Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: Be More Aunt Larry

[botemp]

Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset and lots of chatter in between.

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Favoured Parisian addresses:

Second Hand Shops

Outlets

Favoured London addresses:

Charity Shops, Dress Agencies, and Outlets

Favoured NYC addresses:

Consignment shops, Vintage, and Restaurants

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Previous threads:

Un Deux Trois Quatre Cinq
Six Sept Huit Neuf

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We’re ten threads old! To celebrate we’ve got thread merch.

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

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I'm quite partial to a bit of Marimekko. My mother wore quite a lot of it, she could carry off patterns really well. Very Scandi but it does seem to suit Asian women well. Noticed some of the material choices were a bit dodge. In contrast, have been spotting a lot of 100% wool or 70/30 wool cashmere mixes at H&M in non boring designs, they're picking up where Zara seems to be letting that side down.

I managed to snag the Massimo Dutti boots with 20% off, should be here tomorrow. I'm not, however, so hoping the neighbours will take it in. Headed down south again and heavily debating how sensible it is to stop by the outlet lured by 75% off the outlet prices at La Perla. BF hasn't ever been a big thing in physical stores here but the outlet village keeps sending me countdown emails, so am somewhat worried...

Also, I've been getting a few emails in with a discount that's being directed to charity instead of to customers for Black Friday. As much as it appears to be performative (corporations don't stay afloat on good intentions and these are all ethical/sustainable brands so it fits their PR narrative) and it doesn't inspire me to buy anything any more than most of the BF stuff, I do appreciate the counter culture.

I've never really found BF the bargain holiday paradise it's made out to be, for electronics it can be good but beyond that they're not really offering discounts that much greater than what's normally on offer and the rest will be a lot higher in the winter sales which are starting earlier and earlier each year, by my estimation those offering 20% off now, will be at 30-40% off in 2-3 weeks. The MD boots will have been sold out by then so wasn't going to chance that, although I'm fully expecting to send them back as par for the course.

I think H&M are really stepping up their game material-wise - sadly, if they don't sort out the fit of clothes they won't sell as well and they might abandon the "quality" venture. I hardly ever even look at Zara - the website is terrible, the shop is confusing. All the Inditex webshops are bad and I think this will cost them.

There's been a lot of writings about clothes' shops making less money, I wonder if the new decision by the EU parliament to declare a climate emergency will hit them harder (my reasoning is if people are alreday cutting back there they might be more likely to cut back more).

Haglöfs, a Swedish outdoor brand, have declared today a Green Friday in protest. They've closed the webshop and all items in stores are double the price with the money going to the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

The stress of BUY NOW makes me very unkeen to buy. I'm so obviously being manipulated, I hate it.

Same, my reasons for wanting to opt out of fast fashion, or reduce it more than I already do, is not so altruistic. I hate the FOMO attached to it and the inevitable returns. In that sense charity shops/consignment shops haven't been that great of a replacement for me, it's the same have to buy it now or miss out rationalisation at about the same prices (here) and no possibility of returns.

I do wish H&M would just commit to something, they constantly flip back and forth between quality and trend driven and it often ends up in a disappointing average. They're just so big as a company and they just seem to be constantly trying random stuff, all the good quality items are sold exclusively online with no signposts except that they're online exclusives

I'm just viewing the EU statement as a bit of symbolic politics for now. It would be great if actual substantiative policies came from it but considering we can't even get a consensus on EU wide corporate taxes passed I'm not sure the fast fashion companies have anything to worry about yet.

I really like the Marimekko kids stuff, it's adorable.

I don't know much about EU directives for the fashion industry, but it's definitely happening in finance. Christine Lagarde who is now President of the ECB was speaking about it and the EU are finalising the taxonomy on sustainable investment with a pretty short runway to implementation by EU standards.

I only made one fashion purchase. Moda Operandi had an extra 30% off sale so I bought a pair of Acne Jensen boots in black suede. They were £440 --> £180 and even though there was a note saying that they couldn't be discounted below 50% it seemed to go through at that price. It felt like a good price for something that I think is fairly classic. I checked my wishlist at NAP and nothing was reduced so I didn't look any further.

Other than that I pulled the trigger on some lights and a mirror and furniture that was 20% off. We're moving back in next week although we'll have to live without the furniture for another few weeks.

Black Friday does make me feel slightly queasy too. I also feel a bit uneasy that it can advantage those with better cash flow. So for instance I can pay for my gym membership upfront and get 4 free months etc which seem to necessarily advantage those who have the cashflow to pay upfront right before Christmas. I know it's good for the business too, but I don't know something about it doesn't sit terribly well.

Yeah you're right that buying secondhand doesn't encourage thoughtful shopping. It literally is a case of walk away and lose it forever. I kind of factor in the occasional stinker as part of the overall cost and I tell myself my money's still gone towards a charity or a local independent business. But it's why I've always avoided Ebay - it's hard enough to make the right call when you can see it and feel it and try it on but I'd find it impossible online.

I was a massive H&M fan until only about 3 years ago. You always had to rummage and I never bought online but there was decent stuff to be found e.g. pure cotton knitwear. It was a very abrupt decline. I still go and look around fairly regularly but only to keep up with what's current and how they're styling it.

I've had the most bizarre selection of BF emails this week - not just the usual suspects but everything from Audi to toenail fungus treatments. I'm waiting formy first Black Friday funeral plan offer.

That's a great price on the Jensens Elle, they run a little small by Acne standards and are a bit of a pain to break in but probably not an issue with the suede.

I'm on the lookout for a large mirror too, for the guest room so don't want to spend the earth. Not that fussed about discount, it's the shipping I want for free as that's always disproportionately high in comparison to the mirror and I've yet to find anything locally. Saw an ideal one in the window of Zara home but it's just part of the window display

Just read an article how badly BF affects small businesses, they really can't afford not to participate but the high rate of returns and free shipping mean they run at a significant loss and overwhelming number of orders not getting out in time leaves them with bad customer experiences who won't buy with them again. It's a lose lose situation.

I get the discomfort with the bulk buy offers but realistically people who are struggling to get by surely aren't prioritising things like a gym membership with their limited spare cash. The online exercise program I'm subscribed to is offering a lifetime of free access rather than the monthly fee for approx 1.5yrs x the monthly fee. It's a really good deal on paper but it's obviously a cash raising move, they need steady subscriber numbers for external investment and it raises capital in the short term to bulk out their annual earnings. It turns me off rather than entices me, they may very well be struggling financially and that lifetime subscription may therefore only be a couple of months if the move doesn't pay off.

If I do bo I'll insist on a recommend-us-to-a-friend offer.

I'm waiting for my first Black Friday funeral plan offer.

roflmao

Brilliant Flo! Love it, and also rolling with laughter.

Well, it was a bit of a day yesterday. I did manage to get some nice things at La Perla but pretty much left after that due to long lines everywhere. It was a bit of a crap day though, had to deal with a lot of delays and on my way back getting into the train I caught someone with their hand halfway into my bag thankfully acted in time and nothing is lost but I was rather shaken up by it regardless, he had the nerve to act innocent and deny any wrongdoing before quickly jumping out of the train

I had arranged to visit with my father this weekend so was headed there and he asked me to pick up something from the city centre at the department store that's always open late and I hadn't realised Black Friday was an all out shopping evening event there as well, and again very crowded. I didn't see anything but did get caught up in the panic of the crowd as there was a stabbing incident, heard lots of screaming, nearly got caught under a police horse that came running in for crowd control (they're always there on night events like these and a good thing they were). It was all very disorienting and I'll never understand why a giant crowd of disaster tourists will run after flashing emergency lights into a screaming crowd trying to get away as it only made getting out more difficult. I quickly took a taxi to my father's all shaken up again. Poor victims were all underaged, apparently just random It's not the norm here at all, think it even made the international news.

Feel a bit silly to feel out of sorts because of it all nothing really happened to me and I'm making rather poor company to my father but it is what is. I was going to start posting the advent calendar tonight as it's December 1st tomorrow already but I'm postponing it until at least Monday as I just don't have the head space for it right now.

God Bo that is awful. I hadn’t seen that on the news - scary thing to be caught up in. It’s terrifying that it’s random - but if it’s terrorism that’s what it has to be almost.

bo, that's horrible and quite natural to feel shaken up.

Oh lovely Bo that is truly awful.
Don’t be hard on yourself for feeling shaken even if nothing happened to ‘you’ as you said. Those situations are truly awful and very natural to be shaken even to just presence that affects most of us.
Very glad you are unharmed.

We can wait on the advent, or even our advent can start later or be shorter . Honestly I (and probably all here) are truly grateful that someone with such a critical eye and stunning writing skills takes the time to share what you share.

I have just seen the news of the incident, unfortunately here there was an incident in London Bridge also with a casualty so the front news are focused on that an the one over there took the back seat in terms of coverage.

Oh bo I hope you’re okay. One of those event would have left me shaken, never mind two.

So sorry Bo

Thanks everyone, I do still feel a bit like I'm one of those sadfishing posters going woe is me but the body's still feeling a little restless (I don't break down cortisol and adrenaline very well) so I know I'm not being that unreasonable about it all. Hearing the children are only 13 and 15 made me all again today, thankfully they were quickly discharged from the hospital.

Motive is still unknown Bani, and the suspect is yet to be arrested. I think it reached international news (Guardian article) because of the London Bridge attack earlier yesterday and think the terror motive was known already at that point. I suspect this was probably mental health related, possibly spurred on by the London attack. Although Gare du Nord was also evacuated last night to disarm an explosive, details seem a bit vague about that one but apparently they were receiving anonymous calls warning them all day.

Anyhow, going to be avoiding big crowds for a bit which isn't all that easy in December

Really sorry to hear this bo I saw the incident on the news but it wasn't a UK channel. Not surprised you're shaken up - incidents like that make you realise how fragile life is.

Anything like that is likely to shake you up, bo. A long time ago, but when I lived in London and missed a train to meet a friend in Soho. It turned out to be lucky as it was the day the Nail Bomber hit Old Compton St, we tried to turn down the road but it was all cordoned off, if I hadn't missed the train we would have been walking past as it went off . It was a very near miss and as flo says, makes you realise how fragile life is.

Indeed, I'll get over myself and the hurdle of it all soon enough, I'm sure, and appreciate all the good again that's probably gone a bit unnoticed for a while.

Back to the lighter things of life, I saw Whistles is doing a colab with an up and coming bag brand, Mlouye. Quite interesting and pricey even for Whistles but I'm rather intrigued by one of the belt bags. I'm not sure I have enough waist space to carry it off but the near pick pocketing incident has definitely spurred me on to look at more bum/belt bags. Did you end up getting any bloomed? At least I think it was bloomed?

The first news reports I read here said it might have been a terror attack, and I don’t know if the fact that it wasn’t is better or worse 😔 I often think about how delicately balanced our social contract is, how easy it would be for someone to wreak havoc and hurt people. Morbid, I know. But most people don’t. And that’s comforting too.

If I caught someone picking my pocket I’d be so scared by the way! It’d take me ages to get over it. I am reminded by that funny tweet from a few years ago though mobile.twitter.com/lbcoen/status/894172532747710464

I quite like that belt bag though still can’t imagine wearing it around my waist.

My green coat arrived. It’s hard to photograph. The colour in these pictures isn’t totally accurate. I adore it. It’s very long for a trench, even on me, one of the advantages of skandi brands.

Bani, they've arrested a homeless man now so I'm assuming it's MH related, you only tend to be homeless here if you're and addict and refuse treatment or have MH issues and refuse treatment, often a mix of both. The past few (and current) governments have been defunding MH for years now and it's getting more worrisome. I do think I prefer it to terrorism, I can understand MH can make you do unspeakable things where you can't solely be held responsible and that is scary but I find the mental process of fundamentalists far more disturbing as there does seem to be some sort of voluntary path to enter and continue on and they're rarely operating on their own.

The coat fits beautifully Elle (where did the crown emojis come from, I thought MN was full of republicans is it supposed to be a beheaded emoji 🔪). It's gorgeous and I know the material is more impressive in the flesh, you must really love it to wear it in this cold weather.

I've just ordered this jumper from Vestiaire, I liked it a lot at the time when I tried it on but I thought it was a bit expensive for mohair/wool mix when I'd recently bought the 100% wool Lemaire and Joseph jumpers for around the same price. Waiting for the sales didn't pan out, think it had an Insta moment so happy to have found it preloved now. Although Vestiaire wouldn't let me enter my postcode, it kept changing it to something in the neighborhood, I've contacted them about it but I do hope it actually gets here 😬