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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Those trousers are fabulous Bo!

flo yes this is a completely different type of difficult and the world hasn’t quite been in a situation like this. I am sure we will get through this, is bloody difficult to be cheery in winter though. I am also taking a few vitamins otherwise i feel I might turn into mould.

What will people wear for Christmas this year? Will any effort be made?

It will get better Flo. If you look back through history, we've come back from worse previously.

Stupid dreary weather probably isn't helping - awful damp grey fog and drizzle for weeks on end. Grr!

Ah sorry to hear that Flo, the cost is really stacking up and becoming visible, isn't it? The weather isn't helping but I suspect come spring outlooks will be different.

Well I might just embrace being naked on Christmas, we are not to mingle with other households (well we can have 3 social distanced guests per day, as always but numbers have been climbing again and they had announced if that were the case stricter rules would come in so I assume that'll go down to fewer or none). I don't really see the point of dressing up for Christmas, pandemic or not 🤷

Oh I know it will get better for the human race. But it won't get better everywhere - some places won't bounce back without massive investment and I can't see that happening. It's been rocky here since the 80s and I think this could be the final blow.

We'll be very quiet this Christmas - the people we normally see won't be able to travel. But I'm not a big fan of it anyway and we have no small children in the family at the moment - they've all grown up - so it feels a bit pointless. But yes I'll wear something nice!

It's hard to put trust in Boris's levelling up agenda, that's for sure, and Brexit isn't going to help but perhaps the focus on cities will change with more people working from home, which might put more life into smaller towns.

I haven't decided what I'll wear yet. It's just two of us, and I'm cooking because I like it, so nothing too precious as I always spill things on myself.

Have bought myself a skincare Christmas/birthday present, to be followed by some perfume samples and some Korean cooking bowls. Seems like a year for a few treats - anyone else?

Well that's the other thing - I hate working from home. I recognise there was no alternative and that the internet and Cloud technology has saved our arses (even if I don't understand it). But the idea that this is the way forward horrifies me.

I'm sure I'll cheer up soon

Alright, I'm understanding 'dress up' as formal wear, you lot are not going to that far are you? I might wear something red, it's probably as far as I'll go but maybe I should make more of an effort... because this is just a great excuse to buy something normally we don't do gifts (not really a thing here, well, it depends on family) but we have this year because why not. I'm eyeing up a skincare gadget to gift myself but it's hot pink and it's putting me off.

Ah I didn't realise we were allowed to mention the two Bs. But yes, Flo, I can definitely understand your apprehension. I remember being in the Tees Valley/Durham area for work a few years back (well before the vote) and they kept going on about how much money was being injected and sunlit uplands and all that and I just kept thinking it wasn't enough, it's been deprived for too long already and I believe that's one of the better areas. Much like Catherine, I don't put much stock in Johnson's promises but somewhere I do have hope that the North of England becomes more of a focus. If anything, the results of the last election have shown the influence the area now has as their votes can't be taken for granted anymore, let's hope it's shown in investment rather than empty words.

I think the roots of the Brexit vote lie in the 80s if you want my opinion. But then I always thought Boris Johnson was smart, (even if I can't stand him) so maybe my opinion isn't worth much.

Yeah I just meant I'll wear something I like, not anything formal. Velvet might be involved. I have some old velvet flares from Next in their noughties heyday that I tried to revive a couple of years ago but decided the world wasn't quite ready for them. Well this year the world won't have to look.

A lot of shops, pubs, cafés, restaurants we're really struggling before lockdown here. I think it will be very hard for them to recover, if at all. Our local Debenhams has lots of closing down signs everywhere and has been heaving, it all seems depressing. We know one of the managers there, I feel very sorry for her.

We have certainly had our fair share of cold and fog! It seems so hard to find any energy.

I would view dressing up for Christmas as smart casual. I have some vintage (I've had them that long) Gap velvet trousers that are comfy but seem a bit festive for Christmas day at home but fine for cooking and lounging around too.

I've been working exclusively from home for 2 years now so the change didn't faze me. There are some things I don't like about it - mainly competitive "liking" of Teams posts, ugh, and having to work harder to be memorable. Video calls - can't say I love them, but I am converted to their value. And I do like being able to work from the sofa when I get a fatigue flare-up and having lots of flexibility within the day.

I actually don't think everyone will be working from home forever, I think there might be some sort of hybrid where people can choose to work from home 2-3 days a week but will still go to the office more regularly.

And of course in normal times we'd be able to break up the isolation of the day by meeting people for coffee or whatever.

Those trousers botemp wow! If you ever start taking commissions...

Love the Celine coat. That navy Celine jacket that you talked me into has had tons of wear and was a relative bargain as I saw it on Reese Paris for €1200. I owe you thanks for that!

Bani I'm keen to see your trousers too.

Lovely scarf too quirky

One plus side of WFH is that we were always told it wasn't possible to do my role from home, but 9 months at home has proved them wrong. I'm hoping for a 2/3 day split long-term. I'm actually more productive at home and see more of the kids - win-win.

Do not talk to me about the B-word. We're dealing with the fallout as despite 4 years of warning, we still have people who can't accept the reality of it and were so sure that there'd be an all signing and dancing deal that they didn't bother making any of the necessary arrangements. Now with 3 weeks to go they've capitulated and we must dance to their tune.

Re Christmas Day dressing up. I usually do a dress and boots and nice coat for mass, but that won't be happening this year so I foresee suede leggings and a nice shirt.

I returned the white J+ coat. You were all right, too white.

The change I hope stays is that in my town I can see a number of small independent shops having more traffic during the week. I live in the commuter belt so these towns used to be very quiet during the week, but now all the young are having their coffee and browsing little shops in town. I hope stays like this or at least more of a balance. However not all the shops have done well, many are struggling, so I suppose it depends on how those can tap into new opportunities.
Yes I didn’t mean dress up for xmas, but what to wear. This year we are not seeing family either but still we will cook and and wear some nice and comfy trousers, not sure yet but something I can then go for a walk etc. We will probably see a couple of families in separate days for a socially distanced drinks and nibbles (each bringing their own) so probably dress and boots will be.

I forgot to mention that I really like that scarf quirky

Christmas Day - I will be wearing a reindeer-print skater dress I’ve had for years, probably with some sort of festive knitwear.
I’ve been wearing a sweater with a snowflake pattern around the yoke this week and had a number of debates with colleagues who’ve seen it through Teams calls and said it’s a Christmas jumper - in my opinion it’s simpler a winter jumper...

We get dressed for Christmas but doesn’t have to be too special so no particular outfits at all. Atm my biggest concern is do we have people over - small gathering but is even that advisable in current circs? Hm hm.

Attaching pic of Lane trousers in chartreuse. Actually a cool colour. Goes with olive and navy and so on so versatile despite outlandishness. However they are “polite” in cut and I’m not sure they suit me, I look sort of just wide without looking curvy - hard to tell when they are too loose. Tried to show excess by stretching the waistband. Am dithering a bit about keeping them anyway and finding someone to alter them but that is at least an extra 200 kr I’d say and are they worth it? Unlined (a bit itchy) and I do think the pockets show through the front (you can see for yourselves) which is not good enough. Instead considering keeping the blue ones that are a better fit and having them altered (lowering the waist) but not sure.

The colour of those trousers is great bani, and it goes great with your skin tone . With navy looks great too.
I know what you mean about their ‘polite’ cut, I couldn’t have put it better.
Not sure if coolness could be injected with other tips/cool shoes.
Are the blue ones also itchy? I wouldn’t be able to wear itchy stuff myself, I say only keep the blue if they are not itchy and is a nice blue and you like them ... can you post a photo of them?

Red, the blue ones are posted above on 3/12 - navy with wide legs. They are similar material so possibly also a bit itchy but since they flop more I think it’s less of an issue. The worst is around the waist so as long as you can tuck you can live but I’ll try them on again and see. I think “polite cut” was a phrase from Bo

I’m not cool enough to up the cool in other ways, sadly. 🤔 I very much need a formula.

Oh it's difficult to see with the extra material Bani. If you did have a good tailor around it would be really easy for me to say they're in prime form to be well tailored down to your shape but if you don't have someone you can easily trust it's trickier. Taking in from the centre back is around €10 here so 200kr seems steep. The rolled up hems are also throwing me off but I definitely understand the polite feel. The colour is really great though, it kind of depends on how much you'd be willing to put in them, they could become really great trousers but you have to like them to begin with and you sound rather tepid. Let the shoes decide, do you actually have any to go with it?

I think reworking the navy trousers would be more challenging, and more expensive.

Can't help with a cool formula, it too often seems to mean old and decrepit rock star.or weirdly skinny pale young person.

Wow I missed mohair, shirts and now onto trousers.
Bo... pink perfection. Obv ruined it for the rest of us as there's no chance of getting anything like those in the shops that we aren't allowed to go to, or which we would have to be mad to visit (1000 people stood in a 1 mile queue to go into Primark here on friday)
Bani, online shopping strikes again. I love the colour of the green ones but itchy trousers are just maddening.

I'm just coming round after 2 weeks of Covid. It wasn't great but we didn't come off too badly. 2 out of 3 in our house are CEV so we have been incredibly strict from the very start.
After months of home working DH's office decided he had to go back into work for no good reason. Within 2 weeks of him being back in 5 out of 10 people there had coronavirus and all 3 of us at home had it too. Luckily we all had symptoms that were manageable at home.
So in a way I'm glad to have it over. I know there is a minimal chance we could get it again. But now we can send our child back to school. They have had some big operations over the past few months and their Drs were worried about the effects of covid on their immune system so advised to continue homeschooling. Hopefully they can go back to school in January now.

After almost 3 weeks of pjs I'm also so ready to wear real clothes. To go nowhere. I bought the most ridiculous green leather joggers. I think possibly in a fever dream. They are fleece lined. I am in love with them.

I also bought boots. They are olive green suede. Not in anyway what I was looking for. They haven't arrived yet but I think I love them too. If they fit. If they don't I will hate online shopping even more

Glad you all made it out unscathed Duvet, new purchases sound great.

New thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/4105960-Les-Parisiennes-des-Mamansnet-You-gotta-have-style-It-helps-you-get-down-the-stairs-Diana-Vreeland