Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: Blue Stockings are Back in Fashion

[botemp]

Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset to our wardrobes. Occasionally we pretend this is a proper Salon of the non-beauty kind.

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Recommended Second Hand Shops in Paris

Outlets in Central Paris

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Previous threads:

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Deux

Trois

Quatre

Cinq

Six

Delurking to say The Baily's Hotel in Kensington is lovley and location is fabulous. It will be at the top of the £150 budget though. As you were.

I've stayed in the Ace in Shoreditch and that was very cool - we met Public Enemy in the lift! Funky area to look around. I can't remember how much it was though.

You can pay extra for a window in the Z Hotels

My jeans were from the A/W17-18 collection, Red, but to answer your question, they are quite high-waisted (rather higher than my normal, and the size is a tad large, but they were the last pair, and in the sale and very cheap.)

On the hotel thing I’ll be flexible. If you’re over on Sunday botemp, and on for meeting up in the afternoon or for dinner, then I’ll pick somewhere in the same neck of the woods.

DAY 9 - DAY 9 - DAY 9 - DAY 9

Style Hacks from the Céline Runway (II): Yves Klein Blue

From botemp

Phoebe Philo certainly isn’t the first, nor will she be the last, to be inspired by the blue blue depths of Yves Klein’s work. It's also probably safe to say, it's one of her favourite colours to wear for herself. For many seasons the colour popped up, subtly or boldly, with accompanying impact.

My attempt

I had to dig out two oldies for this one. I love this colour and it was why I bought this top, but I haven’t worn it much and I think it’s because the sleeves are too short. It might be time to reluctantly move this one on. This was an online purchase that really should have been returned, bit I missed the window and kept it anyway. The trousers are navy. The bag is an oldie and was bought with one of my first bonuses so although I’m not sure I’d rebuy it now, it has sentimental meaning. The blue is really vibrant, but the lambskin is not very kid-friendly.

Shoreditch is a little bit of a pastiche of itself nowadays.

A lot of high end brands have moved in, especially along Redchurch Street, and a lot of the original artists have moved to cheaper areas.

That said, there are still some great bars, shops and sights to see, and is one of my favourite areas in London (I did live there, so I am bias).

The Hoxton is a nice enough hotel, compact but wellnlaid out rooms. One word of warning, the neon lights in the corridors are very harsh. One friend who used to stay a lot due to work would always complain that they would set of her migranes.

Tube wise, Liverpool Street is a longer walk than Old Street Station, but better for the lines available (central line).

I'm not sure what the price is like, but I've heard good reviews of the Andaz at Liverpool Street.

The Hilton Double Tree at Tower of London is a good location and has a fab roof top bar. Again, no idea on prices.

Red
I think there were quite high waisted. I have no wish to relive the horror that was low slung jeans of the early 2000's!

Elle that's a beautiful colour on you.

Thanks for the additional hotel recs, the Baily's is not usually my thing but it looks like a good option for my dates and with single occupancy it's not much more expensive than the Chelsea one.

The Hilton is also possibly an option despite having had a terrible experience in another Hilton in London but I'll try not to hold it against them all.

A friend recommended the Nobu hotel on Shoreditch which is indeed right up my alley but vastly over budget and rather self indulgent on my own and I fear I'll just never leave the room and order delicious Japanese roomservice all weekend.

The Z hotels are bit of a pain as you have to look up the price individually, will have a proper look later as they have quite a few locations.

Speaking of locations, I'd have thought the Hilton wouldn't be the best location, it is for business and seeing the traditional sights, of course, but then I'm not all that clued up with the underground. I do remember that somehow I always have the luck that the circular line is under construction or otherwise out of order

Looking gorgeous in blue, Elle.

The silver bangle I bought from Etsy, the hammered, silver one. I'll try to link to the seller. Her Instagram feed had a "parisian" blogger with similar bangles, I saw (I had already bought and received mine by then).

Stella magazine making me laugh with "new forever pieces". Surely if they're "new", as in current now, they might not be "forever"... Nice clothes, just amusing fashionspeak .

I think they're lurking...

No idea why my phone has flipped the photo round.

This is the Etsy listing, she has some really nice stuff in her shop.

That cuff looks great quirky, I'm struggling a bit reading the article but not too hard to imagine what's being said.

I do think there is a bit of navel gazing going on, generally there is a trend to higher quality pieces but I think for the UK there is a regional component to it. I hate to bring up Brexit again (I promise I'll lay off after this) but it does make me think this ethos is a partial trend for some as we've seen a similar consumer pattern during the financial crisis years. Economic uncertainty dictates different choices, as soon as there is money again a lot will probably abandon it. 'Forever' makes for a nice security blanket when you have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

For comparison, economically things are on the up here and there certainly is a group of minimalist adoptees but it isn't as widespread. Secondhand and sustainable definitely feels more like the predominant trend here but that feels more ideological and individuality driven rather than economics. Lots of overlap between all the currents, of course.

The fashion press is all over quality, timeless and forever pieces at the moment. I am sure they are lurking amongst us, but I wish one would have the decency to admit it!!

Lovely bangle! I liked these but they are not a million miles apart in style.

My newest project not an acquisition because it's altering stuff I inherited has been to commission a jeweller (via an antique jewellery dealer I know a bit) to convert a beautiful Victorian opal brooch into a cocktail ring. I have a suitable ring for re-use, and it's being done to save all the original Victorian pins and lug pieces so it can be restored in the future. It is going to be magnificent, I hope. As I don't wear brooches and might occasionally wear a big ring, the intention is to create something more useful. My mum (who owned both bits of jewellery before me) is delighted with the idea and looking forward to seeing it next month. Picture to come, even I should be able to manage that one.

Xing that ring sounds gorgeous, what a lovely idea. The bracelet is lovely too.

In my experience, things that last forever a long time are not always the things you think.

I wore an old toast jumper yesterday, that I had previously been a bit unsure of. It's a gorgeous purply heather, Shetland wool, but I had sized up and as it was a sale bargain, couldn't then swap for a smaller size. Anyway, I wore it yesterday, but discovered that it looks well proportioned with my tulip denim skirt (it's loose but not that long), I think it didn't work before with things like skinny jeans, as it just made me look top heavy. I'm going to try it with straighter jeans, too.

Mes culpa, people are kind enough to respond to me and then I drop off the face of the earth...

bo don’t I wish I were in the same discerning society as you! I’ll take my princess and the pea badge though :)
I asked DH about the oven, and he hasn’t taken it apart so basically is not fully sure... but from the outside it looks like what you described as an older setup. Hob controls on the oven, a strip of countertop between the two. We assumed from that that the oven must be compatible with the hob, since it houses the controls. It was only installed (not by us) in 2011...

Methen the poor little tush of your DS. Do the tubes interfere with sitting/playing?

Flo I’d love to see an action shot of the Margaret Howell trousers :) in fact I should read on to see if you have posted any already!

For travel options bo, doesn’t the Eurostar have a direct Amsterdam-London service now? It seems to take only 4 hours (or not even) and you are delivered to central London. It’s got to beat Luton on all counts!

Elle I love your calendar efforts and the chocolate poos cracked me up! I might try them with DS too, he’s also at the age where anything scatological is simply hilarious.

Elle I am following attempting to follow your steps. Just read your blue efforts on the calendar as I was going to share my pics.
must learn from you and *Bo on how to do better selfies
Navy blue trousers, silk blouse from Hobbs from previous season and navy brogues. I have to wear socks in winter, would like not to but I am afraid I have to.
And to make it easy just went with my navy blue coat and royal blue scarf from COS that I got in the sale and is lovely and soft.

Xing the cuffs looks lovely and ring sounds amazing. I cannot wear cuffs due to my ridiculously small wrists, just looks wrong. I wish I could.
Btw - I got the Sensei product you mentioned before and I have not tried it yet but will report when I do .

Well to any lurking press, I wish you'd all pay me my cut already although traditional media is terribly paid and the freebies aren't what they used to be so I don't blame you for hogging it all.

Thanks for the link, Xing, have made a note to go and visit their shop when I'm in Paris at the end of the month. The custom project sounds exciting, can I be nosey and ask what kind of costs are involved? I have quite a few things from my mother and grandmother and don't wear much of it, adapting it into something else seems like a good option.

quirky, I agree, often things that seem like a forever peace when you're buying them more often than not are a justification to spend more than average or buy something you don't necessarily need, they don't get worn more than average or last exceptionally longer IME. It's usually the unexpected things that you didn't think too hard on that get worn to death and patched up as it can't possibly disappear from your closet.

Peregrane, you can still get the combinations but they're rare. Mostly German makes and special order. Back in the day the hob needed more space beneath and the top of the oven sat lower. Likely you'll have to replace both because a new oven with controls is always made/sold with a specific hob. It shouldn't be an issue to match a new hob and oven with individual controls, you just need to check the hob is suitable for installing with an oven beneath (most are). Only issue you may have is that you only have one electrical socket, for safety it's best to have two rather than using an extension cord or similar but it's a small electrical job if it needs doing.

The Eurostar isn't really a viable option unless I want to silence a bit of CO2 emission guilt. It's 6hrs to London as you have to get out in Brussels and go through passport controls and security check there. For whatever reason they launched the line before getting the whole customs thing sorted in Amsterdam (it's quite complex I believe as the custom area officially becomes British territory or something along those lines). Aside from that it's also almost three times the price of an easyJet ticket, but thanks for thinking of it. Think Gatwick should be manageable.

I'm about ready to book, are we definitely on for the 18th of March?

I am definitely in for 18th March.
Are you planning to travel on sat or Sunday? I cannot promise but I could scape on Saturday for dinner if you around.

Will post the costs of upcycling the jewellery when I know what they are going to be, but the material cost should be fairly negligible as I have supplied most of the raw material. There are four small (and TBF) indifferent quality diamonds that will come back to me unless the jeweller has a use for them. So we are only talking about his time and costs.

In Dubai where most of the jewellery I know about (mine) has been made, my sister was a regular visitor and introduced a lot of business to one of the biggest and best manufacturing jewellery companies, so she and we were well looked after. There the jeweller's time and expertise were paid by salary so the company made the profit. They employed a huge workroom of mainly Indian jewellers, diamantaires and cutters so the second hand remakes were just fun projects to keep people interested, I surmise. Their work was mostly high quality copies of famous designs, so the opportunity to make something new from recycled gems was probably one of the more enjoyable bits of the job.

Red, I am touched that you trusted my opinion enough to buy the product. I so so hope you love it as much as I do. And yes 18 March sounds fine.

Jewellery isn't something I wear much as it looks daft with waterproofs and a muddy dog, but my sister has lived in several cities with very exciting jewellery cultures. In Rio, H Stern (big company) transformed the local stones into iconic fashion items; sister was friendly with one of their senior designers who retired but kept his hand in with interesting private commissions. He made my mum a beautiful cartier style ring with a very pretty pink Imperial topaz and a few tiny diamonds. I had my name on it, but she lost it at a wedding.

In Cote d'Ivoire, she became interested in African styles, and bought wonderful costume jewellery. Very dramatic but no gem value.

In the UAE, she did relocations for senior people at a sovereign wealth fund and then for a global accountancy firm. The wives of partners always wanted to look at the gold markets, so she got involved. Her personal jewellery is extremely subtle; unless you were interested and knowledgeable you probably wouldn't notice it but she has traded up sequentially to what she tells me are really rather good bits of bling. I can't tell the difference.

between her jewels and H Samuels really.

Lol at jewellery with a muddy dog, Xing, I often accessorise mine with a parka and child . Though, my jewellery veers towards the chunky, silver side. I don't wear more than one silver ring in winter, as some are quite uncomfortable under gloves. Nothing very flash, dd1 is rather taken with my mum's jewellery, which is much more blingy than mine!

I have to say a muddy dog bedecked in jewellery sounds like a fabulous editorial spread (jewellery will obviously be immaculately clean in contrast), take note journos and make it happen, might as well repeat the idea on a muddy parka and child too

Red, I don't think you should be taking selfie advice from me, hardly my forte. Only thing I really do is take more than I think I need and pick the least worst one

Very kind of you to offer but I'd feel bad summoning you down for dinner. I'll be fine on my own and likely poor company as I'll be up quite early and on a different time zone and will most likely push myself to the max and see as much of London during the day before ultimately crashing.

Love the blue outfit. My wrists are often too small to hold up a cuff too, it's the most bizarre feeling in the world as you think it's so bulky and feels like it sits in place and then suddenly you hear a thud... I do like a fine bangle, contemplating this one from a local (sustainable, though I'm a bit confused by this in jewelry terms, don't they all reuse metals?) that's inspired by an elastic band. Unsure about the chain bit though, need to go see it in RL.

All booked btw, Elle, I'll PM you about the hotel I ended up going with and Sunday.

That's a lovely bangle, bo. Fine jewellery is a bit "lost" on me, I can stack it up, though. I'm awaiting the magazine spread with muddy dog and child (often muddy, too) and parka. It sounds quite English Country, especially with diamonds . Maybe a stately home in the background. A far cry from the school run!

Yes English country sounds good. And one of those dogs that could be mistaken for a mop. I'm imagining a walled garden on an estate somewhere, the frost barely lifting from the ground (though that would mean there isn't any mud but just go with it) and the dew dropped red and green cabbages echoing the sparkle of the gems. Very dark and murky reminiscent of a Vanitas still life painting hahaha good luck getting a child and a dog to stand still. Child will need a bit of dirt on their face, for that Victorian look... and we'll need a penguin too, just cause.

Nice bangle... simplicity itself, so immensely wearable.

I am this morning, having had a quote of £250 to reconfigure my jewellery into a cocktail ring, with me providing just about every scrap of precious metal. Pass the smelling salts, please.