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

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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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Great choices Red - glad you had a good day. My fondness for the barrel leg is well documented and I looked at Blackhorse Lane jeans in the new year, but I was still paying for the Margaret Howell Barbour plus wanted to try on first.

Xing a good market town is one of my favourite shopping destinations Independent shops round here are in a sad way. We used to have two streets - one pretty high end (out of my league but I still liked to look) and one more alternative. The high end one is now mostly (chain) bars and restaurants and the alternative one is take aways. A few places have held out but they diminish with every passing year. My favourite vintage shop has now closed; my dress agency is still going but she's around our age and every time I go in I expect to hear she's retiring.

It wouldn't be so bad if the local high street were stepping up but the choice is dire. Mind you, even in a bigger city, I go to Cos and (if they've got one) Uniqlo and then I start getting bored. It's partly why I've taken up sewing again.

I really want to go and try on clothes, specifically coats, but all our changing rooms are shut . I really feel I need to try on lots of different styles to decide what I want. Something wool and neutral, possibly grey (I have a purple velvet coat and a raspberry red coat) for when I'm not in a parka.

On the plus side, dp and I discovered a fantastic vintage place in a beautiful old church, tucked down some lanes. They had a gorgeous burgundy, leather coat with fur trim, but it's just too close to my purple and red coats (I can hardly wear it on the school run or a rainy walk in the park!).

Well done Red, brilliant move to get all the jeans when you find something that fits! They look good.

I can inform you all that I did try on clothes this weekend. Sweatpants. Boring. Bought a pair though, on offer. Nothing spectacular in terms of quality or style, but I wanted a pair. So it sort of satisfied my spontaneity cravings alright. It was a high street shop but in an outskirts mall location (I went for a long walk) and all the shops there are closing I think, and I think this particular chain is on its last legs because they do nothing expect have offers and sales.

Didriksons are good solid coats. They are popular here.

I know quirky trying things is always better. So is your area in Tier 2 or whatever that is? Where I live the changing rooms (of most places) are open. Problem is that I live in a place with a handful of shops only.

I also want sweatpants Bani but they will have to wait now that I have spent all my money on jeans.

Not sure what got into me ... I am dressed like a boho , very far away from Parisian style ... peasant/Indian style top blouse and harems, the top even has these little mirrors on it... I must be missing my early 20’s student days ...

I returned my cashmere joggers as I feared Karl Lagerfeld would come to haunt me and tell me I'm giving up Actually, no, they just made me feel a bit crap as they're just symbolic of being stuck indoors and doing fuck all and there was little flattering about them. I'm better off pulling out my silk elasticated trousers from my summer wardrobe and buying a couple of pairs of quality knee high socks, those are just useful and not symbolic of anything. Although currently my outfit of choice is a silk camisole dress with roll neck oversized jumper. Knee highs will work well with those too but the heating wars haven't started yet so probably this will change and I'll just be in silks without the woollens soon.

We can try things on in changin rooms here, Uniqlo didn't have the skirt so that killed it quite sufficiently. Although with the masks it's pretty unpleasant to be anywhere for long so I haven't actually gone and fitted anything.

I'm eyeing some potential fabric for a coat now instead, more money than I had anticipated but cashmere instead of wool. Although all this talk of how lovely independent shops are, they're not, they're slow as fuck and my sewing projects keep getting interrupted because I'm waiting on stuff.

Ha, oligarch wife, Elle, I may need to retitle rich bitch as that. Weirdly I really like a very furry one on there, the Rena, I think, it's completely lined with innocent little creatures but I want it. Just call me Cruella 😬

I recently watched Phantom Thread, lower on fashion than I anticipated but still really good. Although would not recommend if you don't tolerate a lot of subtlety in place of a very clear narrative. Soundtrack was good too, not emotionally manipulative for a change.

[adds phantom thread to mental list]

I missed the expression oligarch wife, love it. Very descriptive :D

I'd pick cashmere loungewear as not giving up, tbf. Giving up is men's sweatpants from Cubus. But they were a bit warmer than what I had, had good pockets and a high waist so ... and did I mention they were on offer?

I would like:

• a flattering knitted dress, long-ish, good material, semi-chunky
• some more jumpers, thanks to this thread I'm all about jumpers. I saw this one in a chain store www.lindex.com/se/p/7992285-950-gron-stickad-troja-med-v-ringning and I liked the deeeeeeep v-neck and the colour but the fabric is quite useless and blah.
• still dream of wide-legged tweed trousers
• blouses? would quite like two or three easy to wear blouses/shirts and or interesting jersey tops
• the shoe thing is still a thing :(

red, we're tier 1: medium, so just the national restrictions, but all our changing rooms are still shut. I have bought a Nicole Farhi boucle coatigan/unlined coat from tkmaxx for £50.It's a looser style than I normally go for, so I haven't quite made up my mind. I need to try it with a few different outfits to see if it's a keeper.

Good list, bani.

And these are beautiful www.johnstonsofelgin.com/international/hessian-wide-leg-ladies-cashmere-merino-trousers-1.html

Maybe not giving up, Bani, more like giving in to the current times. If I'm paying for something 'luxurious' it should give me a brief respite to act like an ostrich, surely?

I do think better names are needed for loungewear, no one's sweating or jogging anywhere in those things practical bum covers when you can't be arsed to think of what to wear and need easy movement is a probably a bit long though...

Those deep and expansivt v necks confuse me, maybe it's a size thing but if it goes deep it needs to not be so wide otherwise you have to wear something underneath which just screams modest and ends up looking dowdy. Might be a size thing though, I'd definitely be wearing it the wrong way round.

I'm also on the lookout for knitted dresses but coming up empty. Granted, I've not been looking much...

Shoes are even weirder now than normal, loads of variations on wellies at the moment, but like short with a platform sole, I'm I'd like some more knee high boots, but since the last pair took years to find, it'll probably be a while.

I've seen some lovely tweed fabrics but you probably need to grab them now before the ND scary B word becomes an actual thing.

X-post, yes those were the trousers I posted a pic of previously, had they been in stock they would be mine right now. Hadn't contemplated the navy, I've seen nice navy wool recently, hmm...

Very lovely trousers, bani. The check trenchcoat with blue running through it is beautiful at the bottom too. Though, double-breasted doesn't usually do me any favours.

Ha I knew I must have seen the trousers before! Have been so distracted I forgot. They are great. Would love something like that #snowisduetomorrow

Re deep v-necks - in my head I’m twenty years younger and wearing them braless of course. In reality a little higher is good thank you - but too high and it’s a school jumper!

Beautiful trousers, whoever saw them first! And if you can't wear them when you're semi housebound, when can you?

I really like that deep v-neck bani. I agree wearing it over a discreet scoop neck in a matching colour would feel a bit dated but I'd go for a round neck T, just slightly lower than a crew neck. Couldn't tell you why, it just feels a bit more current and less apologetic. And I probably saw someone do it in Grazia. Yeah a bra too.

Miss, miss, MISS! I saw it first! It's mine!

Well a lot of other people who got there before us, really Attached is my altered trouser toile, they feel very similar (to me, anyhow, just need to switch the fold direction and change the pockets) and I've been on the lookout for a light coloured wool/tweed but it's all navy and black or extortionately expensive so far. Definitely an embracing the housebound look, the second pic encapsulates that perfectly for me. More in a several metres of snow outside than pandemic induced way, so I can live with it.

Where do those wide neck v-necks sit on you lot, for me they'd definitely be dropping off at least one shoulder. No bra would not be an option

I've noticed Cos has something new and interesting. Little sewing packs, you get a pattern, fabric (I'm half tempted to order it just for the fabric as I love the Cos cotton), elastic (for the female one) and some instructions. Only two so far, male/female but I had been wondering who of the high street shops would come with this first and happy to see it is Cos raiding its archives. Considering how much some seem to charge for patterns it's not even crazy money.

OOh that does look interesting, nice shape and and yes a very reasonable price . I wouldn't want white but I could dye the cotton first and wouldn't have the stitching to worry about.

Yeah that jumper would drop off one shoulder for me, which is another reason for a T shirt underneath - you think you're going to get an alluring glimpse of shoulder only you're not!

Your trousers look great Bo, yes, very similar to the Elgin ones. Have you mastered sewing a fly directly? Impressed, envious etc.

The Cos website is down for me, but I'll check that out later. Sounds like an interesting idea and the type of new idea I'd like to see from clothing shops!

An aside, apropos of archives - Zara have done some sort of "from our archives" campaign too, using fashion photos from yore. It was fun to look at but I wasn't tempted.

This is the Nicole Farhi coatigan, that I'm dithering about. It's more voluminous than I'm used to but actually, I like the look in the photos. It just won't be really cold weather warm enough, but I do have quite a few coats for the cold.

The trousers look great, bo, really impressive, from someone who can only do basic alterations. I love the second photo, for wafting around in an immaculate home without dcs and staff, I think.

Lol at the deep v neck, bani, it almost looks like one that can slip off your shoulder in a very parisian nonchalant, but not very warm, way.

I seemed to have included a pile of washing in the last photo, keeping it real .

Sorry, quirky, it's a no from me, if you need that input. It looks a bit too much like a bathrobe and your hair seems to disappear into it which puts it in sad jellyfish territory. But if you love it, my input is meaningless and I'd suggest a scarf to breakup the hair into coat thing.

Bani, yeah I did manage to get a zipper in, but I did it all by hand, it's easier to pull apart and put together again with running stitches when making a toile as opposed to setting up the sewing machine up continuously and trying not to hurt anyone with a seam ripper. It seems complicated (putting the zipper in) but once you wrap your head round it, it suddenly makes sense. Very thankful for my spatial awareness, I think you're pretty handicapped without that when sewing.

I saw the Zara archive pieces in store (when I came out of Uniqlo disappointed). It was really weird, the Kate Moss dress (sort of off the shoulders) looks really nice from afar and despite not being shit fabric it looked like shit fabric. As did the other pieces, it reminded me of the old days and how utterly crap fabrics were then, synthetics have really come along a long way.

I'm not loving the coatigan either, but it could well be a photo issue, maybe it's not turning up well in them? It doesn't look special enough ;) - and if you're dithering maybe that's the reason?

Have we spoken about Want Apothecary? It rings a bell. They popped up in my Facebook and seem legit. Only reason I'm mentioning them here is because they're doing a Scottish rain coat thing under their Essentials range int.wantapothecary.com/collections/want-les-essentiels/products/braemar-car-coat which some here might like to look at. But don't forget to sell that kidney! We might well have talked about that very coat before the whole thing seems really familiar.

I am increasingly irritated at no gorgeous trousers being shown in my Facebook feed. What is the point of intrusive algorithms if they're not picking up on this?

I was however googling and landed on this Swedish brand that had sailed by me. Sadly it is not my price range but I was very intrigued by these maska.se/sv/alla-plagg/kjolar-och-byxor/rue-ullbyxor-med-hog-midja I'd either look great or like a fat toddler. Would love to try them on.

I have taken the point and will not look at ridiculously low cut jumpers any more.

It does have something of the bathrobe about it quirky but I like the shape and can see why you're tempted. I think the hair matchy business is a bigger issue - I thought for a sec it had a hood - or is that just a trick of the light? It wouldn't work as a main winter coat but, as you say, you have others! Also, if you're facing a winter working at the kitchen table, it could turn out to be pretty useful. £50 would be a tricky price for me though as it might be very good for Nicole Farhi but it's a bit too much for me to write off.

I fear my head would look the size of a cherry pit (stone?) in that coat Bani. I'm therefore keeping my kidney in place, thankfully. Site looks interesting, I may have ended up there before but can't remember now.

You just need to keep looking at trousers, then you might get something. I don't have much experience though (ad blocker) but I do occasionally get some that slip through and then it ranges from prosthetic legs to shipping containers to €50,000 fur coats and I don't remember looking at those

I saw the vampire's wife X h&m colab got released today, ehm, no one seems to be buying it and I'm with them, it looks like the stuff that looks okay in the photos but disappoints quality wise in RL.

There's a separate thread on the Vampire's Wife collab and it sounds as if it's still available in parts of Europe - including the Netherlands - but that UK stock is already sold out and selling on EBay. It also sounds as if they didn't announce a time for the launch which, if correct, is pretty shoddy behaviour in my book and, if Uniqlo try and pull the same stunt for Jil Sander then I will be having a word.

H&M collabs are always 9am CET, Uniqlo at 9am BST. Always on Thursdays too, probably some midweek slump thing that motivates people to buy too much.

Yeah, NL is one of the largest distribution points for H&M (I assume because it all comes in through Rotterdam harbour) so we always have more stock/choice. I don't think Vampire's Wife is that well known outside of the UK so it makes sense. The prices were also really low, €20 for a party dress was way less than I was expecting. Not sure I'd want my name attached to something that cheap tbh as a high end brand (not sure how ethical VW ever claims to be, but as a young brand I assume they prattle on about ethical and sustainable by default).

Uniqlo does say autumn release for Jil Sander so they better hurry up. I did notice they now have an email newsletter sign up on the J+ page (or I never noticed it before, I do have a photographic memory, it's not faultless though) so I'm assuming they'll announce it soon. If this collab is a dud of terrible beige (you know the buttery creamy sort that doesn't suit pasty winter faces, JS has a liking for it) I don't know what I'll do with myself. I'm already missing out on the Antwerp sales (November 10-15 in case anyone is mad enough to go), not sure what they're on, that's the height of the peak per predictions and Belgium is doing terribly (so are we, but they're worse and slower to respond this time).

I've just now received another reminder to please come buy the vampire's wife collection