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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Like Flo, I usually save my political views for other threads, but IRL my acquaintances are small tradesmen, hauliers, kitchen fitters/designers, builders, electricians, plumbers, landscape gardeners who are self-employed and CBA to grow their businesses because they don't want the bother of managing employees, apprentices and auto-enrolment pension funds on top of work and managing the hassle of buying their supplies. On the strength of what I was doing today, they are mostly not displeased with the GE result.

Regardless of how you voted, I defy you not to smile - just a little bit - at the sight of Boris Johnson making his acceptance speech flanked by Elmo and Lord Buckethead: British politics at its finest.

SEX IS MEANINGLESS (WHEN IT COMES TO CLOTHES)

Opportunity is missed by people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work - Thomas Edison

I must confess that the original outline of the advent calendar this year was one entirely made up of menswear looks that could be adapted to women. This was primarily motivated from the reality that womenswear has been quite staid for a while now and envious eyes have been following the men’s runways instead.

However, as noted previously already, as alluring as menswear may be, it’s just not the same on women. It’s not a simple translation and as much as we like to think we’ve evolved past all of that but perceptions do seem to persist. Not that that should get anyone down, it just means more potential to play with these notions and perceptions. Clothes don’t make the man, nor the woman, it seems.

There’s more to menswear than desireable materials that are economised in favour of micro trends in womenswear. Equally, it’s interesting to explore why men are attracted to certain facets of womenswear that allow us to view it anew.

DAY 14: Couple Dressing

Right, we’re competing with adorable South Korean toddlers today. Toddlers probably still reign supreme but this may come a close second. Yes, it can be admittedly twee and I did cringe when grandparents wore matching outfits around their holiday home speedwalking but so long as individuality is maintained there's something fun to explore here.

I highly doubt any of us have OHs who’d be persuaded into this either but just go with. Hence, props to those that commit to this because as far as high stakes and unintentionally looking a tit, this is definitely up there. It shows a certain commitment to the other that very few of us dare to explore for fear of the infamous ‘try-hard’ label.

Let it not be said that this is reserved to traditional couples either, there’s a certain talent to dressing together while still retaining the individual styles of both by focusing on things like interchangeable accessories, colours or similar silhouettes.

It’s a story of give and take and it’s not one we see (authentically) in fashion imagery very often. It’s a story worth telling, by two voices instead of one, and a little less deserving of ridicule. But feel free to continue to raise your brow at anyone closely resembling their dog.

Disclaimer: I have done no due diligence in checking the couple status of any of these (well I know that’s Rick Owens and his wife are a couple and that Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton are not) so apologies if I have insinuated romantic links (or lack thereof) where there are none.

I'm guessing the Hulk declined the invite?

There is much about British politics that leaves me very mostly why no one seems motivated to get rid of the to my eyes positively feudal FTPT voting system but the weird dress up acts coming a close second. Don't they ever get sued? That's deffo not an official Elmo suit though... and ahem didn't Elmo turn out to be a paedophile?

Did he? I've totally missed that

I don't think there's any point trying to understand or analyse the dressing up. I just see it as a tradition, a bit like morris dancing.
There was a real attempt to change the voting system - just about the only deal Nick Clegg wrung out of the coaltion government - but the proposal was so confused that even supporters could barely understand it. I can't see them trying to change it again in my lifetime.

I've not looked properly at today's calender yet but I'm sure I'll enjoy it as Mr Flo has always been into clothes (although you might not realise it when you first meet him). He has an flamboyant side which I try and encourage even though I have to admit it even makes me wince on occasion.

Yeah the puppeteer and voice of the US Elmo (is there a British voice version?) had several lawsuits against him and was forced to resign in disgrace but I'm not sure how cut and dry it really was, no criminal charges IIRC. It put the tickle me Elmo dolls in a rather sordid light as a result. This was before #MeToo so he still got an Emmy nod

Eww.

On a more serious note, I think it still costs £500 to stand as a parliamentary candidate in the UK so you could argue it's just people with money to throw around. Or you could say it's an existential commentary on the British voting system whereby in some constituencies your vote has so little meaning you may as well cast it for the back of a pantomine horse. Either way I confess I quite enjoy it and I think it's up to the other candidates to make them look foolish.

Existentialist

My next post will be solely about clothes I promise.

As my goddaughter would say I'm shipping
Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton.
I need more tweed.
Am never quite sure what the point is of the eccentric candidates. I agree there's a whiff of Morris dancer about it all and quite 70s whacky satire.
While I'm grumping how annoying is the Chanel no 5 l'eau advert. It's following me around.

Ugh my new Acne Studios jumper from Vestiaire arrived smelling like Chanel no.5

Get yourself an ad blocker already Bloomed, it means you occasionally get really weird ads in an app. Currently I'm getting a lot of 'oppurtunities' to buy secondhand freight containers (I may have actually become interested ) and occasionally there's a glitch and on MN I'll have a €50.000 fur coat from MyTheresa following me around...

I think it's in the US that you can write in candidates, everyone wrote in a specific plant somewhere and that won, definitely a statement about the dysfunction of the system I'd put the UK eccentrics in the same category.

Unfortunately it's the TV ad. Apologies in advance

I'm sporadically interested in shipping container oppurtunities as I have notions of Building Something.

Oh my GOSH! That is truly, truly awful. WTF Chanel?!? All that perfume money and this is what you commission? I'm sticking with the shipping containers for I too tend to think they're just giant Lego blocks waiting to be built into Something. I'm just missing a giant to make it happen, who knows Santa might be kind this year.

The Citizen M hotels were originally all meant to be made out of used shipping containers where the rooms could be completely prefabricated off site and slotted into place, services connected and the one in Amsterdam was built like that as test run but I believe elsewhere it was logistically too much of a nightmare with local building regulations but the room dimensions are still those of a shipping container.

There's a complex in London made from shipping containers as I remember, somewhere like Shoreditch.

Oh is that Boxpark? I hadn't connected the name, duh.

Did you see the Grand Designs episode with the NI architect who built a house out of shipping containers on his family farm land? Brilliant stuff.

The Chanel ad is DIRE.

Love the couple pics, very inspiring actually even though I myself do not aspire to it. If also ship Freeman and Keaton after that picture!

I'll look out for that Grand Designs.
Whenever I turn on terrestrial TV there is the Chanel ad. Not sure what demographic that would appeal to.

Oh, I love the couple photos! The closest dp and I came we were both wearing navy parkas and tartan scarves the other day. Love Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman, tweed .

That Chanel ad is awful, and I actually like No 5 perfume.

I'm not sure how to explain Elmo and Lord Buckethead, erm... British Eccentricity?

I haven't watched GD in a really long time, it got all depressing with never ending builds and leaky caravans juxtaposed by London builds that were an architect's wet dream but felt inhospitable, but I'm vaguely recalling a cantilever build on a family farm that was very low budget. It was beautifully detailed on the outside but they didn't quite manage to finish the interior on the really tiny budget?

There's quite a few shipping container builds out there, fair bit of student housing here as we don't have halls of residence and there's a ridiculous shortage.

I don't want to think about what Chanel ad's target audience too much as I suspect it's for men who lust after borderline ditzy underage girls/women and then guiltily buy their age appropriate wife some Chanel perfume for Christmas. Type of man who likes to be called 'daddy'

So you're envious Bo

Yes Boxpark, that's it! I'm afraid I went purely for the shops and the food, which I found underwhelming, but the structure itself is probably interesting.

I absolutely loved yesterday's pics - possibly my favourite of all the advent calendars, not just the outfits but there was something very touching about them too.