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

[AuldAlliance]

But we'll still enjoy it...

Thanks Elle. Definitely too short and plump for the knee boots, bare legs and short skirt look. Although I seem to remember trying it in the 90s..but those were teenage days.

I have a few rings from & Other Stories including this one - www.stories.com/en_gbp/jewellery/rings/product.trio-stone-swirl-ring-blue.0656780001.html

Speaking of other style threads, I also lurk on the Vogue and Hush threads and sometimes the skincare one. I'm fascinated by the Hush one.

quirky, hope the sniffles depart soon! For children's wear from France (on the pricey side) Smallable.eu has some lovely things, also for home decor and a limited selection of adult wear.

Did you wear the Toteme trousers to work, Elle? I'm much impressed. They go really well with my Sezane silk camisole btw. Is this the Sunday Times Style spread you were talking about? I'm left wondering where they sourced those brown and red knee length boots? I've been looking for those for years and didn't see any in the new collections in Paris, perhaps they're coming soon. That poor model looks to be boiling over in the heat though, poor thing. Quite like the Joseph dress but not a fan of the material (after looking it up).

Hello again Proper! I'd wondered where you'd disappeared to

Hmm, I'm a bit over trainers atm, Bani, must be the weather but had been looking at slip on pairs, a bit Celine like, from Vagabond in the sales. Should check if they're still around.

I always thought the Hush thread was covert advertising

I see someone has revived the anal bleaching thread...

Also, I'm all , Flo, never took you for a gossip chaser. It's weird how those two go together so intrinsically with Royals, so many projections and suppositions seem to be intertwined with their choice of dress, then again, historically they have exploited that.

Ok - catching up with the pics, from Friday

Agnes B - I passed by it and since we’d discussed it a bit on here I felt compelled to have a look again. I was pleasantly surprised as my previous hangups of an increase of questionable fabrics and quite dull shapes seemed to be no more. It’s still very much that French (rather than Parisian) vibe, ideal for that very limited capsule wardrobe feel (completely by accident, my selection of things to try on was pretty much a capsule wardrobe), which isn’t very me but it doesn't stop me from having a good look.

Prestige Linen trousers and linen and silk knit - these trousers were part of a prestige line, made in France from French materials and these were a really nice French linen. I just don’t think I’m much of a ‘loose’ linen trouser type of person for whatever reason. It was growing on me, and the price was decent (marked down to around a 105 EUR, I think) but I just wasn’t bowled over by it. Also, had seen the Lemaire trousers at this point and little compared after that point.

Liked the material on the knit as well but it felt a little too slouchy when it’s supposed to be fitted. I could definitely see myself growing into this look, just not now if that makes any sense.

Vintage style black jacket - this even felt vintage in material but the cut really didn’t suit me, especially the shoulder pads. Can see it working on your typical French frame who tend to have more sloped shoulders. Off topic, never received so many compliments on my shoulders and collar bones before

Boat neck contrast knit - I really liked this despite being such a ‘classic’ piece which I usually tend to scorn. It was further reduced and also from the Prestige line but it was a size 2 so about a small/medium and even though it doesn’t look it on the picture it really was. There’s an Agnes B in Amsterdam though so may have a look there if they have it.

White cotton dress - again, I felt this was sooo French and not so much Parisian. Very proper, a little too proper to my eyes it felt a bit like a church dress. The other Agnes B pieces aged me a touch (not in a bad way, it just made my legible age less ambiguous) but this made me look really young in an odd way.

Left without purchasing but with a new appreciation of Agnes B, it appears to be recapturing what once was great about the brand. I did miss their signature graphic pieces, there were some but not in the amounts they used to be to sort of break up that ‘proper’ feel of the rest of the clothes, they really used to excel in those flourishing pieces to lift your wardrobe without being juvenile.

I also passed by the Le Bon Marche again to look at the lingerie department as I ran out of steam last time. As mentioned before, got the La Perla seamless and wireless bra that gives great shape, and was lost to Eres.

On the previous talk of good staff, I have to say La Perla and Eres were on the money as well, I do attribute this to the Parisians as they will simply look at you, make a selection, magically know your size and it will have you convinced everything from the brand is made for you. I nearly bought a cream swimsuit with Eres which was in the sale (sorry can’t find a pic, have attached the other one that looked great on me as mentioned previously that wasn’t in the sale) but I was a touch too sceptical about transparency issues once wet.

On the way down I saw two coats in the sale.

Mackintosh raincoat in pink - inspired by pink jumpsuit lady on Wednesday I had to give this colour a go. It was nice and well priced at 125 euros (though I was very sceptical by the claim that this 100% cotton coat would withstand the worst shower), a bit Lady Penelope, but Lady Penelope is dead cool in my book, but it had no split in the back which makes it unsuitable for biking, which for a raincoat is a basic requirement for me.

In a similar vein, I had to reject the Isabel Marant Etoile green raincoat (which almost passed for an Opera coat in my mind). No split in the back, and it really annoyed me as I really liked it but a raincoat will mostly be worn on a bike in my life. Had it been less than the listed 300 EUR I think I would have taken it and accepted it’s lack of use on bikes but at that price, I had to, sadly, leave it behind. I'm not above trawling the internet for it at lower prices though.

The Broken Arm

Never mind the clothes for a bit, can I just mention the FOOD! It was amazingly good and cheap (all lunch dishes were under 10 euros and served with delicious bread).

Jacquemus blazer dress

Ahem, right the tit tape advertisement and pic I may regret ever posting. So, yes, lovely and all that but what exactly do I need to do to get the lifestyle to match this? I mean yellow dress is pretty easy, just find myself a Saudi prince or similar, but this?

It was a thing of beauty though but I tried it on with something underneath (granted no the best thing to try it on with as it’s the very floaty Mango camisole worn right way round which was a godsend in the 38° heat) but I still struggled to see this work for me. Le Sigh.

l’Exception outlet

There were quite a few things I tried on here, but being an outlet most of it was a big miss that wasn’t even worth photographing. I did really like this Harmony coat but it was too big, lovely heavy wool though (which I had very little appreciation for considering the extreme heat, I think I deserve a medal for trying on such a heavyweight coat in the name of bargains, although it wasn’t much of a bargain, really, but in the right size it would have been more of a contender).

Not the best pic, will attach a few stock images next.

&Other Stories

I decided to have a nose around Stories’ new collection as it had been somewhat disappointing previously. Still nothing worth getting excited over as far as I could see but did try a few things on. Only posting this pic as it might interest peony as it’s office appropriate and would also work with a cardi ( they also had it in cream/white and black in store, looks like there are more colours online but sold out) and it had plenty of room in the boob and tum area for expansion. It is lined though, so perhaps not breezy enough for the commute?

Otherwise, the navy silk COS dress I tried on in my 'I need appropriate hot weather clothes panic fitting mani' may work too but that did have a tie around the waist. here, strangely enough it was in the sale when I tried it on.

Getting completely distracted by Cos now, there’s some lovely new pieces in the new arrivals...

bo I've seen some nice slip-ins from Vagabond this year too but I'm more of a laces person. Prob because my feet are big and I feel laces add something to break up the foot. But I have been looking a lot at slipins with the leather crisscrossed on top like a sort of bow, I like them.

Am working my way through thread 2 actually atm and just had a Deep Thought that I promptly forgot.

I never thought of the Hush thread as being advertising. Hm.

Yes - that's the Sunday Times feature. I just really liked it especially the grey Stella dress (not usually a designer I'm drawn to). I agree that the models must have been sweltering though. I did wear the Toteme trousers to work. I realised that they can gape open when sitting a bit too late, but provided I made sure the top piece was sitting correctly there were no wardrobe malfunctions. I also spent a fair bit of time with my desk in standing mode! The effect could be nice if I was out for the evening, but no good in the office.

I really like the first 3 Agnes B items on you and the IM Etoile coat is fab. I have been eyeing up that silk Cos dress too. Must check the bricks and mortar store to see if it's reduced.

La Perla bra looks like it would be really useful under plunging Vs.

I haven't ventured on the Hush thread much as the style just isn't really me and the clothes wouldn't fit my lifestyle. I don't know whether it's stealth marketing or just brand loyalty plus a sense of meeting "my people". I haven't seen other threads devoted to a single brand that run and run in such a way before.

I love the look of the skincare thread, but do not want to fall down that rabbit hole.

I think the La Perla bra will also be good under silk shirts, I prefer to wear them open low and I have enough flat space there for that not to be vulgar but when you can see that connecting bit of a bra that sort of cancels it out. I've seen they do a nude version too, I'll see how this one washes and wears and might get that too.

Maybe I'm mixing it up with another brand (Me + Em or Toast) but if IIRC on any other thread Hush is spoken about with annoyance as the quality isn't that great for the high prices so I've always thought the existence of that thread was interesting. I've never actually looked at it properly though.

Also, every MN recommends weekly newsletter thingy will almost always have at least one Hush item to recommend directly from that thread. I'm sure it's mostly legit posters but I'm still baffled by it. Then again, I'm sure there's many who roll their eyes at this thread and wondering why that lot is still pretending to be French.

Regular name-changing lurker here - have always and only assumed the Hush threads are some kind of advertising - and not very effective. The whole "campaign" has put me right off buying anything from them. You mesdames, however, are a little moment of joy in my day. (and I live in France which really ups the ante)

There seems to be such a compulsion to buy all things Hush on those threads - it just seems odd to me. Each to their own though. Never even occurred to me that it might be advertising.

Who me? I love royal gossip. The way I see it is, I help pay for the buggers so the least they can do is keep me entertained. I like a bit of celebrity goss too but not as much as I don't know who most of them are any more.

Lady Penelope and Emma Peel were my first ever style crushes. Despite that, I think my favourite pic is the green raincoat. But I'll go back and look at all the others again.

I've not been on the Hush thread since the first one. I do think the stuff is styled very well but the quality pissed me off mightily. But I felt a bit mean when everyone else was so into so I backed off. As I remember some of the posters were definitely S&B regulars though I don't know about later threads.

Good to see you back again Proper Hope you stick around.

Flo, I'm a fangirl for Queen Letizia... sighs approvingly. No idea (or opinion of other royals' behaviour, morals or intellects). My judgement is purely outfit-based.

Now, I have a great nephew (four months old). He obviously needs a fab, but practical, wardrobe. Where do I start in the UK? It's all sooooooooooo dull for boys. (DS spent his first few years in white babygros, plus a couple of really cute outfits he was given.

Thank you very much, vous ètes toutes très gentilles ! I don’t want to derail the thread, but very happy to talk about expensive baby clothes too :) Totally agree about the superior colour palettes offered by French lines (but have come off velvet babygrows as most of them are mixed with polyester).

I ordered the Dolores top, the Amy tee and some shoes. Fell in love with the Theodore trousers in beige and acajou too, but they are sold out and apparently there are no plans to bring them back...

Realistically it’s not urgent given my postpartum belly, but I do need a trouser intervention. All I have for the summer are some Gap chinos that are slightly too short and an awful capri. Any chic recommendations for a normally pear shaped tall size 10? I am not yet ready for extreme styles but I do need to move on from only the Gap chinos.

XingMing, head to the Alexandalexa website. Hopefully they still have the sale on. Will come back with more but grizzly baby!

More ideas for XingMing: Pigeon Organics, Little Green Radicals, Mini Boden, Little White Company. French and Nordic brands you can find on the aforementioned Alex and Alexa. This is my second boy...

Thank you Peregrane, I shall investigate further! Xing g-nephew has only had a cute cuddly toy so far!

As a Swede I’m biased towards Swedish or Scandinavian colourful clothes :) when my son was little there were a lot of brands selling very unisex and mad things but I’m wondering if it’s all out of fashion now with the gender backlash we’re having...

banivani when I had dd1, two other mums in our antenatal group were Swedish, we definitely dressed our babies in very unisex clothes. Apart from the lovely french clothes my dps sent over mine wore lots of H&M, as it was one of the few places you could get bright colours for babies. That might have changed now.

I haven't ventured on the hush thread, either. I have some very good pyjamas from hush, I believe they were originally a nightwear company. I think their quality is quite variable. I've got a breton dress (bought in the sale) from there which is a good, heavy cotton jersey and has lasted well for 5yrs or so. However, I had a pair of hush black biker leggings and the elastane all frayed, despite washing on delicates . A lot of their stuff does seem over priced for the fabric composition and that annoys me. I think they've been quite a favourite of the influencers in the past (probably more advertising).

I do like the traditional French baby clothes when they’re at the teeny stage. I love a newborn in a smoked white Babygro. In whites and navy they can be unisex too. Bonpoint is gorgeous, but mega expensive so I could never justify buying it. Cyrillus, Petit Bateau, Jacadi, Tartine et Chocolat, Absorba and Kissy Kissy are all lovely options IMO.

I did think that French brands (Petit Bateau in particular) were quite narrow, so while they fitted my eldest really well as he was long and lanky, my second was bursting out of them.

I do also like Skandi brands like Mini Rodini, Frugi and Polarn O Pyret and the fit was better on my second (he still wore his brother’s clothes, but grew out of them widthways). The fit on the Skandi brands is generally huge. Even though DS2 was 95th percentile, he would still mostly be in a size smaller than his age e.g. wearing 12-18m when he was 22m. Also although the brightly coloured stuff can look great, when it’s cotton and washed frequently, it does get quite faded looking and all the brands I tried were susceptible to this. Of the brands mentioned above PoP and Jacadi were my favourites for nice things.

Peregrane I’m a similar size / shape and have been wearing some jeans casually that are sort of Mom-jean lite i.e. high rise, slightly wider through the leg and tapered at the ankle. They’re not as extreme as the styles I see some younger women wearing, but I kind of like them and think they’re reasonable flattering on my shape. They may not be the most forgiving directly post-partum though so maybe a style for in a few weeks’ time. Cos have nice trousers at the moment too. Also wide legged trousers could be worth a try.. . I think Banivani got a good pair in Arket lately?

Mind you, I’m not sure that you should take trouser advice from me. I’m wearing a Cos pair today that I thought read as 7/8 and realised when I looked in the mirror at work they definitely read as “tall woman wearing regular length trousers that are too short for her”. I’ve teamed it with a long shirt tied around the waist and honestly that’s not very flattering either. I haven’t worn it in ages and now I remember why. One for the charity shop.

Cream top arrived so will try on later.

Elle thank you! I know very well the tall woman in regular trousers reading too short syndrome :) I avoided buying trousers altogether for years for that reason. I don’t have the slim ankles to pull it off. And wide legged trousers make me feel fat and unbalanced vs my top :) May need to reassess that one.

Adore The Toteme Trousers in cream, would never have looked at them were it not for this thread. I see they are sold out everywhere though.

@XingMing, there are also Rachel Riley and Amaia kidswear for UK based and expensive gifts, the sort of outfits Prince George is dressed in. I bought a dreamy little coat for DS1 in a RR sale for his baptism.

Wow! Been off for a few days and missed so much on here!! You certainly chat a lot so sorry if I don't respond properly to everything!

Many congratulations Peregrane How lovely!

Hello DULLDull, MyCatGerald and ProperLavs

Hi Catherine - have you tried those skirts which are pencil shape then flair a bit at the bottom? Not sure what the proper name for them is. They are usually more casual than a pencil.

I've also been kind of following the royal fashion thread Floisme. I like Meghan's style except for seeing her bra so often (well the exact shape of it under her clothes anyway).

Bo, very much enjoyed looking at all your try-ons!

Bani - you do make me laugh! "just had a Deep Thought that I promptly forgot"

My news: the Reiss leather jacket (all 3 sizes) were sent back. None of them fit properly on my gigantic shoulders. The size 10 fit nicely around my waist. The 12 was passable on the waist and the 14 was huge and lost all semblance of chic-ness. So back to hunting. Will try Massimo and Uterque which Bo kindly suggested.

On the lip front, Athens airport didn't have the Dior tattoo addict in the colour I wanted (Natural Cherry) so got impatient and bought the YSL tattoo in carmine (the one you have Bo) because knew I wouldn't be near shops for a while. You are right: it does have a nice hint of pink. I did have a problem with it coming off on the bottom lip on the inside but then I did wear it at a luncheon. And I also didn't put lip pencil all over my lips before I applied it. I also kept wondering if I should have held out for the Dior one I liked but on finally comparing the two side by side, I saw they are almost identical (Dior was slightly pinker but the YSL was Bo tried and tested ). So thank you Bo for the recommendation!

That Hush thread strikes me as stealth advertising too. I don’t get the whole USP because you can achieve that same slobby look by shopping in Prinark/New Look and Peacocks for a fraction of the cost.

Loads of the bloggers are in on it too and some of them look ridiculous pushing this brand.

Re Frenchness -one of my ancestors was one of the king’s most favourite and prized whores. I probably have a millionth of her genes so therefore I feel an entitlement to claim I am well French. 😁

I am currently scouring charity shops picking up all the long neglected silk scarves and was delighted to read that I will be on trend this autumn as they will be having a moment.

I am also currently obsessed with Jigsaw 😁

ALso Bon Marche must be very difficult to the UK offering.

I love this Jigsaw scarf..... I recognise I might be lone in having a scarf weird 😁