Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: "You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs." - Diana Vreeland

[botemp]

Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset and lots of chatter in between.

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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

I think I'm short waisted then - that's what I've always thought but I've never been entirely clear. There's a very short distance between my boobs and my waist. Cropped cardigans are quite flattering on me. High waisted trews can make my arse look huge if I'm not careful, but, if they skim over my arse, they can make my legs look longer cos you can't see where they begin.

Ah, that makes sense, bo. I'm not a 90s supermodel , but I do have long legs in proportion to my body and that kind of inverted triangle shape with wider shoulders.

I’m short waisted, although it’s linked to short overall. Gathered waists the right length look great on me, but often the gather is a bit low so the waist slides up and fabric pouffes out above it.
Lockdown here. I got two trips to the actual office this year 😆 back to pyjama pants!

time I thought you were in Australia and that life was somewhat approaching normality everywhere? (The news here seems to only be interested in Europe atm, bit of the US, I'm ashamed to say I'm pretty clueless about the state of Covid elsewhere, well except Tanzania, the mind boggles with that one).

Yes, height is an additional factor too, I'm pretty much dead on mid waisted but I'm short for fashion (average height though ) so the waist is often in the wrong place in things like dresses. Too tall to be petite though 🤦

Saturday morning bargain, found a pair of leather joggers from Joseph for a song on Vinted, only worn once or twice. Hopefully they actually look good on me too 😬

I am in australia, and it’s going pretty well really. Melbourne has a grand total of 13 cases , that’s across all 4m of us so they’ve called a snap 5 day lockdown. Risk it’s longer of course and people are upset but I can’t get that worked up about it. I hope it cuts the spread off though! Gutted for businesses all set for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year this weekend, they will have bought all their supplies. We have canceled dps Valentine’s Day surprise meal plan (awww) for buying in from a restaurant that has pivoted to takeaway offerings.

So I bought leather trousers last year and have been looking forward to winter to wear them, sounds like everyone else will be in joggers going oh my god that is SO last year . I’m still wearing them though! I did look up leather joggers too after 70sduvet looked so good in them, didn’t see any

I lie, we have ASOS like everyone else, there are these- maybe I couldn’t see any in green
www.asos.com/au/prd/21317056?acquisitionsource=pasteboard
Also an ASOS tapered trouser which is joggeresque at the waist but would look awful on me.

Do we have posters on every continent then?
Maybe not Antartica?

Yes, I do worry a bit about how trend proof leather trousers/joggers/leggings are as they tend to re-emerge in turn as 'the' pair of leather bottoms every couple of years now where before it was just leggings. With that in mind a secondhand pair for not too much money seemed like a sensible buy. Green would have been great but black is probably a bit more versatile with suitable footwear I have now and I know Joseph leather is of a nice quality. I quite like the idea of transitioning them in seasons, but lockdown has completely changed my attitude to when to wear what so the idea of them with a t-shirt and leather flip flops totally makes sense to me right now, I might have to reconsider that when I actually get to go out more regularly I also like the idea of them for air travel with flat mules (closed toe ones).

Snap 5 day lockdown, how does that work, is it just to locate any more infections and make the test and trace easier? It seems like such a pain for businesses to close down everything for such a limited time. Valentine's usually isn't that big here but they've really been pushing it in hopes of extra sales this year. Hope it works out but the supermarket offerings are a bit

@Floisme

Do we have posters on every continent then? Maybe not Antartica?

There must be a lurker... I do know of a poster on another thread who went for work. But maybe it was the Arctic.

Exactly, it’s to try and stop the spread so the current incubating cases haven’t infected anyone else when they test positive. Bear in mind there are 13, more than half in hotel quarantine so no contacts, the others are quarantine workers and one went through the airport which has sparked the alarm- a much wider contact pool than other. We get articles detailing every movement new cases have made over the previous few days so you can know if you were there and you have to get tested and isolate .

I would give up on fashion if I were in Antarctica or the Arctic!! In fact probably if I were in the northern hemisphere right now .

Tshirt and leather joggers sounds fine to me.

Oh I think I forgot Africa Or do we have an occasional poster based in Morocco? I hope so, otherwise I'll have to report to the gulag next week.

I like the thought that we have posters all round the world... please tell all!

This month's Me&Em booklet has a rather tempting ballet wrap T shirt in black and navy, styled with some nice-on-the-model jersey joggers. I suspect they probably won't look the same on my 64yo body, but I've torn out the page anyway. To contemplate.

Me and Em seem to have given up sending me their catalogues, which is a shame as they were good coffee / bath time reading, and I've been fond of a ballet wrap ever since I wanted to be Margot Fonteyn. It sounds like a good outfit for a Pilates body Xing

I like looking at Me+Em's website, but I can't help but think that most of their things aren't going to work on not-tall, not-willowy me.

I had similar thoughts Flo; it would be a rather elegant upgrade to my workout gear.

Pretty sure Me&Em would put you back on their list if you asked nicely. I'm hardly a high-spending repeat customer as I've only bought and kept two sale T-shirts. Lovely cotton, good shape except for the puffed sleeves so they are generally worn under a jumper. Their stuff does seem to run large.

Dunno, I've still got a couple of their ruched tube skirts from around 10 years ago - they gave little ole 5'3 me the body of a 1950s screen goddess. They've moved on from that look but I quite like them for not standing still and I think they're always worth a look even though I've not bought recently.

Soz Catherine cross post. Yeah good idea Xing I should email them - I miss their offers as well as their catalogues.

Oh, I like the Joseph joggers, bo. I keep getting ads for plumo's faux leather trousers. They're in their last ditch sale, which means no returns, only a credit note, so I think I won't bother and could probably find better elsewhere.

Me & Em have stopped sending me their catalogue too, though I think they are sending me emails that go straight into my promotions folder.

Me&Em are pretty good at clothes that flatter most bodies, even if they can't transform mine into 5'10" of willowy youthfulness. I regularly like the lines of their trousers and skirts, and if my life were slightly more work-oriented, I'd be more of a customer. It's tops which I wreck regularly that I begrudge spending a lot on, although that's realistically the section of me that needs the most help.

The shoes that they are showing as coming soon seem very aspirationally priced though.

Ooh, Xing, Me & Em's ballet crossover top does look good. They definitely used to be more corporate work clothes. I need most help with tops, too. Lots of different trouser styles suit me (though the fit of trousers is always harder) but tops with ruching, draping always work well on me.

Me&em has a few things that look good. Never bought from them, I never have them in my mind to be honest.

I have not tried vinted to buy secondhand, do you find it better than eBay Bo? I did a couple of searches but I cannot quite get to grips with it. I think since I am sticking this year at not buying new , I want to get less chances and eBay quality is a bit hit and miss. What I really want is to be able to go to dress agencies and actual shops.

Just checked out that Me and Em ballet wrap top and it does look good. Does anyone remember those knitted silk ones that Hobbs used to do in days of yore? I still have a couple but don't know why cos I'm bigger of boob now plus one is stained.

Anyway back to the point, I think Me and Em are quite clever at picking up on fashion moods - they moved on from the body con look very early and they eased up on those 'boardroom to dinner party' outfits well before Covid.

It's in my basket, but I haven't pressed buy yet! I think it will be popular: the 10s are already waiting for resupply. My last ballet wrap T-shirt was from M&S, and I wore it out, then had it copied in Dubai by my Sis's backstreet tailor, and I still have/wear those. I do love a navy top, but not often at that price.

Clare Hornby is good at zeitgeist; there was a bit about her in one of the weekend newspapers, talking about country clothes in lockdown.

Oh yes, flo, I agree that they are good at picking up on trends. The only thing I have of theirs are the "palazzo pants" that ended up being discussed at length on a previous thread. They are a really nice quality, just the long, wide-legged style doesn't fit my home-schooling and muddy park walking lifestyle atm. I do tend to wear wider/looser trousers in warmer and drier weather. I have a similar top to that ballet wrap top from Kettlewell Colours when I did the whole colour palette thing about 9yrs ago. It is still going strong, in a purply sort of abstract animal print.

The weather is noticeably milder, so am in a loose blouse with a Uniqlo U green cotton mix jumper rather than a thermals and a thick wool jumper.

Interesting algorithm: I am getting ebay ads for weights .