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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Merch created in honour of our ten thread anniversary:

Les Parisiennes de Mamansnet shop

I love Loewe, and I am a sensible size, and I love the look, bo, but the trousers would make me look enormous, plus I don't suppose they would be available to try on IRL within 200 miles.

The simone rocha collection is just too Irish and twee for me
These two dresses are straight off the Chapel catwalk aisle on communion day.
Maybe I'm just jealous as I'm of the other persuasion and have never got over my friends getting miniature wedding dresses and I didn't!!!

In fact the first is nearly taking its inspiration from the baptismal font, its pretty close to our family christening gown especially with the trim going round the edge and bottom.

The tartan is nice, but the aran is twee. I quite like the shoes.

And what's with the plug sockets in the background of the shots?

My posts keep going so I'm disjointed.
Here in NI shops pay rates not property taxes I think and usually charity shops aren't exempt but sometimes get discount.
Pre covid I was in a church run 'private' charity shop (good brands, cheap) I like that is one of those run by good church ladies and filled with donations from middle class families. But in a grotty dead end area of a small run down town.
I was amazed their rates alone were £1000 a week! Before rent or heat etc.

And they sell everything for £1 or £2.
Obviously this is a great "cause" for the church and "humble" work but no one has ever sat down and worked out they can't be making any money for the orphans and it's costing them money to run the place.

And here we have quite a lot of these private charity shops run by individual churches, then the usual banardos, then consignment shops etc.
Most towns, even Belfast City Centre is full of charity shops already.

Then we have a lot of GB stores no longer delivering to NI because of brexit or who have pulled out so the High Street will look very different

Ah but Duvet according to MN lore your side may not have miniature wedding cake dresses, but you get the murderously sweet mythical traybakes (I am still digesting the idea of apple mars bars sandwiches , I don't think I want to digest an actual one).

That tax incentive doesn't seem that helpful in practice as it lowers the value of surrounding properties. Is there not a cap on similar businesses types in one area? It's weird though, I believe NL has the most commercial space per inhabitant in Europe, we really should be having issue with it but we'll more likely have issues with office buildings which we already had too much of and now will probably be scaled back even further. They're all built on city/town edges so not always a nice area to redevelop into appartements.

Yes, I must say, having looked behind the scenes and being involved in fund raising has left me very disillusioned with charities. It's a lot of graft by well meaning people at the bottom and a lot of self enriching directors at the top with little pragmatists to be found. The amount of effort put in vs. the amount of money that actually goes to its intended recipients is embarrassing. The larger the organisation, the worse it seems. And that's not even mentioning the sexual assault and fraud scandals.

A “chapel”. Tuts nobody makes their communion in a chapel. You outed yourself there! I love that black board scene in Derry Girls, it’s so well done. The blackboard is being exhibited culturelab.makingthefuture.eu/who-are-you

The blackboard scene

I really like the Simone Rocha dresses just not for me. If I had a different life I’d wear them with stompy boots but I’ve nowhere I could wear them. The fabrics have decent composition too to be fair. Lots of wool.

I think local boutiques are doing well enough here. We’ve a similar try on approval thing going on.

Great trousers bo. Very similar to mine. Mine are a 38 label. I’m usually a 38/40 so they’re on the slightly more generous side if that helps? Picture of mine worn on page 3.

From that blackboard "Catholics like to walk" 🧐 maybe I need to reconsider apple mars bar sandwiches...

Yeah, I'm wondering if they're the same trousers, just a different colour way. They're a size 40 but she really doesn't look like a size 40. I can go into the shop to try them (by appointment) but I feel like I'd be wasting their time. Or I can save the money and spend it on those very expensive vented Loewe trousers I linked

elle I just wanted the mini wedding dress
And I'll say nothing about the boyfriend who said "nice to meet you" when someone shook his hand for the sign of the peace
The sandwich you want is chicken and grape.
Or chicken and sliced dried apricot.
Date and Mars is a bit claggy

I have found these. I can’t work out the probability they would look awful. The elastic makes them easy to wear but ups the risk of bunchy.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/154355938395

I’m all for wedding cake dresses in regular wear but obviously would chicken out. Would admire anyone else though!!

I think the mini wedding dresses for adults go back to a point Bani made some time back on here WRT children's clothes monopolising and continuing certain historic/traditional aesthetics which make adults not want to wear them. I'll be curious to see if it sells out as madly as it usually does.

Date and mars bars that just sounds like some sort of torture you'd subject someone with dentures to. Grape and chicken surely isn't that unique, I think the Americans eat those too, and maybe somewhere in the med they roast them together, apricots definitely in the middle East, but as a non meat eater I may be making all this up 🤷

Time, I think the bunchyness of those depends on how flat your behind is. I'd be more concerned about the fitted tapered legs and folded hems, they always shorten me but if it's roomy enough you may get away with it.

My first thought was Madonna in the 'Like a Virgin' video, and then first communion dresses. I think they're the least interesting pieces in the collection to be honest - a bit derivative and I don't think she quite manages to put her own stamp on them. But I'd wear the trench coat and I like the candy floss tweed coat too, and some of the black tulle stuff. I also like the photo print T shirts and think they'd be good for dressing down a blazer so they'd actually do a job for me.

I like those trousers Time. As bo says, they can have leg shortening properties but you can counteract that if the waist is high. I think the bunchiness will also depend on how drapy the fabric is.

bani barrel leg is probably my favourite trouser shape at the moment although I'm realising that they're not all the same and that it makes a difference where they start to curve. Still working it out.

I had a chicken and grape sandwich for the first time recently. It was in a hipster sandwich spot and it was delicious. I like the “nice to meet you”. I think In traveller culture it’s still a thing to have an actual mini bride at your wedding.

I think if the waistband stretches a bit they’d be a good bet trouserwise.

Mini wedding dresses .

I got the MH dress, the fabric is great and the cut too. Although is quite roomy. It is an S and I would say it could fit a 12 or even a 14. I am normally a 8/10.
Tried it straight out of the packet, so it is creased and also that white mark at the front ... is not there in real life [dirt in the mirror].
I am very happy with the condition, is immaculate. I can see why flo rates MH quality of fabric and attention to detail in the cut.
I think it would have been better a smaller size for me, but is still quite good as a dress I can throw on .

The MH dress looks endlessly useful and very stylishred. Well chosen. Will we be signing you up for MH's fan club?

Yeah, the fit up top is odd. It could be that you're supposed to wear it looser, is it the diffusion MHL brand? That's definitely a looser silhouette than the mainline.

Oh Time I love that Zimmerman detail. We've lost all that love of pretty detailing but there is no reason why we can't go back to celebrating handicraft (traditionally women's forms of creativity) again!

I also like the shape of those Ebay trousers. I think it's that sort of posh jogger shape? I'd really really love that to be easier to wear, but material matters a lot - I've tried several pairs that I couldn't move my legs in because the fabric wasn't stretchy, so you'd need more space, which would lose the shape.

Love the Loewe trousers. If I can just create a sort of base pattern of trousers it should surely be possible to play around with construction like that...

Tut tut, communion in a chapel! Actually my first communion was in what was called a chapel (the Catholic church here was a few rooms in an apartment building at the time). I liked the Aran jumper in shape but not the pearls. It really adds nothing and doesn't even feel new.

Red, the MH looks nice, but from that angle maaaaybeee a little big on top? Which doesn't matter depending on how you wear it maybe?

I have a new style icon, the glass designer Ingeborg Lundin. I was just watching a series of programmes on SVT on groundbreaking designers etc (and they are all women, but they make no big deal about that, which I like). It's one of those handy little not-to-in-depth series that are easy watching and teaches you a bit. Anyway, she epitomises Scandinavian effortless style. God. Rewatched the programme on my phone and took screenshots I'll be sharing with you since I don't expect you to watch 30 minutes of a language you don't understand .

Screenshots part 1

Screenshots part 2

Screenshots part 3

This is sort of how I imagine Flo to look mannishly feminine!

Ha ha bani that's so kind. I was just looking at the pics and thinking, 'God I'd love to look like that'. I do like the sound of 'mannishly feminine - excellent turn of phrase, can I borrow it?

That second screenshot is a good excuse to post my favourite Katharine pic once again so here it is. Because.

I'm so pleased you like the Margaret Howell dress Red. I prefer a looser look these days but if it doesn't feel quite right on top I'm sure a seamstress could fix it. Almost everything I own from MH has been altered.

You've all just reminded me that I too have some Loewe chinos - no cargo pockets, just a plain, narrow leg shape. I tend to forget about them because there's only about one day a year when my hips and the stars are aligned enough for me to wear them. But whenever I do, I feel like one of those women who live on Park Avenue and carry a small dog.

Katharine Hepburn that should have said. I would never be so familiar as to call her by her first name.

Ah, interesting, my first impression of Ingeborg Lundin was that she was a bit of a Scandi Audrey Hepburn, similar facial structure and body but it's sort of like AH wearing KH's wardrobe. You kind of need that serene thoughtful aura to make it work though, IMO.

Flo, I chose that shot of her lying down precisely because of your favourite KH picture!

AH dressed as KH, very apt, Bo! I agree that to make it work 100 % you need that aura. I lack it. But if I could make it work to 60 % ... just get the mannishly feminine part right iyswim (yes Flo, you are welcome to that )

Thank you, bani - you know me so well