Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: Orangutans in Paris make for poor gondoliers

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The sunshine might be fading from our passion fruit punch but we're looking forward to what autumn will bring.

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Resist Flo, sparkly tops are never warm enough to be useful in winter!

Grey anything is usually preferable to black unless you are young/tanned enough to glow in it. The bag looks endlessly useful quirky and Elle's casual work outfit sounds lovely.

Have added one of these to the family Secret Santa wishlist. It's a local manufacturer so I feel justified buying my DSis one of the hats as she has asked for a furry flattering hat -- but has linked two black ones. Any thoughts on which colour? She's a little younger than me and has a mid-brown straight bob. Other suggestions welcome too, but there's a strict price ceiling of £50.

Spotted some rather fetching knee length boots I thought might appeal to Bo a few days ago, but have lost them. Might have been in the Times on Wednesday. These, from John Lewis.

You mean there's something wrong with those foil trousers But thank you all and I'm still holding out. I should probably rope in a couple of friends and family too and then, if I did succumb, I wouldn't be able to wear it in public anyway.

The huffs look lovely Xing. I'd probably choose the treacle for myself but I know some people really dislike brown so if it was for someone else and I wasn't sure, I'd go for the ocelot or the steel.

Sorry you're having a stressful time quirky

Aagh, please don't talk to me about boots, I've just come home with two pairs of ankle boots one or both will probably be going back though, but the discount was good and I wanted to give them a good fitting within my wardrobe. Will post pics later. Thanks for thinking of me Xing, I'll have a peek later at those John Lewis ones later and chime in on the huff.

Just remember, Flo, your life isn't a 90s music video. Sparklies be gone. I think this foil trousers are legitimately a tin foil DIY, suppose it's a nice alternative from a hat. I wonder if the style sections of all the newspapers will suddenly feature 'all that sparkles' clothing this weekend...

Thanks, flo.

The 'all that sparkles', just makes me think of the masses of sparkly "partywear" that you see this time of year. Even in my 20s living and going out regularly in London, I didn't ever need "partywear". At the most, a black cocktail dress for the odd formal occasion. One of the supplements did do something with sparkles, velvet and something else the other weekend.

Meh to holding out! Bit of a rubbish day (mainly involving a 6 hour wait on roadside to tow off my poor sad camper van to a garage. At least today was the last day of the holiday and it broke down fairly close to home so we could make it back), and so was the weather, so I have bought some stuff in the Mango 30% off sale to cheer me up. A pearl necklace, a velvet blazer and a long wool skirt. We shall see if I actually like any of them or not. I had them all in my basket anyway so thought I might as well give them a go as not.

Has anyone ever tried anything from Finery?

Sorry about the tough time quirky. Love the faux fur hat Xing.

Thanks, CatherineMaitland, I hope your van is ok. 6 hour wait does sound rubbish! I've never tried finery, though it looks good in the pictures. Your mango purchases sound lovely and very chic. I have both a velvet jacket and wool skirts and get a lot of wear out of both.

I love Xing's "grey anything is preferable to black unless your young/tanned", as I'm pale and late 40s, that's definitely not me! I do wear some black, though, but generally try to "soften" it with grey or maybe navy/burgundy. I notice I have quite a few navy boots but no desire for a navy bag. But then I generally don't match my bag to my footwear, but wear colours that are part of a rough palette I think. Tkmaxx did have some lovely brown bags in store, including a very large chocolate brown, suede Allsaints one which was lovely but too big for me. I picked up a charcoal canvas tote, also Allsaints, but thought £99 for essentially a shopping bag was a bit much.

So I made it through! Better still, to take my mind off it and remind myself how many sparkly jumpers I already had, I had a wardrobe sort and unearthed sone epic black trousers that I bought in Gap in the mid/late 90s. I got pregnant soon after so hardly wore them and, by the time they fitted again, they were way out of fashion cos they’re high waisted - even a few years ago they looked odd. Fashion is funny. Bizarre that they still fit when I have stuff in bigger sizes that doesn’t but I’m not complaining.

A bit sad about Gap though - they were such a great shop in those days.

The only snag is, I can’t help thinking they’d look great in that Whistles top....

I counted 9 by the way

Catherine considering the day you’d had, you were positively restrained. Hope the purchases are good - I love a velvet blazer. I’ve not bought from Finery but a lot of it looks good.

YOU DO NOT NEED 10 SPARKLY TOPS, FLO!

Hope the black Friday stress is over for you now, quirky. Hope the other issues resolve as much as they can.

I've never seen use for party wear either, I've always wondered who do these days. I've just assumed large organisation office parties.

Catherine, that sounds like a disappointing end to the holiday, I hope the rest was good. I've never bought from Finery, do like the look of a lot of it but always been disappointed by the fabrics. Never seen it in the flesh though.

Xing, I'm pale with dark brown bob length hair but with weird undertones so I'm usually fine with black, less so in winter light, but even if I wasn't, when it's fur (fake or faux) the shine and texture usually make it more wearable. Saying that, black fur isn't at all versatile as assumed, it usually makes anything black and a bit old look tired and contrasts harshly with a lot of other colours. From those options I love the white but I think that's one you have to buy with conviction for yourself, I think the truffle is a good neutral, I've had things in that type of colouring and it's both flattering and versatile as it's not a solid colour. Treacle looks lovely but it could be a bit 80s yuppie but if DS is a more traditional classic dresser that might suit? Steel is more the contemporary counterpart, IIRC from looking at HM in the local department store it's a very flattering grey and would be a good alternative to black without the harshness.

Ok, I'll be back for promised memememe post later, didn't know I'd prattle on this long.

Actually on reflection, a sparkly jumper wouldn't work with those trousers. They look too new and pristine, even if they are 20-odd years old. I like sparkles best with something low key - like quirky's denim skirt.

So I think I may be over my glitter crisis. Thank you all - that's £55 quid you've saved me.

Fast fashion article, from Fast Company

I trust that restraint has won the day for Flo!

The truffle coloured pillbox has been acquired after consultation with BiL, and as my mum has been on my case about owing me a birthday present, there's an arctic fox huff in the parcel for me!

Interesting article, Xing. It's a discussion I've had lots with dd1, who is just starting to buy some of her own clothes. Some of which have not lasted well at all! The truffle pillbox and the Arctic fox sound great.

I'm hopingFlo's restraint did indeed hold as mine clearly got lost in the mail somewhere

Ahem, so promised memememe multi post. Booked two (already planned) holidays including Paris in early February

So the ankle boots that have been plaguing me for the past few days. Will briefly do the pros and cons.

Sam Edelman patent (more like a glossed leather) western boots which I really like, they add a variation to my wardrobe but realistically they fulfill much of the same use as my Acne Jensen's except I can wear these under wide leg trousers. But the big but, they're not exactly high quality shoes, manmade sole and I'm worried they'll either be painful long term on my finicky feet and/or there just won't be much life to them. Have decided to return and keep them too many times to count now...

Second pair are from Jil Sander which I'd had my eye on for a while now. My acne Pistols in a similar colour are nearing the end of their life, so having a secondary pair would extend that a bit but these are a touch more fragile and sizing was an issue. Size 38 had me slipping out of them far too easily but the size 37 I bought are only wearable with panty hose. I'm not the biggest fan of them with black opaques so their use will be somewhat limited but they'll have range in autumn and S/S as they look good with my skin tone. Normally hate a visible seam in the middle of a boot but since they're a proper design feature it works somehow. Also look great under wide leg trousers but I'd be scared to wear them in any sort of wet weather. Sizing still worries me somewhat as well, again may be a case of painful feet.

With both I'm left wondering if the prices are blinding my decisiveness, both came in quite cheaply (SE from €185 to €96 JS €400 to €160) hence deciding to take them home since they have a generous return policy of 30 days but I'm still none the wiser

I did manage to practice restraint somewhat, they started carrying the Staud bags at our equivalent of Selfridges and whilst I was left lukewarm over the solid colour ones I loved the graphic character of the black and white one. It wasn't on sale there but could be found online with a 20% discount online, as much as I like it, I worry if it's just too much of a temporary fancy. I'll just continue to gaze at it longingly for a bit and see if I really do still want it. (In an attempt to blur out person in the background I seem to have blurred all the edges, my feet haven't gone into the witness protection program...)

Did manage to snap up the Jacquemus black blazer I found in Paris with 40% off so happy I waited that out.

I thought I'd done okay on the restraint and somewhat purposeful shopping until yesterday, when Nyden decided to have a two hour flash sale when everything was 70% off and lost the plot a bit. Got 8 items, including two leather wide leg trousers (I'm no longer feeling the leggings on me, not sure about how these will suit me), knitwear in natural fibres, some trousers and a silk slip dress for €300. Ahem. Not intending to keep it all, but I figured it was a good way to get a grasp of the brand (although going by the extreme markdown I'm guessing their whole tribal limited drop strategy isn't all that successful so far so they may not be around all that long) and push a bit outside the usual comfort zone (I believe the paint effect on the jeans are metallic ).

TL:DR version: Black Friday/Cyber Monday mania has left Bo in a frazzled state. I think I'm doing a dry December in response. Pfft.

Also, I counted 3 seperate articles featuring December sparkles in the Guardian alone. Just call me Nostradamus from now on...

Speaking of December, I haven't really found the time I wanted to work on the Advent Calendar. I have a large image by and daily themes for it currently just haven't found the time to type out a bulk of it yet and have just realised it's almost December in a few days, I may have to do an improvised version or an abbreviated 12 days of or something, so no promises of anything at this point.

It's all the articles about "how to survive the festive season" that do my head in. Is everyone except me going to 900 parties between now and Christmas? This is a sad admission, but I don't think I've ever been to a proper Christmas party.

There was a piece in the Guardian about Batsheva Hay that was quite interesting, I didn't like the dresses much but that's purely personal; but her attitude to fashion was cool - www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/nov/25/batsheva-hay-interview-fashion-designer-former-lawyer-new-york-frills

Love the Jacquemus blazer especially.

If anyone fancies giving me some smart trainer ideas I'd not say no - my black trainers have basically given up the ghost and are looking more faded grey and a bit scruffy. They weren't ever that brilliant, being a £15 sale special from Office. I'm happy to brave something a bit more flat-form-ish and stylish...and possibly even something with colour. White is too much of a pain though. Any inspiration appreciated. I think I looked through millions of possibilities last weekend and didn't really think "must buy" about any of them.

So I stood firm against the sparkles and the longer I held out, the easier it got. I now feel positively saintly and odiously smug so probably heading for a major fall before Christmas.

I love those shiny boots bo. (There's a theme here isn't there, which is weird cos if anything I'm going through an austere phase, style wise.) I take the point about them not wearing well but I never bother about that when I buy shoes as I always trash them whatever they've cost (the only exceptions being the original Dr Martens and lately, Solovairs). I also love the blazer and the slip dress makes me all wistful as that is one thing I can confidently say I will never be wearing again. Also that coat that coat you're wearing in the pic with the stripy bag!

Speaking of which, I've been out in some shocking weather today and feel I ought to say a few words in praise of my Seasalt Janelle coat which is truly the Cinderella of my wardrobe - abused, neglected but always there keeping me snug and dry. If only I could grow to love it....

Catherine if it helps my Christmas festivities are mostly at lunchtime and will be over by dark and you know what, I like it that way. I'm afraid I don't wear trainers but hopefully someone else can advise.

Also thanks Catherine and you too Xing for the reading which I'm sure I'll enjoy.

Yes Flo, for all my espousing the eradication of all things shiny, I ended up with an awful lot of it

The coat is my Max Mara one, my grandmother insisted on buying it under the guise of, if you're going to this adulting thing best do it properly. It's getting on a bit in age at least 10yrs but probably closer to 15. Speaking of, I was looking at longer straight line coats at Max Mara and thought the quality of fabrics of the wool coats had declined massively, prices haven't gone up, but still a let down. It was a department store stand though, so that may have had something to do with it.

Glad I'm not alone in the despising of the most hard working coat in my arsenal. I have a Maje parka that turns me into a (very toasty) Jon Snow impersonator. I'm sick to death of it, thankfully temps are going up to double digits again tomorrow and I can go back to pretending it doesn't exist.

Catherine, I'm not much of a trainer connaisseur but have you had a look at the usual suspects at Veja and New Balance already?

I've saved both articles for reading later tonight, they look promising.

Sorry meant to chime in on the Christmas parties, nope I don't have 900 invites either. If we're talking proper office Christmas party like on TV shows/movies where everyone is ridiculously drunk and start photocopying private parts, I think I say with smug pride I've never attended one. I get a lot of invites from sales reps that are dressed up as networking events but they're really not, just booze and disappointing food. I think I would need a survival guide if I attended all of those.

Party wear is the last thing I'd invest in, people are not that dressy at all, the work related ones are just done in work wear. I think my new silk jumpsuit will get at least one December outing, it veers just dressy casual enough to get away with in a variety of settings by switching up the shoes.

Glad you managed to get the Jacquemus blazer Bo. I remember really liking it on you in the photo way back when.

Thanks Bo. I did look at Veja but the V logo doesn't really appeal that much.

Off to St Malo for a few days to cheer ourselves up so maybe I'll find something there!

The huff... opinions?

Love it Xing I also like your glasses (assuming their yours). Can I ask where they’re from?