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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Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

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Our local dress agency is now a Kofra. But then there are good charity shops a stone's throw away, so that's probably why it shut.

bani dd1 has the same size feet as me, but has much narrower feet than I do, so not much crossover. She has been eyeing up my snow leopard furry hat (as she calls it) as she's currently into all things Russian. She has plenty of her own furry hats too.

Update on my purchases as I said I was after pyjamas, I ended up getting some brushed cotton set from the white company reduced by 50%.
I looked at a few dresses, wanted something that can be worn for work / non work. Tried this at J Crew is £94 I think. My non good points: dry clean only and 100 polyester.
I left it to think about it...
The lady said is ok to hand wash, it really annoys me. Obviously will need a fair freshen up under the armpits being pure polyester, why they even do that?
Would you stylish ladies overlook that?

Be glad she likes your stuff Quirky - a stamp of approval!

Argh I was in Stockholm today to meet friends but had a few hours over so went I tried on clothes. Dithered and ended up not buying anything and am now annoyed with myself because at least I should probably have bought another pair of the Uniqlo U jeans I like. Right? Isn’t it sensible to buy an extra pair of things you really like in case they disappear forever?

Tried on a nice pair of wool blend culottes in Cos but felt I couldn’t justify them at 70 euro and dry clean only.

Ha cross post Red!!! Polyester can always be machine washed. I’d not buy it out of principle. 94 pounds and polyester and dry clean? Feck that.

Thanks Bani. I am with you, sometimes I need to be reminded of my principles. I will not own that.
I don’t have two of anything I like so I am not the person to comment on not buying the uniqlo jeans...

Definitely would have reservations about 100% polyester, red but the dress does look good.

DC enjoying clothes and sharing a style is a mixed blessing. Fortunately we have passed the shoe-sharing phase here.

Nice to see you again, Maxima. Shall look forward to seeing you more frequently.

I duplicate total basics Uniqlo T shirts and v neck cashmere jumpers mostly but in different colours, though I may have 4 of their grey marl henleys.

Quick search in the train for silk/cotton/wool dresses. All I found (other than summery cotton) are these LK bennet silk at £150 ish
I don’t mind paying that for a 100 silk dress... find it funny tough that I am finding that in LK bennet of all places.
Not sure how they will fit might pop in after work later in the week to see them in person.

Xing - yes is annoying as I did like the fit / comfiness of the dress . Not sure what it says about me choosing something based on being comfy

Dresses

I share your annoyance at the price for polyester Red and the dry clean label is a bloody cheek. But that said, I really like it and I prefer it to the silk one. (And washing and ironing silk can be a bastard.)

I agree with Flo, it’s the nicest dress of the bunch. Don’t listen to me, after all I let stuff I like slip between my fingers 🙄

But for the record (and I just checked) Issey Miyake is expensive as hell polyester and can be lavaged dans une machine

Red, in the Me&Em lookbook delivered yesterday I liked this except that it only comes in black. I had a charcoal knit very similar some years ago, and wore it into holes.

Oooo I really like Meandem. Even if it is a lot of fancy polyester. Would love to try on some time.

I like the jcrew dress, too. But I know what you mean about fabric. My me&em trousers are heavy modal, with maybe a little elastane rather than polyester, but they are quite old, maybe more of their stuff is polyester now. I feel like that about Baukjen, I've never bought from them, they always send me catalogues which never specify the fabric composition, which you have to look up online. They had a nice green jumper this winter, which was pretending to be wool. Very disappointing.

bani, dd1 rarely likes anything I wear, so the compliment about the furry hat was unexpected. I usually gets insults which are really just factual and make me laugh. For instance, that lipstick is really red (it's red lipstick, obviously) or you look like a sailor in that (breton fisherman's hat).

My daughters are so nice about my clothes nowadays, it’s great having kids in their 20s. Highly recommend. ;)

Well the Anna Heylen trousers finally arrived and they are too tight. 🙄 but lovely quality. A really substantial wool that clearly holds it shape. Might keep them and see how the “weight loss journey” goes.

I’m sending my daughter to buy the Uniqlo jeans and the pair of trousers from Cos tomorrow. pic attached.

Oh thanks xing for the me + em, I am unsure about being all black, in general it doesn’t do me any favours. They have lovely stuff in the website tough.
I have decided to leave it and in two weeks I will be in Paris for a couple of days.
Actually I just saw a few thngs from arket with ok fabric, might try them at some point.

Looks v promising Bani!

Bonjour mes amis I'm almost back, was supposed to be back home thus morning but due to plane troubles and consequently being rebooked with a stopover and missing connections has suddenly resulted in a day layover in Paris and it's the first day of the sales, it's almost like I planned it

About to go into town, slightly apprehensive with how much we'll get to do and see with the transport strikes, will report back on how tedious it is for those who are traveling to Paris soon as the French papers seem to indicate it may last another few weeks.

Elle, on your arrival day in Feb the airline pilots (and potentially ground staff) are striking, will mostly affect Air France and sky team partner airlines but may impact others.

Going to read back what I've missed now.

Also, PSA, Harmony (who normally don't do sales) have 30% off until the 12th.

I agree with you red. I often like Me&Em styles, but they are just a bit unimaginative in that there's so much unrelieved black. I wish they could bring themselves to do their basics in black and grey and navy, as well as a seasonal colour. But that would probably increase their stock to the point where more would end up in the sale. They never seem to over-stock too much, and styles often sell out in the popular sizes.

Nicely planned interruption to your travel plans Bo; inspired really. Good luck and good hunting. Hope your break was truly relaxing.

Luckily we won't think you planned it Bo, since if you had you wouldn't have planned it to coincide with a strike. Or... is that what you want us to think? :O ;)

Ah, Bani, yes if I were an effective evil genius I'd totally plan a strike to go in accordance with this 'impromptu but not impromptu' trip. It meant there was loads of stock and it wasn't crazy busy everywhere. Did have a relaxing holiday, Xing, probably a little too relaxing (not my thing, I like a holiday that requires a staycation after to recover) so this little Paris sprint finished it off nicely.

In more surreal meta news, I've had a bit of an advent calendar day yesterday. South Korean fashion child included and saw Rick Owens and his wife couple dressing and also managed to snag some very advent inspired things.

Ahem, so I've bought things First had to actually get a coat (was just planning on getting one of those thin down coats from Uniqlo) as I was supposed to be traveling direct so it didn't really seem worth schlepping along a bulky coat for a taxi ride to and from the airport when our destination was warm/hot. Just had a large travel scarf and a jumper which was a bit of an odd look outside an airport. Quickly stumbled upon a vintage wool Aquascutum coat in a sort of purple blue.

Didn't think it was that old but googling the label design suggests 60s possibly 50s but the square buttons make me think it's more likely to be 60s or later. No expert on it but would explain why the length is in accordance with my height. Quite odd as I usually avoid raglan sleeves (isn't Aquascutum the pioneer of them? Or is it Burberry?) like the plague as it looks horrible on my shoulders but these actually enhance them. Also usually prefer a collar of sorts but this one sits quite well without one. Worried it was maybe not that warm (it's a 100% wool boucle) as it's not that thick but I was boiling in all the overheated department stores.

Negotiated it down from €169 to €120 and was convinced I could have gotten more of a discount had I not been so obviously coat-less but a bit of Googling has informed me it's a fair price, especially for an in store piece who knew what they were selling

Got a wool jumper at the Ami shop. The colour is really flattering on me and it's really stiff so has a lovely bit of drape going on when tucked in various ways. Was desperate to fall in love with these green denim trousers -because, green- but they were so high waisted they bypassed my waist and settled on my ribs very uncomfortably so. I've just now seen online they have a matching trench, now drooling over that. Obviously.

Next tick on the advent calendar, obi belt from Isabel Marant at Le Bon Marche. It sort of crosses over and tapers which makes it quite flattering if worn back to front. It is actually too big since it's an XL but it fits over coats well that way and sits lower without it and that seems to flatter me better than directly on the waist on me as it just seems to extend my slimmest part rather than cover it with extra bulk. Never thought of trying that, so quite pleased with the accidental result. They also had it in a dark green and whilst nice and a slightly better fit (different size), I really loved the burgundy colour whilst the green was a bit insipid as you'd wear it with black (didn't pair well with the blue or the coat) and then it just sort of looked like a washed out black. Toyed with getting both but I hate having two of the same where one is a clear favourite.

Hmm MN seems to be playing with orders of pics again.

They also have an Ami stand in LBM now, and there I tried on the huge oversized white coat which weighs a ton, think it's some sort of shearling. I kind of loved it, even though I'd never want to own it (don't think I'd make it around a the corner with that weight on me anyhow). I felt like a pint sized South Korean fashionista. Which I did also spot, looking way cooler than her mother, didn't want to snap a front shot so you'll just have to take my word for it that she looked even better from the front.

Tried on these fun low crotch trousers at Rick Owens which were insanely comfy, the side panels were some sort of stretchy material which were weirdly flattering but despite it not looking bad in the pics the trousers made my calves look huge. Or maybe they're just huge twas odd. Potentially long haul travel may be to blame here.

And now for a Snoopy happy dance. My beloved silk Chloe trousers I fell in love with in the summer but simply could not justify at the price for expected limited wear (originally €1200, I saw them at €700-something and now they were €200) still not cheap but I luvs them and am glad I never pulled the trigger at the previous price. They don't look as good here as they need a really good steam.

The not a snoopy happy dance was this coat from Jacquemus. It was 70% off and supposed to be an extra 50% off that price according to an announcer over the speakers but the staff kept insisting it wasn't the case, that it was another floor (despite the announcer clearly stating the floor I was on) and that the extra 50% off had already passed in the morning now it was back to only 70% off. I probably would have gone for it at 70% though perhaps I was somewhat blinded by the bargain aspect of it, practical coat it is not, if you can even call it that, but the whole refusal put me off alongside the weird extra 50% off limited hours thing. If you want to sell something just sell it at the price someone will happily pay for it and you were fine to accept previously. Weirdos.

Speaking of Jacquemus, I'm of the continued opinion it's on a downward spiral. The focus seems so bag and shoe heavy (easy money) but the quality isn't there, or at least the person designing it lacks the know-how to work with materials. I tried on this blue shirt but the sizing was out of whack again, very tight on the waist (it was a size up and I have a rather tiny waist) and the shoulders were huge and there was no way that was even covering half a boob.

Tried on a bunch of other things, was a bit of a sprint altogether but very pleased with my loot. Managed to stock up on some non fashion things, delicious breads and butters but had to sacrifice a pharmacy stock up due to time but I can order it all online, just wanted a nose of what's new and interesting but I'm sure I'll have time when I'm in Paris again at the end of the month.