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

[botemp]

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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Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

Thanks @botemp! We’re more likely to get torrential rain here than snow, so perhaps it’s just as well it isn’t the right size - it doesn’t seem to have a hood either. I loved the men’s version of it which had bigger pockets, a hood and came in nicer colours, but there’s no way a man’s coat will work on me as I’m 5’2”.
Also good to know the scarves were thin too! It’s helpful to be validated in deciding not to spend!

You mean this dress bo? Link to the US site, as I couldn't find it elsewhere. It's 100% wool.

www.uniqlo.com/us/en/women-plusj-3d-knit-extra-fine-merino-long-sleeve-dress-432721.html?dwvar_432721_color=COL09#start=1&cgid=women-plusj

I was tempted by the silk jersey but changed my mind. And I'm now kicking myself... Please let me know if you like it!

And it's gone, page error but I don't think that's the dress I got. It was a Merino A line, not 3d, I think it was possibly a Merino mix. I'll have to find out when it gets here, I'm unsure about it anyhow wrt length as Uniqlo designs for shorter people than me in the smaller sizes.

Thanks anyhow urahara although now I'm kicking myself thinking I should have got the roll neck jumper in navy too 🤦 is this the Pfizer effect, one mention of a vaccine and suddenly I want to buy everything in sight?

The silk jersey Ts were on my shortlist too but I didn't go for them in my first swoop and by the time I went back, it was too late.

Of course we've still got all the returns to look forward to although I guess that, as they limited the number of buys, there may not be as many as usual.

I'm very impressed by all you people who decided to stand back and watch the mayhem, and especially by Xing prioritisng the tiler!

Nothing to be impressed about in my case - I don’t do well under that kind of pressure at all! If they’d had a lot left by the time I logged on I might’ve gotten sucked in tbh. It looks like the trousers were about 90% wool so might’ve been perfect. But now I’ll never know will I? 😡🙃😫

Exciting day!
I briefly went in to see what the ‘fuss’ was about, like Bani I do not do well in that sort of pressure with clothes related purchases. I dither. Endlessly.
But I am looking forward to see all your purchases
Good to see you Elle

Well I was feeling all virtuous last night having decided that I’m not going to buy anything but then my phone pinged a reminder at 7am while I was in the middle of yoga and I succumbed.
By 7.04 I was at the checkout with the hybrid coat in navy (the picture of you in it @botemp makes me feel hopeful) and men’s merino cardi in blue.
Kicking myself now to not have spotted the silk jerseys and flannel trousers but c’est la vie. Will be on the lookout for returns (but not holding my breath for the silks).

I did check out the composition of the merino a line dress while considering a second purchase, I seem to remember it was 100% wool. Decided against it as it will not do any favours to my lockdown curves.

Delivery expected on Monday, can’t wait to compare notes.

Ah yes the dresses - forgot about them but I was/am sort of keen on them in theory - like luggage I suspect they are tighter than i am though. I didn’t even see them when I looked swear to god but maybe I was scrolling to the trousers and just gave up in disgust then. I would have been mad about the silk tops if they’d had interesting colours.

I was reading this article in the guardian, mentions some brands that do made to measure, made locally (a london one), pay national living wage, surplus fabric, etc etc all things good.

This one AK Threads, does not look too bad in price considering is made in east London with what looks like decent fabrics and you get things altered to your measurements, obviously in some of the garments is less of an issue, but sometimes length of sleeves and and trousers can be an issue in high street brands.
Wondering if any had any experience with these brands there or similar ?
I imagine some here will be able to create themselves stuff like it! But me ... we are well into the pandemic and I have not moved an inch towards sewing my own clothes,

I saw that too Red I don't know any of them but I've sometimes wondered about trying a business like that - some of those things I might have a go at making myself but that's not to say I'd do a good job. I'd probably want a personal recommendation first though.

I do get things altered to fit, not everything but most of my Margaret Howell stuff was second hand, a size or two large and taken to a seamstress, which added £10 or £20 to the cost but meant I still got a bargain. (Well I think so.)

There's another made to measure business that I've seen linked a few times on S&B, not in London. I can't remember the name now which is going to annoy me all day, and I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night shouting it out loud. I'll come back when I do.

I am at the frenzy the Jil Sander collection caused in Japan. Link here, not familiar with the news source though but the embedded social media videos are insane.

Anyhow, it even says apologetically on the Uniqlo website that there's very little left as they hadn't anticipated such a sell out, so surely we can now start speculating for a S/S collection 🤞

I'm not a fan of made to measure models online. Looking at those clothes from Red's link I don't really see the point unless you really have an odd shape with extreme differences, made to measure only really makes sense for very fitted and tailored pieces. It's just a useful service to offer because it allows e-tailers to deny returns as it's made to order, not a risk I'd want to take with online clothing, there's more to it than your measurements for something to look good, especially if you have extreme differences.

Also, keeping a local tailor/seamstress who sees you in person (no one's body is actually symmetrical either, which you wouldn't pick up with just measurements) in business seems a preferable model to me than something with a brand.

I've seen a very expensive Saville Row tailor linked on here a few times that works exclusively for women. Do you mean that one Flo?

No it was out of London, in a market town as I remember, and it had quite an old school look. It'll come to me eventually - well it usually does. I hadn't thought about not doing returns cos it's specially made

I can't believe Uniqlo didn't expect that response. 11 years since the last one and we're in lockdown - what else is there to do? Any one of us could have told them.

11 years since the last one and we're in lockdown - what else is there to do? Any one of us could have told them.

Hahaaaaa! So true. Can’t believe that footage from Japan - so undignified to scramble like that 😧 for CLOTHES when you already have them!!! I’ll save that for the apocalypse thank you!

I like the jacket you posted from AK threads Red but the rest was a bit meh I think - not much tailoring you can do with that so it’s an easy USP to make 😉. I’d agree that it’s very hard to tailor in absence - even when you meet your tailor you can need several fittings. That said, more places should offer services like hemming or shortening sleeves or jackets, I don’t think it should be impossible to do that online, perhaps with video consultation. I’d love to find “my” tailor locally. I haven’t looked, admittedly, but am hoping someone will give me The Recommendation some day and I won’t have to try the hard way.

I found a nice pair of boots on Afound. Sadly they are from Church and cost fourandahalfthousand crowns ON SALE but they have the sole I fancy I’m looking for and I quite like the broguey front.

Church boots are lovely and the very Freeeench (by which I mean the Parisiennes seem to love them more than the Brits). I'd consider the splurge if they tick all your boxes (they're very nice) treat them well with the odd polish and they will last and age well.

Suit Supply have in-house tailors who do alterations, and it's part of their USP, but very much an in shop thing. A couple of Dutch brands have it, probably because we're so tall and therefore don't really fit within the standard European measurements and we're not big enough of market to really be catered to.

I think your math is off Flo (unless you're going all post modern on us) the last collection from JS and Uniqlo was 2013, I think, the first may have been in 2009. I think they didn't anticipate the demand when they started planning and ordering, which will have been at the very start of the first waves here and admittedly retail wasn't shifting much of anything at the time.

we're so tall says the exception to the rule 😉💃

Boots: They give no info on the website so it’s hard to say if the boxes are ticked. How tall are they etc - no info.

I’m getting a pay rise retroactive from April and those boots would be the entire sum 😂 sadly I can’t justify it, too many things I need to save for! and am kicking myself a bit for not filtering by price so I wouldn’t see them. I think 2000-ish is my limit.

Ah, you're right - the 2013 collection passed me by (I know I know - and I don't understand why) so I never think about it. And yeah when you put it that way I can just imagine how those early planning meetings went: 'Pandemic, mustn't be frivolous, no-one cares about clothes any more.... ' Well ha ha ha ha ha.

I can't open those links on my laptop but they'd have to be bad to beat a St Wilfred's jumble sale.

Really nice boots bani and Church are a good make that should last a good while.....

Sorry I missed your last post bani. If they're not affordable then that's the end of it sadly.

Speaking of which, Margaret Howell have been trolling me with emails ever since I bought that Barbour. I mean look at this Look at it, look at it. How did they know to send me that??
It's Not Fair.

Yeah, Flo, at the start of the Pandemic I remember people still being terrified of receiving packages (especially from China ) and quarantining it after wiping it down with questionable things. I'm really ready to get to the part where we can laugh at how ridiculous we were/are now

"we're so tall says the exception to the rule 😉💃"

Oi, leave my Calimero Complex* out of this. I'll have you know I'm perfectly average height anywhere else

*I realise this may not be a widely known thing, but the cartoon Calimero (Italian) was very popular here and the main character says something like "you're big and I'm little, and it's so unfair" extra whingy in Italics. It's like structural inferiority complex discrimination (we've been post modern for far longer than the rest of yous) and it's termed Calimero Complex.

Haha, cross post with Flo demonstrating some Calimero Complex herself

should hopefully distract from my inability to get italics and bold formatted properly

It's nearly black Friday Bani, they might go a bit lower, prepare to negotiate with yourself h&m has been sending me 10 and 20% off codes for Afound over the past few weeks. So potentially an extra 25-30% off, maybe?

Hello, sorry to jump in as a lurker and demand a quick reply, but you guys seem the most well versed in the Uniqlo +J range! Can anyone advise on the sizing of the Ultra Light down hooded coat? I swing between a Small and Medium in Uniqlo depending on the item, so am a bit confused. Thank you so much :)

I should say I'm a small UK10, slim enough to be an 8, but 5'6" with long body and limbs so tend to go for a 10 for a better cut.

@havanka, it was on the small side. I tried it on in xs (my usual size) and would have taken a size up if I wanted to be able to wear thicker winter items under it, and just for general comfort. Keep in mind I'm an hourglass so hips and rib cage area eat up fabric with me so potentially less of an issue if you're more straight up and down, but arms were on the short side too so with long limbs I'd say get the bigger size as small is designed for a 5"3 height at Uniqlo.

Great, thank you, I'll go for a medium then. Short sleeves are a particular issue for me with coats, especially the more you layer underneath. I hate feeling restricted in outerwear. I agree that Uniqlo cut for a short(er) height; being Japanese I guess, it's all a touch on the petite side for a European frame.

Hope you get one havanka - and then come back and tell us what you think!

Calimero Complex sounds a bit more impressive than moany git so I'll take it. I got that MH email after I'd been looking at an Aquascutum tweed trenchoat on Etsy - yes yes, I know it's algorithms and there isn't really someone in a control box watching, but it's still spooks me. Deep down I'm still that child who thought there were real people living inside the TV.