by them, I once spent an entire afternoon getting a manicure and pedicure, never again...

Lovely looking boots, although I'm guessing they're for wider feet. Snow appropriate boots are my nemesis as most are too wide so I'm moving about in them too much which gets pretty dangerous on iced over slush (what we have most off) and the laced versions hurt my feet too much to ever get through the breaking in period. Hence why I'd rather visit when there's less snow.

Methen, have you tried one of those fold over briefs with the extra bit of fabric at the top? They possess some sort of magic by covering up crepey stomachs without the tank-sized arse look.

Hmm Dior shoes are pricey but that's like 2/3 of the price new. I do sometimes feel people are rather delusional with second hand pricing, even if new.

Gah I love the image of your aunts on the beach in all their finery and they're probably the lovely sort that stuff you full of sinfully delicious food too

Dorothy O'Hara pieces look lovely from a quick browse on Etsy. Do you find rayon pleasant to wear?

I've decided to put my Calvinist side in charge of budgetting and little else for now. Suitably I've just put in an order for some Jacquemus pieces as mandated by my list (Calvin can't argue against that) and it was all marked down pretty aggressively (Calvin approves once more) if by some miracle it's all a perfect fit no issue keeping it all (Calvin grumbled at that but dejectedly acknowledged it was all well within budget). Think I may have bought another Elle duplicate in the process with the trousers though

I’ll report back FLo. They really were nothing special, just brown mules/ sliders with a giant in your face logo.

quirkychick I love the skirt silhouette on you

Flosime What a find on the trousers!

botemp what is the UW app? You’ve probably mentioned before, but I’ve forgotten. Also what a great bargain on the Jacquemus items – where did you buy them please? If I make it over to the Antwerp sample sales I’ll have to remember not to wear any of the items that I’ve duped!

Gah81 I love the look of those Dorothy O’Hara dress, they’re very timeless. You did send me down a bit of an Etsy rabbit hole and I ended up buying a vintage black skirt. Your wardrobe for Italy sounds wonderful.

Banivani You did make me laugh with your explanation for why Swedes look so stylish! I‘ve been to Stockholm twice, it’s such a lovely city. I like the plain white shoes.

I’ve been a bit busy lately, but I will try to get a photo of the trousers, which are every bit as good as promised and the shoes.

On Opera coats I have one that I think qualifies. It’s modern, rather than vintage and is definitely not French. It fits nicely into that Italian style you were talking about. I’ve worn it for weddings in Spring/Autumn when a coat is needed, but so is the sense of occasion. It also got lots of love during my pregnancy with a long-sleeved black top underneath to balance the bracelet length sleeves.

Thanks, Elle I love a bit of an interesting silhouette! Looking forward to pictures of trousers and shoes.

Pmsl at the Dior slides, did someone just stick a big label on and a huge price tag? It makes me think of Harry Enfield and his I Saw You Coming shop

Elle, UW app is Urban Wardrobe app, it's an independent marketplace, but only in a few European countries at the moment. The audience is noticeably young so Zara goes for record prices but niche labels go for bargains.

I bought the Jacquemus pieces from Unger, there's a further 10% off sale prices with the code SUPERSALE18. I have a couple of newsletter subscriptions from Scandi/German/Austrian independent boutiques that I've usually visited at some point. They tend to mark down more aggressively as they really need to shift their stock quickly to keep afloat. I do think I lucked out quite a bit with the Jacquemus pieces as the Germans can be thin, but they're rarely slight or small. Shipping is usually high with most, Unger is just under 20 euros for Europe (returns are free) but the discounts more than make up for it and I find they tend to get in stock with professional women in mind rather than the ladies who lunch crowd.

Sadly, one of my favourite Scandi boutiques Stylepaste is closing down. Their closing sale is worth a look for you as there was little in my size left.

Natalie Schuterman in Stockholm will probably drop to 70% soon and often an additional discount as well and usually have really interesting stock.

Also, quick warning with Unger, they list most things in German sizes so you need to click the 'Herzellergrossen anziegen' button to see the manufacturer's sizes.

Natalie Schuterman is SO not a shop I’d even think of going to. I just assume nothing is going to fit.

Anyway haven’t been to pedicure bla bla bla but we were in Split today and I just CANNOT shop when with family because I can’t get into the right mind space at all, but I saw an interesting designer shop, www.krugstore.com. Croatian designers apparently. Yes, there was an opera coat. ;)

Really this should be a place to shop because they’re all very tall here so at least inseams should be ok.

Wore the Uterque sandals last night - very pleased with them, they were beautifully comfortable all evening. Would definitely look at more from Uterque.

Also wore this dress - www.purecollection.com/clothing/womens-dresses/silk_floaty_hem_dress.htm?showDefault=1 Not sure if it looked very French, my husband's words were "You look like the vicar's slightly strange daughter, but I like it."

First time I've worn sandals since I was about 9, thanks to this thread.

Still looking for an everyday shirt dress - ordered a couple from Boden to try, just in case.

Also loving the Dorothy O'Hara dresses .

What does everyone go for in days of really hot sunshine? I don't remember a heatwave like this in the UK for a good few years.

That's a great looking store, banivani - am particularly struck by the fact that for some of the items I clicked on (such as the Marlena dress) they will custom make it to your measurements for no extra charge. Perfect for us small-of-waist ladies!

bo, I rather like wearing rayon (though I know not hugely environmentally friendly) - find it very cooling in the spring/summer months. And the drape it gives - especially in the Dorothy O'Hara dresses - can be wonderful. The Jacquemus pieces are gorgeous.

And quirky thanks for your style tips on the 'expensive' thread re my new purchase (see pic) - I agree, a silk shirt tucked in would look great (happily, I have a few of these). Am wondering whether I will be brave enough to try white/cream on white/cream as think it can look so chic but doesn't seem super practical for London.

The pic is of first vintage trouser online purchase. It was 90s and thus pretty cheap so no huge loss of they don't work out. I usually wear high-waisted skirts for work/play but have been hankering after a pair of '40s trousers for some time. Sadly actual 40s trousers get snapped up within seconds and I lose out every time, so hopefully these will prove a good compromise!

CatherineMaitland I usually wear sleeveless linen or silk blouses tucked into cotton high-waist pencil skirts. A little dull but it keeps me as cool as possible. Plus a straw visor for the walk to/from work.

ToElle yay for your vintage purchase! What is it like? Which era?

And all this talk of opera coats is making me wish I had brought one of mine to Italy with me to swish around in at night (though probably a bit too hot for it).

CatherineMaitland at your dp's comment! That dress looks lovely, though and silk too. I've been wearing a variety of clothes in the hot weather tbh, cool, loose trousers with a fitted vest, loose silk shirt with denim shorts, summer jumpsuit and will probably wear my jigsaw jersey dress with lotta clogs for a garden party later today. I usually wear a straw hat, spf50 and sunglasses too.

Gah I just liked the look of the silk shirt tucked in loosely in the photo, nice and cool. I think I had a similar pair of quite stiff linen trousers in the 90s that I used to wear for work.

I like the look of some of those pieces Bani, the customisation seems handy but it often means you can't do returns so I'm a bit wary but I do like the look of those black shorts, but they're my archnemesis when it comes to summer dressing so it would be a big gamble.

Catharine, love the look of the dress and can imagine them working well with your brown Uterque sandals. I saw a brown bag when I quickly slipped into Filippa K yesterday and I've really missed proper dark brown leather. Like most other things at Filippa K it's extremely overpriced for what it is and wasn't what I was exactly looking for but I'm definitely on the hunt for some brown leather. Did also see a lovely corduroy blazer in a sort of mink colour, made it feel quite contemporary along with sharper tailoring. Think it would make a great A/W alternative for my H&M linen blazer that's seeing a lot of wear but it's ridiculously overpriced at €395.

I'm currently the poster girl for impractical dressing. Heat didn't arrive here until yesterday so I suitably wore the pope scandalising backless Isabel Marant dress, toned them down a bit with Calvin Klein sort of low wedge sandals (they have an architectural detail that sort of make them not a wedge) that I bought as a teen either in the later 90s/early 00s, I take them out every few years when they feel relevant again.

Today I'm wearing the Toteme Toulon cream trousers with newly purchased H&M vermilion silk camisole tucked in loosely and tkees leather flip flops, will probably pop on the Zara hat when going. Might have to change into a playsuit later though as there's talk of going out on the water.

Think I'll go full Italian tomorrow and wear the Max Mara skirt I mentioned upthread, with a black silk sleeveless blouse and I might even disregard my context completely and pretend to be in Italy by pulling on some high heeled numbers. I'm sick of flats but all my high heeled summer options feel a bit out of time at the moment, think strappy sandals and courts. I do have some slingbacks with kitten heels from when they were around the last time but I'm not really feeling those either.

I like the cream trousers Gah, I've been on the lookout for some that aren't see through or have the pocket lining showing through with little luck. Saw some from Filippa K (pic 2) with a vague vintage feel in an article (hence why I swung by) but they don't seem to stock them anymore

I love all tonal outfits, white on cream may feel a bit full on but it's a stunning look. In terms of impracticality, there's no saving arguments but there have only been very few pieces that I owned that were beyond salvaging. It was usually a leather bag that did the damage though.

Love the Calvin Klein sandals, bo, it's funny how some things feel current and some not. I've worn a few things this year (helped by this thread!) that last year I thought I might get rid of. The brown bag sounds lovely, I ended up buying one a few years ago from a local leather boutique, it was in fact in the men's section as a small messenger bag, but meant it was plain and simple.

Nice trousers Gah. There was a thread a while ago about vintage 1940s trousers - can't remember if you were on it but the consensus was that they're very hard to find. The only ones I've ever had were some WW2 'land girl' jodphurs which either went missing in a house move or, even worse, got thrown out in a post-baby 'I'll never get into these again' strop. I was probably correct about them never fitting again but they were still a piece of women's history so I'm cross with myself now.

I'm wearing some 1980s Armani chinos today. They're that 80s-does-the-40s look: high waist, couple of pleats, widish leg and tapering a bit towards the ankle. When I bought them a few years ago they looked totally outlandish and I had to remind myself how much I used to love that style. Even last summer they were still a bit 'out there' but now they look totally mainstream and all I've done to update them is cuff them to ankle length. Fashion is strange.

Morning. I was a devotee of these threads (early threads) and I kind of lost track along the way....
Winter time there was a blazer/tux jacket discussion and I was desperate for one but couldn’t find the right one. Anyway I picked this up in zara
m.zara.com/uk/en/velvet-contrasting-tuxedo-collar-blazer-p02021691.html?v1=5322536&v2=794203
Wondered what you thought of it. And how would you wear it... I was thinking with black skinnies and tee or with black cami and trousers for this A/W?

The brown was a good brown quirky cool rather than warm. Made it much more contemporary feeling.

I have a few pairs of Acne boots with wedges, which sounds horrid but they're not, they're quite extreme though, a bit in the Rick Owens category. They've felt off for years but I never wanted to part from them but I started wearing them again this past winter and they're great. People tend to be drawn to it then too as they're very much unlike anything else out there. Fashion is indeed a bit odd like that, Flo. Fabrics too, I feel, velvet definitely has its moments and then can feel a bit stuffy the next. I've been hankering after some silk moire for A/W but haven't quite figured out if I want a fab pair of trousers in them (yet to see any but I'm doing that put it into the universe magical bullshit thing in faint hopes it will materialise) or if I want to paper the walls with some. Perhaps the answer is both and become a floating torso or maybe an Opera coat?

That looks lovely, zippy, yes it's easy to wear down with a cami or graphic t-shirt and skinnies but I'd give it a go with doing the black and navy thing as well, perhaps break it up with a belt with a noticeable (metallic) detail. White tee and straight light wash or vintage distressed denim could possibly work as well when the weather starts transitioning into autumn. Would be fun to play with a men's white shirt as well, just for the sake of it, perhaps wear that as a dress belted in? I'd be tempted to try it with some slinky bit of velvet if you can find something that matches well with the trim, a cami or pair of high waisted trousers for a more dressed up look.

Yes velvet is another strange one - so beautiful when in fashion, so cheesy when it's not. I have great admiration for women who say they don't follow fashion and only wear what suits them but I'm never going to be one of them.

zippy I love tuxedos and if I could get away with all that black I would wear it with just about everything. Sorry if that's not particularly helpful but I think it's great.

Thanks bo and flo. Great advice. I’ve wanted a tux jacket and a velvet blazer for ages now. This seems to fit the bill and looks and feels lovely on. Hadn’t thought of pairing it will navy. Thanks for that.

Gah81 - sounds lovely. One day I might be brave enough to go sleeveless!

I forgot to say I also bought this Mango necklace - shop.mango.com/gb/women/jewellery-necklaces/shells-bead-necklace_33051063.html?c=OR&n=1&s=accesorios.accesorio;48,448.bisuteria48,448;Collares It's much nicer and more substantial than it looks and the tie ribbon is nicely casual and means you can adjust the length widely to suit different outfits, which is handy.

I'm still looking for a tan or brown handbag, probably a tote to replace my old one which is beginning to fall apart - will check out Filippa K just in case. I'm umming and ahhing over one from M Hulot but I just don't like it quite enough to part with cold hard cash for it.

Ahh link fail - shop.mango.com/gb/women/jewellery-necklaces/shells-bead-necklace_33051063.html

Really love the pattern on that silk dress from Pure collection - I’ve been looking at them before but can’t justify the postage. :/ Consoling myself with fact that not keen on assymetric hemlines

Many moons ago when I was thinner but thought I was oh so fat I had a pair of cream linen trousers, half lined, from H&M’s pricey line that they don’t have any more - the name escapes me now but I had several things from them and they were all lovely. In the 90s. No wait haha. Those trousers weren’t, they might have been from the original b&b line at hennes. Anyway, I got rid of them in a fit of pique because I got a tiny tiny tiny black stain on the front leg that only I could see but I saw it all the time. So away they went - wouldn’t have fit me anymore of course but STILL ANNOYED sure my daughter would have worn them now I think.

I’m dreaming of those toteme trousers now. The shape. Would love something like that. Maybe not in cream silk #knowyourlifestyle

bo cool brown bag sounds gorgeous, I quite like cool brown paired with grey atm. Anything with a Rick Owen vibe sounds great.

zippy lovely tux. I'm lucky enough to have a velvet blazer that is vintage (it was my mum's from 60s or 70s) and it goes over most things for an evening out. It will come out again this autumn.

banivani I had a similar style trousers too, this thread keeps reminding me of clothes I used to have.

Thank you botemp for the links. No purchases made, but I had a browse. It’s nice to have a look online outside the usual venues. Those Fillipa K trousers pictured are really lovely. What a pity that they don’t stock them. I love that you’re reusing 90s sandals. I was only thinking the other day that the shoes that constituted my first foray into high heels are all back in style now! I don’t have any of them.

It’s 90s skirt, plain black in cashmere and A-line style, so not the most earth-shattering of garments, but if it fits I should get good wear out of it.

Your chinos sound wonderful flosime It definitely feels like the high waist are on the way back in. I was admiring the attached today. Sadly not a look that’s great on me I think.

Nice jacket zippyswife

Necklace is fun Catherine. I really like the shell stuff that we’re seeing at the moment, but think it’ll pass so something relatively inexpensive seems like the way to go.

All the chat of Stockholm made me dig out the dress I’m wearing today which I bought in a small shop in Stockholm. The label declares it to be a brand called Mini Market. It’s 100% silk and while not the world’s most exciting silhouette, it’s lovely and light in this weather. Pictured with the Everlane flats which are surprisingly comfortable straight out of the box. I may well order the pink ones in due course.

What do you all do with clothes that are too small? I have a couple of skirts and dresses that are a size smaller than I currently am. I’m going to see about getting them let out, but I’m not entirely confident that it’ll be manageable. If not, would you keep them? They’re designer pieces and would have a decent resale value I think. I’m torn because I really love them, but I can’t see myself being a size smaller any time soon. I don’t particularly want to lose weight at the moment – 3 or 4 lbs perhaps, but not a whole dress size. That said, a stressful period or something similar could see me back at that size and I have been that size at various periods so it’s not impossible that they’d fit in the future. Into the attic or sell and buy something that fits?