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

---

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

I really like the last pics of the layered shirts/blazers, time, could easily be adjusted for autumn. I think I received the first one, too.

Dd2 is back at school this morning, so dd1 and I went for a long walk. My 70s attempt with flared jeans went wrong as it was drizzly and I ended up with wet hems, (reminds me of 90s baggy trousers and people walking round with huge tide marks on their jeans). I'm back home and dry in straight, cuffed jeans.

Yes it’s the long shirt and blazer look I liked. As is often the case I’d love to see someone less lean and angular in them before committing though.

I think if you are curvier, you would need the blazers to be cut very well for an excellent fit.

Sorry everyone for falling off the thread! Thank you Bo for answering me about shoes. My problem with ballerinas is that they look a little like barbie shoes to me. Like Cinderella's feet in the Disney version. I don't feel like myself. I think I'd rather stomp a little bit? But it makes it so hard to hit the right spot. I think I want something a little prepossesing, that says here I am to a certain extent. And ballerinas just blend. Espadrilles are hard because they're often scratchy and sweaty to me and I'd have to buy online blablabla.

I've loved hearing about your second hand finds. The weather is perfect just now for a light layer and a light jacket. I'm wearing my blue linen blazer all the time. But I'm not wearing dresses, because while it isn't cold, it's just chilly enough for my bare legs to goose pimple a bit, which makes my stubble scratch me, which I hate and it makes me selfconscious. Dilemma! So I'm in my trousers. I did consider summer leather today, ironically - namely brown suede skirt with bare legs! but couldn't be arsed. Am in jeans. Why i ask questions about office wear I do not understand.

Have been enjoying the Uniqlo collabs and am looking forward to J+. Hopefully not the colour scheme of oatmeal/black/terracotta/beige/pale blue/pale green/navy, thank you.

Handsmaid's Tale on the telly was not worth it. Didn't finish season 1 I think? Or I started season 2 and gave up. Too music video, too aesthatic. Book holds up. I read the prequel - talk about making unsympathetic characters heroes!

I'm having feck all luck with second hand myself, so we'll see how the september goes. So far I've bought Stan Smiths for my son. Spoilt little fecker.

I like that multi layered look too and think it can work on a curvier body shape if you're careful about where all the hemlines finish. E.g my thighs are out of proportion to the rest of me so anything ending mid thigh instantly turns my legs into tree trunks, whereas I find just above the knee much more forgiving. Likewise (although it doesn't apply here) top of the ankle works much better for me than mid calf.

Sorry epic cross post with bani!

Ha I'm the crossposter with everyone took me ages to type. I love the long shirt blazer thing, it's very my youth (late eighties early nineties). So cool if you - as you say - get the hemlines right. Another of my struggles! I'm sure I've seen curvier people in the look - perhaps look among US POC accounts?

Shoes- by summer do you mean open in some way? Because a more almond toe or morphing towards loafer is a bit more elegance or ooomph for work. I think adding some clunk would be more hitting trends but I’m not very good at clunk. I also like a 2-3cm heel but it’s hard to find.
Bit nervous adding random suggestions as I sort of feel like I might be years off target right now.

Oof lots to catch up on. Lovely to see you again Catherine and Time, I did think of you when they announced the lockdown in Melbourne thinking you probably only just settled in.

That layered look is nice but you either need to starch it to hell or it should be really stiff already otherwise it'll just look a mess in 15 seconds of movement (if you're not up and down straight). And yes, yes, on impeccably tailored for the curvy.

Shoes, I must admit I'm a bit useless about them as I can't do clunky footwear so I just pretend it doesn't exist and I prefer feet to blend out instead of hogging the limelight. That attitude works better for work/formal than casual, and vice versa though.

Yes I obviously (obviously) don't actually want clunky shoes. Other than that I'm easy to please.

In a fit of splurginess last year I got a pair of yellow suede ballerinas in the H&M sale, with a low vamp on one side and a rather pointed toe. Because I was going to become a person who wears trendier shoes, including pointed toes. I also got a pair of ditto pointed black suede heel-less but with a strap thingies.

Pointed toes make my toes rub together and give me blisters. So that was pointless. Added to the slightly ... flat ... feel of ballerinas, as stated above.

Like the silver ones in Time's pic but suede and no bow and black!

Hi bo, yes it’s been a long year! We bought a house but COVID and it took a while for me to find a job so rather stressful, was a bit heads down and just keep going for a while and now lockdown. I have a great job though! Has been entirely remote so I’ve never actually met anyone which is weird.
The silver ones are on my ebay list and I’m seriously thinking about buying them One last attempt before bed. These are my most recent buy (new from eBay) Again no clunk whatsoever, but not ballerinas and not flat. Not sure re summery, they are for me.

Those are nice, time, they look a bit 90s to me, I'm sure I had some brown, square-toed shoes for work like that.

bani, do you mean chunky? I like a chunky shoe (or sandal... or boot). I think it balances out my longer, slimmer legs and wider shoulders/top half. I haven't even got any shoes, I own sandals, trainers or boots. I'm still toying with maybe brogues, but they would probably be rounded toe or thicker sole

Well yes a bit chunky but not too chunky - yy to the balance bit. I need to feel like my top half is balanced out and a slightly bigger/less petite shoe helps my legs feel less cankly. I think. I just walk past so much and think it’s ... twee. And if it’s not it’s something else. I end up getting something vaguely in style and thus not offensive haha. Time, that looks like a reasonable heel height, but I walk a lot and even small heels get annoying fast.

Yes, I totally get the concept that shoe in proportion to your body is a thing. I think Time and I are a similar shape height and size and anything other than dainty can look questionable but it makes it so hard to imagine having that effect with the opposite shoe types. Rationally, I get it, but shoes seem to be some sort of trigger thing, the way you want to stomp around in them Bani makes me me all claustrophobic I don't want anything anchoring me down.

Speaking of a nice balance that is somewhere between dainty and chunky I got fooled by my inbox, not one for DMs usually but I really liked the look of these mirror shine polished Chelsea boots. I love that finish and you hardly see outside of riding gear and men's shoes. Typically it's the latter they do come in a size 39 on their own site but that's still too big for me and I expect they'll be a bit wider too. I'm annoyed it's men's only, I really like the proportions too, the elongated nose that tapers, women's version always get shortened into stupid stumps like we have potatoes for feet for reasons I don't know why or overly elongated and tapered adding extra empty CMS to your feet .

I get that proportionally that this doesn't work well for all women but it does work for others to give that bit of elongation in the legs. I'm guessing it'll be a shoe size divide though, leaving them with the larger sizes, so it makes sense commercially but they could have just made this unisex already

Forgot to ask, Catherine, hope things are well with you now. I remember last time you popped up you had a million things on your plate, doing mad work hours and moving house.

I like those dms, bo. I'm pretty sure the last for men's shoes or boots is better. I have a pair of suede Chelsea boots I bought in tkmaxx that are men's. They had been accidentally left in the women's section, not only were they cheaper for the quality, they are much more comfortable. The pointed/almond toe is not so squishy somehow and they come out wider, more like a western or cowboy boot. I like it much more than the usual women's size.

Hello CatherineMaitland, how are you doing?

Yes, men definitely have better lasts, I had an ex bf who made bespoke shoes as a hobby from lasts, heels, through to everything else and he had learned it from a professional and iirc most of the effort in men's shoes was getting the last right while women's shoes was much more about getting the leather stretched properly and sitting smoothly while not bulking up underneath too much as it worked with far narrower curves so the lasts tended to be a lot more basic and if a men's shoe was made female they'd just cut a bit off 😂 rather than truly scaling it down (didn't happen often but similarly women's shoes enlarged to men's looked just as, if not more, bonkers). There's also the issue of women's shoe fashion moving much faster so it made more sense to invest a lot of time in a men's last as it would be around for quite some time.

That's interesting, bo. As someone with a high instep and feet veering towards the wide, men's or unisex footwear is appealing. Some brands I really can't get on with, Dune, I'm looking at you. I often can't even get my feet in the shoe of the correct size!

I'm good thank you - hope everyone else is doing okay too!

Still trying to buy a house, a horrible process, ugh. Our solicitor thinks there is a problem with the deeds which is solvable but the vendors' solicitor says there isn't any issue, and that therefore if we want to do something about it we should pay, so we are at an impasse. (all the vendors have to do is sign 2 bits of paper already drafted by our solicitor so I really don't understand the fuss...) The house is carved off from the vendor's property. Their solicitor seems rather aggressive, which is making us worry about whether we actually want to go ahead or not. I think I still do, but husband is less keen.

Oh well. I keep looking through my favourite websites, pulling up things to look at further, and then realising they are 99% black cardigans... On the plus side, work has calmed down since our team has doubled and things have got a bit less busy.

With you all on the shoes - I look terrible in dainty shoes, too curvy, but block heels for example are my friends. Not that I could walk in anything else...

Catherine that sounds bleurgh. :(

Interesting info about lasts and shoes. I like the mirror shine too (albeit more to look at than buy, because I'm so hard on my shoes I just ruin the look) and am sure I've seen it around... will link if I find it. Might have been those same DM:s though. I've bought men's shoes a lot in my day, but they can be too roomy unfortunately, just that little bit extra that makes them rattle around a little on your foot. But sure you'll fit a wool sock in them in the winter and get more wear out of them then.

Very sad to see Diana Rigg has died. She and Lady Penelope were my first style crushes.

Emma Peel 4ever

flo I know, so sad.

So glamorous, and a better than decent actress too. She was compelling in Game of Thrones as the politicking dowager.

Yes, she's Queen of Thorns, Olenna Tyrrell to me and she was bloody brilliant in that part especially whenever she got to play opposite Charles Dance. I was so hoping to see her in something else

The house buying sounds frustrating Catherine, hope it gets resolved. Definitely difficult if you're dealing with someone being difficult who will also be your new neighbour. The whole house buying process in England (I assume) baffles me tbh, it's like a never ending endurance race.