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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This is definitely a favourite of mine, and I wish I was brave enough to try it but I am stuck in the waist wrap mode. GREAT pics! Love also the straggling shorty pic. Love the yellow obi with decolletage and shirt sleeves, love the men's look, so alternative.

@XingMing - let's give it a try! I highly doubt there will be replacements though. More likely you could find same pots second hand tbh. Worth looking!

Thank you Bo for the trousers thoughts, I still haven't decided - so cheap but potentially very weird with the ruching on the side. Found this quote by the designer online "I travelled to Mongolia, to observe, feel, and breathe the life of sheep: the basis of wool. I found inspiration in the pureness, the elegance, the beauty and the rawness of sheep. Their beauty is just that combination of elegance and raw pureness." So there we are.

I once got an obi belt in the Toast archive sale (whatever happened to them?). But I couldn't work out how to tie it and sent it back. I'm cross with myself now. Interesting that it's in menswear too.

I enjoyed that minimalist/maximalist article. I swing between the two myself - even at the moment when I guess I'm firmly in the minimalist camp, I still like a bit of flamboyance.

I like the look of those trousers bani (ignores pretentious designer quaffle) although the measurements do sound a bit off and from the side they look quite low waisted.

Haha that designer should have saved herself some dosh and could have gone to Wales for that experience 🤣 Mongolia (never been but close enough and would love to go sometime) I'm sure is fantastic and awe inspiring because the people are really special and the landscape is breathtaking and they live so differently and it's all about the horses over there, I mean there's cashmere goats there in abundance but sheep, really, sheep are the memorable thing...

I kind of like the flouncy sides although I get why someone in Sweden would be selling winter trousers like that, you'd need perfect weather for them which does limit their use.

This is is an interesting piece to read alongside the minimalist/maximalist piece, it's a 2010 profile on Phoebe Philo newly installed at Céline by the Gentlewoman. The mention of bourgeois Parisians of the old old Celine is quite humorous considering what Celine is looking like now.

I can't remember which version it is minimal maximalist or maximal minimalist but Acne Studios identifies as one of those and I tend to too. I'm also left wondering if the binary of minimal/maximalist isn't on its way out too, the same way that traditional left and right wing politics doesn't really make sense anymore to a lot of (the younger) electorate today (at least here anyhow, though the UK does seem to be following suit but the system isn't really set up for change).

Yes Acne's super over-sized coats or jumpers are minimalist in colours and cuts but maximalist in exaggerated size surely?

Thinking aloud here Bo, how do you see the relationship (if there is one) of the obi belt and corset belts?
Here a photo from last year /year before from DM.
Anyhow reminded me how a good 8-10 years ago the wife belts had a revival, and I remember seeing in Brazil much more interesting interpretations of much wider and higher than waist / going right up to under the bust area. I thought at the time how unusual they seemed to do it a lot more in a high street fashion and bolder designs than anywhere else I saw.

I haven’t tried this look for a few years now but tempted to try again with some of the inspiration you showed. We will see

Well an obi is an obi, an obi belt seems to be a Western interpretation. It's not a belt, it sits higher and it doesn't hold the kimono closed. I'm not sure exactly what the practical function is beyond in women's kimonos it allows the armpits to be free and open whilst retaining their modesty. So I suppose it has in common with those corset belts that they're both derivatives that resemble little of the original item both in form and function 🤷

I've never heard of wife belts, what are they?

Oh right wide belts, bit slow today

In a way the obi functions similarly as some old-fashioned stays then, since the stays went over the chemise and also "shut it in".

Wife belt my typo mistake there should be a warning when I type as my posts are full of typos.

That would be worrying something called that.

I think it's particular to the US but they call a men's tank top a wife beater . Ugh, I'll happily be a snowflake about that terminology

Hi Bani
This picture shows the manufacturer’s stamp. I don’t want to buy the same pans as these are in great condition, only to refurbish the non metallic bits.

Apologies for derailing. Obi belts, most/all wide belts, are not favourite accessories for me. I love the look on others, but they read as "wench" on me, and I am a bit aged for it.

DAY 10 - DAY 10 - DAY 10

All Tied Up

Thankfully this is not some shibari reference and, yes, ties can be nothing but a nuisance to practical living. However, the delicate strings piecing everything together, the suggestion of a single pull unravelling all can be rather alluring. Not quite smashing a sandcastle levels of satisfaction, but close.

It is a form of detailing that can create new shapes and volumes, never quite being the same, accentuating lines that aren’t otherwise there or require to be there by the decision of the designer’s eye injecting a hint of informality.

Let’s call this what it truly is, Instagram wankery but there is something about this focus of cuffing off the hems from the outside world. It isn’t necessarily the most flattering hack when you zoom out but it requires a double-take, which makes it all somewhat uninteresting as it’s only purpose appears to be digital engagement.

However, this dichotomy of buttoning up with shoes that expose nearly all have the potential of something. It’s just not this Insta whatever it is something.

The runway is exploring a similar narrative, while the design elements appear more purposeful than makeshift there is definitely a sense of batten down the hatches and far less of a coquettish sash inviting an unravelling.

Taking it further, rather than unravelling there is a sense of wrapping, into a pattern that looks both accidental and purposeful at the same time. A message that precious cargo resides inside and one that suggests, handle with care.

I am kinda taken by the look of tying the bottom of trousers with the sandal ties ... I am not sure if I could get away with it but I like it in a way.

Love the white shirt pic from the first post. I am less taken with some of the other strings. They can look like straightjackets or those rucksacks with lots of elastic bands to stick things inside.

And when I worked at a prison I learned that there were some guards who tied the bottom of the navy uniform trousers with shoestrings so they'd look more like the trousers issued in the police uniform, ie they'd look cooler wearing what the cooler uniformed ranks wore. So sad.

The wrapped lace around the cuff of the shirt/blouse is very nice though. It reminds me more of puttees, and yes, there's an element of defensiveness to that, I agree.

I somewhat suspect this is a rebellious reaction. I'm just a touch too old for it but those younger than me were definitely the victim of helicopter parents who frightfully cut of all any form of ties in fear they'd get stuck in car doors and escalators and whatever else you could think of that would lead to a horrific child death. I'm sure one of them had their rucksack bands cut off -just to be safe sweety darling- and is still mad about it...

Hahaha not a bad guess!

Oh no Xing There I was thinking Samurai warrior with a touch of Alec Guinness in Star Wars but now you've said the 'w' word and I can't unsee it

I think all the tying stuff would be a bit fiddly and faffy for me but nice pictures!

DAY 11 - DAY 11 - DAY 11

Sashing About

Who knew beauty pageants had something of artistic merit in them? Sashes are here to stay and we can blame the men for this one, which is probably preferable to toddlers in tiaras. Kim Jones’ Dior Homme is definitely the runway that has propelled this further but the male sash has been a staple of various Belgian menswear’s designers as a variation on the cummerbund.

Menswear has been rather dull until recently and playing with a bit of asymmetry with a vague reference point in a Scottish plaid was as exciting as it got. But if you’re a man and going to be sashing about with a sash, please go with the ombre edge that seamlessly matches the floor, please, because this is somehow all sorts of interesting.

For one, it’s nudging both men’s and women’s wear into distorting the stoic and unchanged world of suiting into embracing some dynamic lines and asymmetry. Several floating trends that have yet to truly land individually, wrapping, binding, movement find themselves brought together by sashes. Utilising materiality and colour bringing forth lines that flow in a way that is simple yet feels more thought out than they probably are.