Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: Blue Stockings are Back in Fashion

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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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Thank you both. Yes the posture thing is really interesting - I definitely walk with a bit more of a swagger.

I've just been catching up on your ring plans Xing. Ouch at the price but it would be lovely to have something custom made that also has a personal connection.

bani I'm with you on pretty much everything except Ursula Le Guin (although of course I'm sorry she died). I'm afraid I'm a fair weather wide trouser friend though - I like my ankles dry and warm.

I was completely stunned by the conversion price, which I thought was on the high side, and I nearly pulled the plug completely. Then I asked my mum to look out her last valuation (2012) and was stunned again. I know insurance valuations are priced to replace and that opals are regarded as semi-precious, but nothing had prepared me for the six-year-old valuation, so it changes the ratio of expense to valuation. I rather thought it was worth about £200, so 250 to do the work would have been very expensive, and I probably wouldn't have bothered. It turns out to be valued a bit higher, which makes the deal less sentimental. It will be stunning when it's done, and I'll never see its clone.

Flo The trousers are stunning.
And suit you so well. It makes me
Feel to want to touch the fabric, how is it?
Btw - the Biba book is really a gem. I did not see the 60’s but really enjoy reading about it and can only dream to have been around so much artistic inspiration.

Xing you are indeed getting me to look into another potential product ... possum merino fingerless gloves with mittens... that might be the solution! I am indeed born in the tropics and even tough I got used to many many things and love many more, the cold January days are not one of them.

I have tickets for 1.30 pm Monday 18 March on my possession.

My advent attempt on the Jumper tie
From Bo’s write up:
Now try to forget the yuppie 80s over the shoulder in order to embrace the resurgence of the tied up jumper. Knotting fabric to create new silhouettes has been slowly emerging on the runways for a while but at Phoebe Philo’s final collection it was heavily emphasised which can only mean it will be incorporated everywhere. It’s an easy way to add dimension...

My attempt: an old and very much loved cashmere blend fine knit, has been used as a scarf. I am with a bad throat today and like something soft and light around my neck (kid comfort blanket springs to mind ).
It came up tucked safely around parka when we went out for lunch, but when indoors I tried to loose it up casually in the fashion shown in photo.
Does it work? or is it a bit, Why she’s not just wearing a scarf instead of that jumper?

Bo here are some of the details of the places I mentioned. There is another couple in Westbourne Park (near Notting hill) area that were good last time I went, will see if I can trace them down in google.

Fara Charity Shop (I am not sure if I have visited this one)
www.faracharityshops.org/shops/nottingHill_fara.php

Appleby - 95 Westbourne Park Villas, Maida Vale, W2 5ED
(Near Notting hill tube / Westbourne Park station)
I went there last year. Very very good quality stuff, unfortunately at the time my wallet was empty...
www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shopping/Appleby/1617/

British Red Cross - Chelsea off kings road (on Kings Road there is a small Joseph outlet too -not cheap but you might find the odd gem at a good price-)
69-71 Old Church St, Chelsea, London SW3 5BS

Flo, why do you hate Le Guin?? (never mind, don't tell me, leave me with my love) (I am able to be critical of her writing myself tbf)

Red - I dunno. The picture is very small so from here it just looks like a scarf. Isn't part of the point that it very obviously is supposed to be a jumper? It doesn't look bad or anything, but I'm thinking that if it at first looks like a scarf and only upon closer inspection becomes a jumper then you veer into "why jumper as scarf?" territory. Which is so arbitrary and ridiculous really haha.

This is not a look I could pull off at all by the way. I am very much in need of things to be a bit streamlined, all flappy bits get caught in door handles and so on for me. Pas très Parisienne. If I draped a scarf I'd end up like this ancient librarian in town many moons ago - let me tell you the story. She must have been a few years past retirement age already, and seemed older. Quite short, and stooped. In my mind she was 103, she felt that old. Clothing style was what we in Sweden call "kulturtant" - Gudrun Sjödén, Marimekko, Nanso plus home-grown artsy knits and stuff. I'm not disparaging, there's a part of me that aspires to this style since I think a kulturtant is rather a nice thing. Anyway, over one shoulder she had draped a large triangular scarf. Just the one shoulder. Hanging there, more importantly slipping off from there. I remember my landlady in Paris doing this. She fastened it sneakily with a pin, also it was Hèrmes. This was prob Gudrun and no pin. I asked her for help to find a book that wasn't on the shelf. She slowly dragged the scarf back up to the shoulder, checked computer, dragged scarf back, shuffled over to trolley with recent returns, pulled at scarf, shuffled back to me, pulled at scarf, sighed, shuffled out into library to locate book with me trailing behind, stopping every now and then to fix scarf, book not there, sigh, adjust scarf, shuffle to somewhere else, SCARF...

I nearly combusted.

banivani I adore your description of the librarian. I can completely visualise her! I'd say you're right that a pin might well be the secret key to that look. Or else cheat and buy one of these www.modaoperandi.com/deveaux-pf19/cashmere-scarf-neck-sweater

red nothing wrong with the look and I'm sure it was cozy with a cold, but agree that it doesn't read as jumper, which may not be a bad thing, my jumper on jumper effort veered to the slightly ridiculous. Thanks for all the London recommendations!

Okay I've gone ahead and booked for 1.30pm - I hope that's okay.

Floisme I adore the trousers. They suit you so well.

XingMing probably the right call to have someone good working with opal. I believe they can be quite delicate. What you have in mind sounds like it's going to be really special.

banivani I want that to be a character in a movie or something! The scarf lady.

I was a bit self conscious not to attract attention to the jumper/scarf or end up with the thing just hanging there not doing the job is supposed to do. Keep my neck warm and yes I ended up just wearing a “scarf”.

Nursing the mother of all colds today at home. DH away for work so just gaining energy for when need to pick up DC from school.
So my fashion state today is reduced to an enormous fluffy robe.

bani To be fair, I've only read 'The Left Hand of Darkness' but I will never get that time back. I should have realised it wasn't my thing and given up, but it had come so highly recommended that I thought it must be me and that I would get into it if I stuck at it, so I ploughed on till the bitter end and then felt very cross.

Red the trousers are in a medium weight cotton. They also had them in a thick corduroy which was really tempting but I knew if I was going to spend all that money, it needed to be something I could wear most of the year. The only thing I'm about is that they're dry clean only. I normally ignore dry clean labels on cotton and I could probably afford for them to shrink a little in a machine wash, but do I dare?? Plus it would mean holding off on shortening them.

I'm undecided on the jumper-as-scarf Red. But even on the model, it looks like a big scarf on first look so I imagine the 'Is it or isn't it?' factor is part of the point. When I first saw the Advent Calendar I thought it was a brilliant idea, a bit like that thing for a few years ago for fastening your cardigan with an old brooch. But I guess it's trickier than it looks.

oh my god

I love TLHOD. You remind me a little of NIck Hornby though, he wrote a funny essay on how much he just cannot read science fiction.

I think trousers are dry clean because then they will look the same after cleaning, whereas when washed they may be hard to iron out to The Same As When Bought. At that price point surely they should not shrink??? This is why I can't buy expensive clothes.

Red: Today's outfit for me is merino wool joggers and merino wool top plus thick wool socks. ;) I shall provide links:
cubus.com/sv/p/overdelar/ullunderstall-troja/7156815_F481
cubus.com/sv/p/stickade-trojor/marna-byxa/7222488_F390
www.ullcentrum.com/en/for-your-feet/socks/sock-ribbed-thick-size-35-48/

I LOVE THESE CLOTHES. -15 or so outside today. I'm working from home.

I don't think it's possible carrying off a jumper as scarf unless you are unapologetic about it. I would never manage, have no insouciance. Go for a bigger jumper, go wild!

[Flowers] for the viruses... and feel better soon.

The sweater as scarf looks very tricky to execute well; fear that it would be old-bag-lady territory on me, as I would be bound to go overboard, but kudos to you Red on controlling it carefully. Hear what you say about the ensemble needing more than a quick twitch to switch from indoor to outdoor modes.

Nice trackie bottoms and socks Bani. Personally wedded to mohair socks from October to April.

Hope you feel better, red, I'm at home with dd2 who is snotastic. Just waiting till I catch it as she has been spray sneezing all morning .

Love the trousers, flo. I do like some Science Fiction/Fantasy but remember trying to read The Wizard of Earthsea, but tbf I was probably too young.

That's exactly what I'm thinking, bani trousers that price shouldn't shrink and, if they did, I'd be livid. But yes, dry cleaning might help preserve the crispness (although MH keeps its shape really well). This is one advantage of normally buying second hand - all these issues have already been ironed out.

Unintentional pun there - 'ironed out'. Anyway. Yesterday it was cold but dry so outfit was extreme wide leg cords from last winter's Uniqlo U. (Disclosure: I lost my nerve and had the legs taken in slightly.) High waisted with a fitted cashmere jumper. Very Old Hollywood - or Bay City Rollers, depending on your point of view. I'm back in narrow legs today though having checked the weather forecast.

Back to the drawing board with the opal brooch; the jeweller that the dealer recommends has declined to work on altering it, because opals are fragile (as are the seed pearls that surround it) and the potential to wreck it is just too great. So where does it go from here? Returned to its box, I suppose.

Could it be left in its present setting with just a minor alteration to allow it to be worn as a pendant? Perhaps it's not a style you would wear as a pendant, but that's the only thing that springs to mind. Or else use it to fasten your scarf?

I don't wear pendants, full stop, Elle. ANd I don't think that would change much. The difficulty comes with needing to heat the setting; the risk of damaging the main stone and the surrounding pearls is very serious.

I would have to buy the right sort of scarves though!

That's a shame Xing.

Could you wear it just on a lapel somehow? Or rather than wear it, could you frame it some way and have it somewhere in your house to look at all the time?

I had the email with the Uniqlo U preview for spring today.

Sorry, will catch up properly later, just wanted to check we are all individually getting our tickets, right? Red mentioned having bought tickets, plural, so just want to check that was a typo and I'm not about to buy an extra ticket.

Bo - sorry I bought one ticket for me. I should have offered to buy! To be honest I thought better for you not to depend on me /anyone else since you are coming from further afield.

No worries, makes the most sense for everyone to buy their own. Happy to buy my own ticket and just wanted to make sure I wasn't buying something that was already bought. I'll go ahead and get mine now.

Xing that is a shame indeed. Is there another different jewellers that can perhaps think of a different method?
Or could you take photo of front and back and sent to some others that you might find online to ask for advice?
All pests gone, well just lingering cough but feel ok now.

On my way to the office, I only go there when I need most of the time I work from home/wherever. But I quite like to go (not so often). So opted for nude pink silk blouse and similar colour cashmere cardigan, black trousers. I have my fur (fake) black stole out, is the warmest and softest of neck attires I own and no cold air penetrates.
another time I might try the bigger jumper version again as scarf , possibly will work better for in between seasons

Adore your MH trousers Flo! I fear they would never hang right like that on me.

I am on team Red with the lurgy, and on team bani regarding TLHD! It’s so good. But I do love me some science fiction. A brain in a vat story got me interested in philosophy as a teen... I don’t dare to pick up Margaret Atwood any more, too many of her books feature child abuse, but speculative fiction also rocks my boat. The FT had a good article last week squaring off 1984 and Brave New World in terms of which did a better job of predicting today’s world...

On a more prosaic note, I now confess to having bit the bullet on an Everlane order, which arrived yesterday. I have stuck it all in the wash as it stank of that cheap factory smell 🤨 but I shall report later.

Hobbs have some classic coats and other bits in a BrandAlley sale this week. Not sure what the quality is like.

I'm looking forward to The Testaments coming out later this year.

Peregrane we saw Margaret Atwood speak at a local Literary Festival a few years ago. She was amazing and had a razor sharp intellect. Didn't suffer fools gladly and made verbal mincemeat of someone who questioned her atheism.

CatherineMaitland I have a red, wool coat from Hobbs from about 8years ago. It's a wool/cashmere mix and very good quality. Brand Alley are generally quite good, there can be a bit of a wait and occasionally I've had some orders cancelled as they haven't been in stick, but the brands tend to come round in rotation is what the customer service told me.

I am not, to be fair, a science fiction fan, although I'm partial to the odd dystopian nightmare. I should have realised Le Guin wasn't for me.

I've had the Uniqlo U email too and normally I'd be limbering up to make a dash for the pleated widelegs, and moaning that the curved leg trousers seem to be in a droopy jersey yet again. And thinking wistfully about the green, balloon shape jumper. But after my recent indiscretions I'll be sitting it out