Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: L'enfer c'est les Autres

996 replies

botemp · 18/07/2020 14:18

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


Favoured Parisian addresses:

Second Hand Shops

Outlets

Favoured London addresses:

Charity Shops, Dress Agencies, and Outlets

Favoured NYC addresses:

Consignment shops, Vintage, and Restaurants


Previous threads:

Un

Deux

Trois

Quatre

Cinq

Six

Sept

Huit Neuf Dix

Onze

Merch created in honour of our tenth thread anniversary:

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

OP posts:
Thread gallery
244
quirkychick · 02/10/2020 14:08

Dents, I've definitely heard of. I have a few pairs of leather gloves, none long at the moment. I get very cold hands and find them really warm.

More storms and wet weather here, too. I have managed a trench coat and cap in the light drizzle, but I think tomorrow will be the Ilse Jacobsen, rainboots and waterproof trousers.

Redandblue11 · 02/10/2020 14:46

Just started watching Emily in Paris, the protagonist wears quite a bit of tartan on the opening episode, including a yellow and black jacket while jogging... which I thought it was peculiar outfit for jogging.
I am watching to see if I can daydream with fashion in paris ... to early in the series to say yet.

Redandblue11 · 02/10/2020 15:54

A bit disappointed with that Emily in paris ... too stereotypical in a shallow way.

Anyhow, not a fashion question but quirky I believe you own a dog(s) can I ask the breed? We are considering a family pet and I am researching away. If I want to ask you too many dog questions I might pm you if you do not mind Smile

botemp · 02/10/2020 16:23

Netflix suggested that show and after watching the trailer I was of half a mind to cancel my subscription. Tbf they suggest a lot of weird crap to me, pretty sure the algorithm is confused by my viewing choices. It looked like a teenage bimbo show from my teenage years with an imaginary Paris that doesn't exist, maybe I'm being overly harsh but it quickly got ignored.

I thought Xing was the one with a dog (a lovely Lab I think). I inherited a dog (chihuahua), she was lovely but I hated the lack of freedom that comes with owning a dog (especially a needy one that was used to there always being someone at home).

OP posts:
quirkychick · 02/10/2020 17:19

I think it's Xing with the dog. I do lots of walking without a dog Grin.

quirkychick · 02/10/2020 17:25

www.zatchels.com/collections/womens-bags/products/dark-brown-leather-barrel-bag

I've just bought this in the bigger size to replace my scruffy, brown messenger bag (which I'll keep for more outsidey rainy days and beach days). It doesn't have sections in, so I will keep a look out for a bag organiser of some kind for smaller items.

XingMing · 02/10/2020 18:54

Yep, it's Xing with the dog. Everyday, rain or shine, we go out. No such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing. But we choose routes to dodge big trees falling in high winds.

Redandblue11 · 02/10/2020 20:09

Oh! Is it a Labrador xing?

MaryLennoxsScowl · 02/10/2020 23:16

I lurk about here on occasion and am delurking to say that H&M is having a collab with the Vampire’s Wife on 22 Oct. Mind you, I’ve never seen a VW dress in real life and have aspirations of being someone who can waft about in high-necked Victoriana but am short of neck and not waiflike enough in reality! Maybe I should embrace the rank top instead...

XingMing · 03/10/2020 14:36

For red as a possible dog owner, XingDog is a black Lab, from a pedigree shooting background. However, she has had expensive congenital elbow issues because someone somewhere did the hip score tests, but not the elbows. She's small by breed standards, and I keep her weight at 25kg, which is tiny in Lab terms because of the elbows (my other dog was 37 kg, and not fat). Working/shooting dogs tend to be less broad and heavy than the Kennel Club show rules say.

As a breed, Labradors are easy to train, friendly, (some are a bit dense) but they want to please you and they are easily pleased. They love children, and everyone else, but bark when visitors arrive. They are greedy and too many are overweight. They moult all year, but in peaks and troughs. The colour of your dog will influence what colour clothing you buy... there is a reason I wear black, grey and navy, but a black dog is much easier than the pale yellow Andrex puppies. The hairs are stiff and a pain to get out of clothes.

They will enjoy all the exercise you can face as soon as they are fully grown, but it's easy to let pups overdo things, and it can create long term problems. Tip settles for 45 minutes brisk walk, prefers 90 minutes or more and looks at you reproachfully if it's 30 minutes or shorter. But she is almost invariably off-lead running free and getting scents, so she's covering x3 my 3-5km. In the summer, we try to give her a lot of swimming: black dogs with double-coats do not like very hot weather.

Pet insurance is about £70 per month; I prefer to save it separately because of Tip's veterinary history... nothing would ever be covered now she's seven. She has two meals a day and is enthusiastic about making sure the plates are clean enough to go in the dishwasher.

What else would you like to know?

XingMing · 03/10/2020 20:28

@red, there's good reason that Labs are #1 for dog registrations, and it's that they are ideal for families and novice dog owners. They are not usually temperamental prima donnas. they're affectionate and biddable, and they are easy to train.

botemp · 03/10/2020 20:49

I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'd prefer a rank top over a vampire's wife dress (even a non collab one). They're very much not my thing who wants to look like a modest prairie goth and seem weirdly popularised by the usual faces who jump on anything current for the five minutes of relevance but I'll keep an open mind in attempt to not be such a snob (I blame being cooped up for so long, but can only make that believable for so long) 😬

I'd forgotten all about the dog hairs, I had those sticky rollers everywhere and in all my bags and it was never enough... I still occasionally find some and it's been years now.

I wish I could forget all the vet bills, pet insurance is a joke, Xing's advice is very good to just put it away monthly yourself, we did the same.

OP posts:
Redandblue11 · 03/10/2020 21:29

I have had my outing in London and they have a MH in St Pancras area, reminded me of Flo, I had never been in one of her shops and I can instantly see why Flo loves her stuff.
I didn’t get anything there but was nice browsing.
I got two basic tops at jigsaw heavily reduced and a pair of trousers at Cos , they are black ... so that might decide the color of dog I choose Wink
We are considering a lab or a show spaniel [i have a thread under the pets section now]. I prefer the size of the spaniel but as they tend to be crazy, I was advised that the show type is more sedate. Anyhow, we are seeing some labs soon and I know about their health problems so I am going with a long checklist of health checks I want to check they have, they are KC reg too. Does it matter much is they are show or working?

Anyhow, back to fashion. I would be curious to see what H&M does in that collaboration. Curious as in genuinely intrigued, I wonder what materials they will use.

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: L'enfer c'est les Autres
CatherineMaitland · 03/10/2020 22:01

I had a chocolate Lab (rescued) a long time ago just as they started getting fashiony. He was a lovely, soft, soppy dog, with a seriously pretty dog-face - but he had no brain at all and all his thinking had to be done for him. Some of his issues possibly came from mistreatment - he didn't even know how to drink out of a bowl when we got him and he hated being left alone in the house. (My husband had a job where he could be with the dog full-time outside and in.) He was absolutely untrainable but luckily completely laid back and good-natured - even as a young dog he slept 22.5 hours a day, so deeply you had to shake him awake sometimes. He would fall asleep having injections at the vet, to much hilarity in the surgery. We never knew his pedigree but from the age of about 7 he had arthritis, skin problems, thyroid issues, eye problems, stomach issues (he could only eat cooked chicken and rice) etc etc etc.

We also kept his weight low - nod to Xing - mainly to help with the arthritis. Any extra weight at all caused pain and lameness. He hated all forms of water - odd for a Lab - and as he got older he would not go out in the rain at all except for urgent necessities.

He really was a lovely dog in many ways but I'm not sure I would have one again. It was a big tie especially pre pet passport - we could not have put him in kennels due to rescue issues, so holidays were restricted to the UK. Never trusted anyone else to look after him because they invariably overfed him even if he was only with them for half an hour.

He was put to sleep in 2008 and as late as two years ago I found a dog hair stuck at the back of a piece of furniture. Might be a slob record. :)

botemp · 04/10/2020 09:41

I had just read that Catherine. So sad about her son but I liked that she was very truthful about it.

Word or warning Red, the dog section on here can be a bit batshit, don't argue with them and just do extra research elsewhere if you think differently about something. I also found the same as Catherine that you can't assume you can leave your dog with anyone or in a kennel for holidays or weekends away, even with family that she adored it always ended badly and lots of extra vet bills. That's what I meant with disliking the lack of freedom. I often ended up taking her with me on holiday as that was the least stressful (and she was ridiculously gorgeous show stock so everyone fawned over her and it also meant she was allowed to go in places that otherwise would not allow dogs in and extra fees like in a hotel were often waived as she was so small and cute

OP posts:
Floisme · 04/10/2020 10:05

Just interrupting the dog talk - sorry but, if I don't post now, I probably won't manage it all day. Not that I've anything very interesting to report!

Thanks for the Margaret Howell piece Catherine and I'm glad you enjoyed the store Red.

All I know about the Vampire's Wife is that it's Susie Cave, Nick Cave's wife and that Kylie wore one of her dresses when she duetted with Nick at Glastonbury, which I thought was a nice touch. It's not really my style but I'll be interested to see what they do with H&M.

Thanks for the Merchant and Mills tip bo. The Makers Atelier have also done some new patterns, including this lounge shirt which is super annoying as it's probably closer to what I wanted than the box shirt.

botemp · 04/10/2020 10:12

Oh I like that shirt Flo, yes much more like what you were describing initially. I'd make it extra long as a nightshirt but I'm still not over their ridiculously high prices for a pattern, they're not that unique.

I always have to adjust that Kylie is Kylie Minogue here because I was thinking Kylie Jenner was singing at Glastonbury in a vampire's wife dress now Confused

I'm guessing it was originally envisioned as a holiday season party wear collection, wonder if they adapted it with covid in mind as I don't expect to be needing much of that this year.

OP posts:
Floisme · 04/10/2020 12:24

Ha ha yes - the person who comes to mind when you hear 'Kylie' is a real age revealer, although I think the big divide is whether you remember KM when she was in Neighbours.

I'm thinking over the MA pattern. It's the annoying price plus the palaver of getting used to a new pattern, versus the nagging thought that it might be The One that I'll use the rest of my life.

XingMing · 04/10/2020 12:31

Great shirt Flo... I reckon you'd end up making several in different fabrics, so the pattern cost would be less gulp-inducing.

Nice piece on Margaret Howell, CatherineMaitland. She'd fit right in here. I am guessing you once lived fairly close to me, as you mentioned buying a waterproof in Tavistock on another thread?

The Vampire's Wife dresses are so not-Xing!

botemp · 04/10/2020 12:48

I'm not that young, but Kylie only appeared as a comeback somewhere in the 2000s when I first heard of her so she was never 'THE' icon like she's been for others. Unfortunately, I keep having to hear about the other one (although not much lately, thankfully) through my cousins.

Just stick the stupidly priced pattern on a Christmas list Flo. It's so weird how things that aren't necessarily a lot of money can feel like a lot. In that vein I kept my raincoat after looking at some alternatives in store on Friday, but I really didn't like the materials and finishes. I still think my raincoat was stupid money, probably because it brings little joy as it's just entirely functional and has a limited days of wear (but I bet I'll be really thankful for it in the next two weeks which are predicted to just be torrential rain all day). Size wasn't the issue I thought it was either, my largest jumper fits under it with room to spare 🤷

OP posts:
CatherineMaitland · 04/10/2020 13:03

Hi Xing - I bought it on a camping holiday on Dartmoor when it became clear that my cheapy old one was not coping with that week's rain. :) I can't remember where we camped even but I definitely bought it in Tavistock.

(That's another thing about dogs to be aware of - wet dog smell. Not trying to put you off Red but it's easy to only think about the fun bits and not the hard bits that are present in the every-day reality. Of course when I had the dog they were worth putting up with, but it may not be that way for everyone)

Hoping to move further west, we have a let agreed on a rental in Dorset and just need to get through the referencing - more complex when you are self-employed.

I love the idea of the Vampire's Wife but not so keen on the reality - I want more black, more goth, more drama, and a lot less pink, pattern, puff, and frill. And also I would need to be a good 3 inches taller for any of them to suit me.

quirkychick · 04/10/2020 13:38

Well, I am too old to think of Kylie as an icon. I remember being most annoyed when she topped the Indie charts with "I should be so lucky", as it didn't allow proper music to be played Grin. I might have worn Vampire's Wife stuff then, but I agree with more black and more drama. I'm not a great dress person, certainly not a great frilly person.

MaryLennoxsScowl · 04/10/2020 14:11

Yes, the photo I saw on Instagram was a silver brocade minidress with a matching cape! Beautiful, but I don’t think I’ll even have a work night out this Christmas, let alone any parties to go to. And I’d be surprised if it wasn’t made of polyester.

I also have a dog (a working cocker spaniel) and he needs a lot of walking and games to play, but is pretty chilled out otherwise. But I echo others on here’s advice to think about your support network! Thanks to Covid I’ve ended up making friends with neighbours with dogs I’d never spoken to before, and we have helped each other when someone can’t walk theirs, or if we want an evening out, and my family live nearby and have dogs themselves so he’d be safe with them if we went on holiday. He’s only a year old and we haven’t been away without him yet though. I had to give up wearing nice wool coats to work when he was tiny though - I had to carry so much stuff for him in my pockets, plus he was a little bitey horror and bit a hole in one coat I’d had for ten years because the hem flapped appealingly at pouncing level. So they do affect your sartorial elegance too!

quirkychick · 04/10/2020 15:38

A couple of quick pics of my new zatchels bag. The light isn't great as so gloomy today, but I'm pretty pleased with it.

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: L'enfer c'est les Autres
Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet: L'enfer c'est les Autres
Swipe left for the next trending thread