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

[AuldAlliance]

But we'll still enjoy it...

Vince Suede coat - I’d spotted this when I was in Paris in the winter earlier this year already. Think I swooned about it on here then too, but even in the sale I struggle to shell out the kind of money they’re asking for it as, let’s face it, a suede trench isn’t the most practical material choice when you live in a country with a predominantly wet autumn and winter. Sigh.

Sandro Outlet- white silk camisole. Was a single mirror sales pitch set up so I have no pics on me but have pulled a stock pic in black which doesn’t really show it in full. It has an extra triangle of fabric from the point in between the breasts and drapes down and a flappy low back. Bargain of the day at 19 euros (all silk) and looked untouched/never tried on. I assume it had just been placed in store or something, but I’d happily had paid more for it as it’s quite flattering and works well under blazers. I’ll try and get a pic on at some point as I’m sure I’ll wear it one of these days.

I think I need to take a day off work to look through all the pics everyone has posted. Anyway that's a lovely dress bo, stunning back detail and yes, I totally understand, more wearable than the yellow one.

I like a boxy top but I think that one looks a bit long. I like them cropped, with a vest top underneath if required.

I'm really taken with that VB skirt. I'm currently walking round with a £200 black denim skirt on my phone Almost everything I've bought since the January sales has been second hand so I'm telling myself I deserve a treat - and more to the point, have some money saved up.... Will link once I've decided one way or the other.

The Uniqlo U preview is up here I've not had a proper look yet but it was my favourite thing on the high street last year although this spring and summer were disappointing.

Should I dust off the old projector and organise the slides Flo? I kind of miss those evenings, although I suspect it was already a bit hipster old school imitation in my childhood days. People were so serious about it too, it would be like the world ending if a slide was upside down or the thing got jammed.

Thanks for the Uniqlo preview link. Love the colour palette and shaggy carpet-esque knitwear. The men's stuff looks good too
Also perfectly timed with my Fast fashion ban end day, well it's a day early but it's not like it'll arrive on the twentieth. I'm sure if I apply for papal dispensation I'll get some

Do they give out information on the fabrics ahead of launch? I've been a bit disappointed with some of the fabric choices in their colabs, the JW Anderson one was a particularly low low.

I'm wondering if the 3D knit dress is the same one that Elle got last year?

quirky I loved that Justine video, thank you! Oh she is charming too, so calm, no shaming, no stress - might watch more of hers. A little infatuated already. 😍

iwanka yeah I find earrings tricky too but by now I have my own fashion advisors at home (daughters 😁).

I bought bralettes, people. Just couldn’t face my bras anymore in the heat. So just something underneath tops to keep my nipples from showing through and then a lovely, unscratchy, unfettered existence in the sticky heat. It’s been hot AND humid. Horrible.

Bo love the Beckham skirt, very much my style ideal. 😍 Kenzo white blouse is nice but maybe a little alien nurse? Description inspired my reddit, female fashion advice, they love those kind of inspiration threads there. 😉

The garconnes trousers are lovely, I’m very impressed.

😂 at your shopping maths btw - don’t quit your day job just yet 😉 but it was a lovely choice!

flo thanks for the Uniqlo link - they’re opening a shop in Sthlm so I might get the chance to try some of these on. I was tempted by the 3d dress before but didn’t want to order online in the end, glad to see it’s staying!

They don't normally tell you everything before it goes live. I can't remember if it's the fabric or the size info they hold back but I've been caught out before, reading up on a product only to find it's gone when I get to the checkout.

I would say the quality isn't generally as good e.g. there's often some polyester mixed in with the knitwear. For me, the design makes up for it - the shapes are always a bit more interesting than anything else at that price range. But still very wearable. They do re-run things so the 3d dress may well be a repeat. The ponte wide leg trews look the same shape (wide leg but tapered and slightly curved) as some heavy cotton canvas ones they did last autumn. I ended up getting 3 pairs and, even though ponte isn't my favourite fabric, I'm eyeing them up again because the only other place on the high street I know of that does that shape is Toast, who will charge you at least an extra hundred.

I was half hoping for some velvet wide legs which are on my list for this autumn but I know it's too early to expect velvet. Plus I really want that matte finish velvet (not the shiny stuff) which probably will cost me a Toast-eque price. My autumn stash isn't going to go very far at this rate!

Re the white dress up there that you thought made you look young bo - today I cycled past a young woman on a bike wearing a pale/dusty pink shirt dress very similar to that one (mind, I only saw it for 2 seconds) but with more of a broderie anglais thing going on. The impression was def very youthful and “pretty” but she was taller than you so I think escaped the childish feeling ;) Looked very nice, an unusual look for Sweden.

For someone who bitches so much about never finding clothes I seem to do nothing but shop. Today I got these trousers in H&M with an August casual wedding in mind. Again, not very French I think. To me this type of floral is not French (possibly because it is gp&j Baker for H&M). Why is this my impression though? Please analyse. (I love them. Very much my thing.)

Hello lovely ladies! I'm wondering if I can slightly derail from the chat about fashion and beauty and ask you sophisticated lot what you would buy and cook for self catering villa in South of France. I'm going next week and doing first few days of meal planning, shopping and cooking for boyfriend and three of his friends and their wives. They are v foodie (bit snobby) and I'm thinking first a trip to a big Carrefour then local markets, lots of fresh salads, local wines, cheese, fresh breads and charcuterie. Will do a couple of BBQ's, make some sorbets etc. I'm a relatively confident cook and huge Francophile, have spent most summers growing up on holiday in France with family generally self catering so fairly good idea of what's available but am having crisis of confidence as they are all a bit older than me, v sophisticated and I really want to impress them a bit ...ideas greatly appreciated! Sorry for derailing...

peony FWIW I wore my usual size in Cos for the pregnancy, erring on the larger side for in-between items, which lasted me for much of the second trimester. It would not have worked for the third trimester (by which point it becomes trickier to avoid maternity clothing). I also found some dresses in Toast that did work till the end (eg a loose, indigo cotton shirt dress with an optional tie belt in the same fabric).

Am totally behind on this thread but enjoying the posts I did read while feeding the baby. Love the Victoria Beckham skirt! botemp et al, can I ask what is the trick to wearing these silk cami type tops without a bra showing? I couldn’t work it out looking at half the Sézane catalogue either with those low cut backs.

The shopping has arrived days ago by the way but I have not even been able to open the boxes...

Ah don't lose your confidence over potential snobs, earplugged. Just my personal opinion but I always think it's far more impressive when someone cooks from their place of comfort, competently and confidently rather than going overboard and pulling out all the culinary big guns they'd otherwise never touch with the clear intent to impress.

The produce is great there, keep it simple and let the quality ingredients shine would be my strategy. It's going to be hot, you're going to be tired by the end of the day so just cook simple tasty things that are bang in season, get in lots of fresh herbs, good olive oil, etc. If you're on the border with Italy I'd definitely go shopping there, especially the markets. The fresh homemade mozzarella is amazing there. I personally prefer Auchan over Carrefour but usually, you're destined to shop whatever is nearby anyhow.

Things I'd cook would be, puy lentil salad with dijon mustard vinaigrette, capers, and sauteed cod cheeks (which are quite special and usually dirt cheap, difficult to get here but not so much in France IME, can swap for scallops, regular cod, or even poached eggs) with lots of flat leaf parsley or sauce verte/salsa verde, serve with some crusty baguette or boiled little ratte potatoes tossed in a bit of of good butter and chives (or flat leaf parsley) or the good old standby radishes with butter if you want to keep it lighter.

Burrata with lots of lovely varieties of special tomatoes, lots of basil olive oil, a good balsamic, good amount of seasoning, serve with a good focaccia if you can find some.

Nicoise salad with the lovely little ratte potatoes, fresh lightly griddled tuna, remove the skins from the tomato if you want to be a bit refined about it.

Spaghetti Vongole always easy, tasty, and quick too. Watermelon gazpacho with grilled prawns. Grilled fish with sauce vierge. Stick some peaches in alu foil with a bit of honey or sugar and let them warm through, serve on some vanilla ice cream, etc.

Not really French cooking but in the simple but tasty corner the thing I've been repeatedly making this summer due to repeated requests is this Mint, lime and tamarind sauce that I splodge on anything but my favorite combo has been with a 'caprese' (with apologies to my Italian ancestors) of grilled white peaches and buffalo mozzarella. You might need to travel with a jar of tamarind paste though, not sure how readily available that is over there...

And with that I think I killed my just keep it simple rhetoric I promise the other stuff is quick and easy with little effort. Well at least to me, I'd advise cooking whatever version that is for you. And I'd probably make Auld's passion fruit punch for impression points.

peregrane, depending on the shape I wear a strapless bra or I have sort of silicone paste on things. They basically form around your breast (mine are pretty simple, just there to obscure the nips but there are more elaborate ones that give lift/keep them in place and/or more volume and there also ones that fit only cover the nips) they feel a bit odd for a minute but they adjust to your body temperature and then you sort of don't notice them. I don't recommend them over 35 degree weather though

botemp you are seriously a dream girl. So many incredible, on point suggestions, all chic, all sound delicious. I've have screen shot your suggestions and am basically going to make a list from that. Job done. You're incredible, thank you so much!

ears, your best marinades come in handy for elevating ordinary chicken or pork into something delicious, plus you can hand it over to the chaps to cremate on the BBQ and thus escape responsibility.

Good salads: cooked quinoa with a ton of great tomatoes, chopped cucumber and lots and lots of flat leaf parsley, drizzled with (nice) olive oil with some charcuteries makes a good light lunch. Green salads with everything, or tomato... regular gazpacho, (even the stuff in the chill cabinet is quite good) gussied up with some croutons/bruschetta. Buy puds/patisseries or stick to ripe fruit and cheese.

When it's too hot to cook, just assemble a eyeful of snackables.

earplugged, I probably have a few of those recipes (or a version of them) in my Google drive. I'll have a browse in the morning and share them out here if you'd like

XingMing thanks so much, yes I will look up some marinades and you're so right, it's a great idea to think of easy things I can toss together and buy as it is going to be very hot there.

botemp oh goodness yes please! So kind, thank you.

Btw I've noticed a few mentions of Dr Sam in this thread, is that Dr Sam Bunting? I saw here for a few sessions about 18 months ago, has anyone else seen her? I'd be interested in your thoughts if so...

@botemp Uniqlo opening in Amsterdam at the end of September, three floors.

I'm very much aware Midlife, just a touch late for the U collection, probably, unless the opening coincides with it. I haven't seen a firm date yet.

I'll get digging and add anything else of interest, earplugged. If you have the space for it I'd take a stick blender along as well as a good non stick pan as the ones provided are always terrible and scratched up.

We're probably a bunch of fangirls over on the Fantastic Skincare thread when it comes to Dr Sam Bunting we suspect she or her social team lurks on there too. Bananafish who occasionally pops up on here and there sees her colleague Dr. Emma. I generally point to Dr. Sam's videos as she explains things in an accessible way and her regimes/product recs are unlikely to do much harm. Did you not have a good experience, or am I misreading the ambiguity of three dots?

That would be amazing thank you botemp and yes, great idea to pack some cooking tools, I've been thinking about that as I tend to get a bit ragey when ill-equipped and under pressure!

No, you're not misreading my three dots, I think I definitely got good results (after some time) but the whole experience generally left a lot to be desired. I am very discerning about service when I am paying top whack for treatment and it fell (very far) short of what I would have expected for the cost and for the hype that she has generated. Just my opinion though, and I do think she is generous with the information and tips she goes freely via social media etc, however that generosity is most definitely not extended to paying clients, which I think is strange.

I can’t believe I’ve been sitting at home for 9 months, glued to mumsnet with a baby on my lap, and HAVEN'T seen these threads?!

I’ll have to try my best to catch up but in the meantime, hi! What I’ve read so far is amazing.

I’ve spent a lot of time in France and lived in Paris for a brief period so this is right up my Champs Elysées.

Without wanting to derail just yet, I’m just giving some notice that if I don’t find this info already discussed in a previous thread I’m going to come back at a convenient time to ask about stylish options in cold weather because my only winter options at the moment are to wear a big puffy (hideous) shiny black mountain warehouse coat or freeze mes nips off. 😃

A bientôt!

earplugged, I've always suspected that may well have been the case at Dr. Sam's. She's not purely a dermatologist but a media personality and entrepeneur at the same time and her reputation is mostly built on that rather than her medical practice. I'd love to invite you over on the Fantastic Skincare threads to expand a bit more on your experience if you'd be willing to oblige, there's at least one person I know who I think is considering seeing Dr. Sam as a milestone birthday thing so it's good to get a balanced insight/temper expectations.

Yes, self catered accomodation always reveals how spoilt you are back home. If you're travelling by car and have the room I'd definetely take a chef's and paring knife along. Veg peeler too, although with all the veg being bang in season you may not need one but if you do you'll be thankful for it. Also a heat resistant rubber spatula as they're very versatile, wooden sauce spoons (if they're offering one they're always questionable, including what other people use them for ), chopping boards are often shit as well, pepper grinder (the supermarket ones are always crap, but I'd buy a little pot of fleur de sel and a big bag of cooking salt there rather than taking it from home). Even though I'm convinced I hardly ever use a whisk, I'm always finding myself missing one Large bowls can be scarce. Aluminium foil can be weirdly expensive in places and cling film is probably worth taking from home as you always forget to buy some when there and it's not worth making another long trip for.

Ok I've stuck a few recipes in a folder, hope it's all working as it should. In case anyone's wondering, yes, I may have a bit of a peach obsession. There's probably around 3kg of stone fruit in the house in various states of ripeness currently For the peach tabouleh I actually prefer it with nectarines (I just put in for the tabouleh, I wouldn't bother with deep frying squid). I usually use quinoa instead of bulghur too as that's always left over and stuck in the freezer, but couscous would probably work too and is quick to make. Even quicker, I've made it with hemp seeds but that's not always readily available, though the French do seem to be on a massive health food/superfood kick lately.

You could make the classic vinaigrette ahead at home (if driving there) so you don't need to buy all the spare parts, it's not very perishable and you can use it as a base for everything else. On its own in salads (like the nicoise, I have no recipe for this as it's so straight forward), add dijon mustard to it to get a dijon vinaigrette which is also great in one of my other favourite 'no recipe' veg sides, tossed over lightly cooked haricot verts (you can do green beans but they're a bit woody and tough at this time of year) with walnuts and orange segments (with the skin removed), you could also use it as a base for salsa verde by adding in some capers, anchovies, soft herbs, etc.

The presentation on the watermelon gazpacho is a bit odd in that recipe IMO as it looks like two seperate dishes, I've made it like attached (I used a yellow watermelon for the gazpacho), and I'd probably be getting some nicer fat prawns in SoF with the head still attached (where all the flavour is) to make it more substantial and grill with the shell half off (but remove the poop shoot, people are totally justified to be snobby about that IMHO).

Oh, and at the Carrefour or wherever, get some Crepes Dentelles/Gavottes biscuits, just crumble them last minute over desserts and be amazed.

Bo the first line of your second paragraph made me smile (as we are currently self catering on a lake near the Atlantic coast .

I would also be interested in hearing about the Dr Sam experience on the skincare thread.

I was going to suggest that Earplugged took a sharp kinfe, but see bo has beaten me to it. SC accomodation, no matter how luxe, never ever has knives that are sharp enough.

No frock talk today, but looking over the skincare threads, I was tickled to discover that so many posters are devotees of the DHC cleansing oil; I got a random sample, and was instantly converted. Used daily, my skin looks younger, if not that much, and I am 62. With all the other stuff, I even think it's softening the bar code lines around my mouth. How much of this is down to summer?

Oh Botemp THANK YOU so much, you are such an utter darling, those recipes are all so gorgeous and delicious and I can't wait to try them! I think you should definitely look into writing general manual of Botemp's Chic Living Ideas. The world would be a better place with it.

You've definitely got me thinking about what I need to take, we are driving so I will be packing the car with as much kitchen equipment as I can. Had to laugh at the idea of what people could do with the wooden spoons *makes mental note to always take one to rentals in future I think we will be taking more kitchen stuff than clothes, but I figure we will mostly be in swim stuff anyway

Really, really grateful for all your kind ideas, recipes and tips, and far more confident about approaching it all now, actually really looking forward to the cooking part when I had really been a little trepidatious.

I'd be really happy to share my experience with Dr Sam, I will see if I can find the thread now. I found it near impossible to find reviews before I saw her so I would be really delighted to help inform others before they commit to a very big investment.

Morning everyone! Lovely lovely food suggestions- I’d love some burrata and peaches. We’re off to Normandy for 2 weeks in September- anything we should particularly look out for there, food wise?
Just poring over the September issue of Vogue feeling wistful - lovely neutral (camel etc) and beautiful coats and plaids. Got my maternity clothes down from the loft yesterday (don’t need them just yet, but not far off 😬) Errr they appear to be 80% black?! A colour that I have been avoiding recently because I’m not convinced it’s that flattering for me. Not looking forward to 6 months of funeral attire!
Thinking of a new cape for AW... Possibly something in a grey. Even better would be a grey with a bit of texture - subtle plaid or herringbone etc. Let me know if you see any contenders! Budget high end high street, not designer. There looks to be lots on the catwalks so hopefully that trend will filter across to the high street.
Went to Cos on the weekend. Sadly the navy silk dress was not in stock so I’ve ordered it online. Also tried on some boxy tops for hide the bump dressing. They did hide the bump. But at what cost?! I felt enormous in them and hated them. Do struggle with this in-between phase as I’m so used to emphasising my waist in order to flatter normal pear shape figure.
Looks like there are only 2 days of heatwave left in the London heatwave so hopefully that will open up a few more clothing options

Yum, yum, lovely food! I have both peaches and squid in at the moment, though I tend to fiddle around with recipes quite a bit (make them simpler, swap ingredients etc. ).

peony you sound like you are heading for a very chic pregnancy, I remember that difficult middle stage of pregnancy, trying not to look pregnant or too large, and dress for work. I found the bigger boobs the most challenging, as that stopped me wearing a lot of my clothes well before my stomach expanded!

Iwanka I meant to say earlier how chic you looked in that picture showing earrings!