Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: Ce n'est pas bon de faire du lèche-vitrines avec de l'argent en poche

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Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset and lots of chatter in between. Feel free to join in

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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

Dix

Merch in celebration of our tenth (previous) thread:

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

I am trying to work out what WFH is

I am so glad is chatty here always a good distraction from current madness

I find myself quite liking this . Great for work I think and a no brainier outfit ...

WFH = Work from home- coronovirus lingo. I expect it'll be chattier here or deafeningly silent in the weeks ahead. Distraction is good, the number of stupid e-tailers' newsletters I've received today is beyond annoying, just to tell me they're following guidelines. I mean, of course you are, but why do you need to tell me about it I suspect they're hoping everyone just gets plastered and someone will click through the email and order some questionable things like a kayak and not be able to return them as the post offices are closed or something (they're not as of yet but surely the shops that offer return services for other delivery companies will probably at some point). Speaking of questionable things, I can't get my hair cut now due to the restrictions, so I've ordered some hairdressers scissors to do it myself 😬 just need a trim and it looks simple enough on YouTube

I think i just have to give up on Cos for trousers. 😡 So many shops with crap trousers. And am annoyed with myself for not listening to my doubts when I tried them on. It was the colour and my desire to a) have trousers and b) change up my silhouette. I’ll sell them or give them to charity . No point in wasting time and effort trying to change them since the fit around the middle is so bad. They don’t look good with any tops because Bo is right, they always look wrong around the middle.

Red that outfit looks great but such a tricky colour. Very common as a spring colour here because a lot of esp older Scandinavian women look good in it.

My mother always used to say, "When in doubt, do not proceed." Mostly in regards to clothes but can be successfully applied elsewhere. That should probably explain why I take forever to make a decision and more often regret the things I don't get but rarely the ones I did.

The H&M group as an entirety has never been great for me for trousers, the occasional rare find only and then they're usually heavily marked down as their usual trousers loving customer doesn't get on with them. I've had more luck in the men's departments though, plenty of crotch space, so may be worth wandering into the other end of the store now and then, cheaper and better fabrics too.

Didn't you get on well with the Uniqlo U jeans, the trousers may be worth keeping an eye out for. They actually have a men's pair in linen and cotton with an elastic band that I've been meaning to go check out in store as they look like ideal travel trousers (finish/look is crinkly so no concerns of looking crumpled).

Hi, everyone. Missed everything for ages due to house stress and endless ongoing purchase etc etc. Haven't bought anything for ages except a half-price scoop neck jumper in the John Lewis sale - makes a change from my usual v-necks (most round necks don't work on me). I am cross with Uniqlo as my old jumpers are starting to wear through at the elbows but I cannot find anything other than relaxed fit, which I do not want. Oh well.

Love the Chanel dress @Elle and feel all the pain on cropped trousers @banivani and @Floisme

There is panic-buying here over the virus too - can't even buy my favourite coal-tar soap these days. I am very glad I work from home now. Hope everyone stays safe.

I’ve tried on Uniqlo trousers but am not at all as keen on them. So odd! I know you’re right on the H&M trousers, I am exactly the same. Some of my absolute favourites have been in the sale on sale on sale sections because no one else would have them. Thus, if I waited for to never be in doubt I’d be fecking naked. 😂

My local big supermarket is very low on toilet paper, there’s no hand sanitizer (not surprising) no meatballs no bulgur no couscous no flour no big bottles of cooking oil. However coffee aisle is intact. People are dumb.

Went and got my TBE shot today and poppers inte some shops and tried on trioders. There is nothing. I am so annoyed. Closest I got were men’s pure herringbone wool trousers from the 70s in a charity shop - the fit wasn’t great but for price and material it was a decent deal - but they were so itchy it was ridiculous.

I feel you on the relaxed fit Catherine, it’s so ubiquitous and feels very lazy from the manufacturers really.

To be honest that colour would look so wrong on me too. But they have a blue one that I saw in a magazine, much more my colour but when in the website I couldn’t see it.

In my Waitrose there is no toilet paper, no pasta, no tinned tomatoes, to tinned tuna, paracetamol, calpol, kitchen roll ... I am no saying low on supply ... there is none! And is one of the bigger Waitrose. Yes people are dumb. I just bought mussels, French bread, some seafood mix for a paella . Some nice ice cream , chocolates and wine 🍷

Nothing more uncomfortable that a non roomy crotch.

But here people are still socialising, I am out for dinner and then drinks.

That is brave! Cutting your own hair Bo

@Redandblue11 I had a similar trip for supplies to our local Waitrose... mini eggs and olives were my choice. But only because I’m generally off the wine for the next eight months

I have found Uniqlo trousers to be a good fit for me, I have a cropped pair which are my go-to for work when I can’t be bothered to put anything together. They sit very nicely below mid calf and are very comfortable.

I'd say going out for dinner and drinks is brave but it just goes to show how different things are country to country. Overnight the municipality has dropped a lot of crowd control barriers by the main roads so I'm guessing they're preparing for the possibility of checkpoints. I expect we'll be in partial full lockdown tomorrow at the epicentre (not where we are) and the rest of country to follow within days. I'm not sure what's happening in the UK as MN isn't the best barometer for these things and the UK newspapers aren't exactly without their biases either.

Anyhow, hair cutting not so brave. I'm just doing a slight trim and dusting. Worst case scenario it'll be a little uneven but since I never wear my hair straight no one will ever see it.

Our supermarkets are pretty barren at the moment but they're restocking several times a day so it's more second choice of products than a complete lack of anything. Weirdly the wine was in the half off bin as they were clearing out that section to make more room for essentials (I think). It was mostly the pricier organic wines so people weren't all that interested in them. No one's hoarding fresh produce which is the only thing we really need to stock up on occasionally as we're usually pretty well stocked with the basics.

Heartening story from Paris though, due to the closure of restaurants some of the top ones are preparing meals for the elderly and otherwise at risk to be delivered to their doors instead. They're eating like kings apparently can't find an English article on it though.

Ah that’s nice news. :) My husband is in worry mode which is super annoying since he doesn’t channel it into doing anything. 🙄

Ha I'm not sure about the UK either and I'm here. Our Prime Minister is insisting on finishing his game of bowls before he does anything and his strategy will probably then be to do the opposite of whatever Europe is doing. Which to be fair, might even turn out to be as sensible a plan as any other. I've seen a headline that anyone over 70 could be asked to self isolate for up to four months. Or maybe it was to drink hemlock, who knows.

Locally I'm not sure as I've not been out since Friday (not health, just circumstance) and MrFlo says it's pretty quiet but, so far, the shops aren't too bad - you might not get everything you want but you can get something. We have lots of books and movies here and Netflicks (although I can never find anything on it) so I'm feeling fairly philosophical at this point but then we have no elderly relatives to worry about - we are the aged in our family. And if my hairdresser cancels then all bets are off.

That is a nice story.

Yes the uk has put very mild measures in comparison, I am not sure why. I think the mentality here where I am (home counties) is go out as might be the last time in a long while, last night the bar was a livelier than usual
But not all is like that, some things are getting quieter.

But I think we will be asked to isolate at some point so I am planning diy and gardening projects. My DH is off buying paint right now .
I will give my child a spade and will be a sort of life school
I am probably delusional.
Obvs that is is we are isolating and not properly ill otherwise is Netflix and soup .

I think it's a big part of the English self mythology: phlegmatic, ice in the veins, a quip for the hangman. And it has its place I think, but it's a bit concerning when it becomes the default response.

Dp came back from our waitrose saying a lot was gone from the shelves, though he came back with pizza and tins of soup. We had chicken yesterday, so I made chicken soup with lots of veg and garlic for lunch. Comforting and supposed to be anti inflammatory. My parents are in France and have had to cancel their holiday, though they said supermarkets are not as bare as ours. The parents WhatsApp group is going mental as it's a special school with quite a few vulnerable children. Lovely story about the restaurants in Paris.

I have to say I was briefly impressed with Johnson for not towing the Trump MO of denial, downplaying, xenophobia, blaming your predecessor, and secretly trying to gain exclusive use of vaccines from other countries with promises of great riches. Johnson was quite honest with his initial statement and seems to be following the experts' advice rather than contradicting them.

Problem seems to be with the experts, as far as I can tell. I'm not sure how they came up with their game plan, throwing around herd immunity in relation to an unprecedented viral outbreak which people have tested twice over for when it's traditionally used surrounding vaccination I'm rather perturbing myself by second-guessing the experts, especially government backed ones, as a layperson but at least other experts seem just as confused. It's rather worrying that it's being approached like a fait accompli and going by some of the threads on here, the uncertainty is fueling disproportionate amounts of anxiety and severely impacting MH.

We do have a bit of the last time for a bit of fun/the apocalypse is here mentality here too, next door is split into three apartments and the top floor (where we sleep) was having a lockdown party Today it was announced at 17.30 lots of additional things would close for three weeks at 18.00 tonight, and there was quite a stampede towards the coffee (weed) shops. I have to say I'm not sure how smart that was. Sigh. The sex clubs were to close too, I sincerely hope there wasn't a stampede there.

Everyone is still a bit mememe, I do hope that once the worst has passed we'll gain a bit more appreciation for the hard work of the frontline workers. Would be nice if the French restaurants make them a nice meal too.

Also, does everyone on this thread shop at Waitrose? I thought they were closing down everywhere due to depreciating sales.

Waitrose definitely not depreciating sales where I live, full of young professionals... many of which work in all the new st Pancras area (google, medical research etc) if anything they have gone bigger.
I do my shop there.
I know in Oxford , etc they are pretty solid .
They have also opened Little Waitrose in stations like kings cross etc.
Not sure in other areas but in the affluent ones they seem very alive.
I know people in their head office though and they are not the great company to work for they used to be. Tbh their perks used to be truly amazing.

Johnson's not someone I would normally choose to lead us through a public health crisis. But he's smart, as he proved in the general election, and he won't want to go down in history as the prime minister who fucked up in a pandemic, so there's that.

I heard Waitrose were closing some stores but can't remember where.

Oh they did close in a couple of towns not far from mine, but they opened bigger one in my town and another neighbouring town.
Were they closed is a large mixed population town with lower incomes , so might be linked to that?

I googled (I mean what else am I doing, world peace will just have to wait) and they closed seven stores (mostly upmarket areas) in July and announced a further three earlier this month and they all seem to be desperate attempts to stop haemorrhaging their finances.

Johnson has always struck me as cunning rather than smart (although obviously there's an overlap) and he has positioned himself well as the messenger of the experts rather than the man in charge. It's a good move (of self interest). Whether that will save him only time will tell. I'd assumed Trump would see another term but I'm less convinced of it now, I'm still thinking it'll happen unless he really turns this crisis into an absolute mess but the potential is there.

BJ is indeed a cunning fecker and will probably end up floating to the top of the pond again as usual after all this.

I bought my husband a cook book this weekend by his favourite chef so we’re going to be eating a lot of Korean food for a while I think. And nobody has been hoarding the gochujang paste

I would say Johnson is smart and, in the UK, we just have to hope he is as there is no evidence that he has any sense of public duty or even right and wrong. But if we all die he will look bad, and he would hate that.

Hadn't realised Waitrose had got into such difficulties. I'm quite worried about how my favourite independent shops will cope in the event of a lockdown. I imagine the big conglomerates will have enough spare fat to survive but it could be disastrous for small businesses.

I took dd2 to school, I think a lot of people are self-isolating as it was very quiet this morning. I agree that there are very conflicting views from the experts, it seems like it's coming whatever, but how to control it safely? Dds and I are asthmatic, dd2 has Down's Syndrome, so possibly immuno suppressed.