Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: For the Love of Well Dressed Women in Repose

[botemp]

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

---

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

Douze

Treize

I love the mini mannequin . I'm a sucker for a bit of draping, either formal or casual.

Bo did a version of luggage’s dress . Love it 😍
And that mini mannequin is adorable.
I have no fashion to report .... I think ... oh! Hang on , I have one thing to report!
I exchanged a couple of clothes with a friend of similar size to me and I have a pleated red Zara skirt and a Japanesse skirt in a beige corduroy.
I will try on and report back!

I could have sworn I had some Jaegar but I can't find it anywhere. I'll be very sad if it got caught up in a clearout. I remember them picking up a lot of fashion plaudits in the early-mid noughties but then the woman behind it, whose name I forget, left for somewhere like Marks and Spencer who totally wasted her - bet Xing will know more. But I'll always associate them with smart workwear and they just didn't seem to notice how that was changing. Or maybe they did spot it but couldn't turn it around fast enough. So I was sad when they went under but not surprised.

Love the jewellery pics - something I'm hardly wearing in lockdown which is interesting. And happy belated birthday prettybird, I am very envious of your hands - mine are totally shot after a year on the sanitiser.

My darling darling British friends.

It's JaegEr. Surely. Youse are all doing my head in so yiz are.

Silk organza press cloth -- sewist or wannabe sewist
Ordinary press cloth -- proper ironer, like your gran who was once in service
No press cloth -- Muggle (me)

Ha ha, I could have sworn it was 'ar' but I've just googled and was asked very sternly, 'Did you mean Jaeger?'

I use a tea towel for pressing. Or pillow case.

Like your gran Flo. Like your gran.

I tried to subtly correct you by spelling it right but it didn't work, so the pitchforks came out.

Not a Brit, did spell it wrong but I keep thinking it's the car brand so that probably explains the mashup 🤷

Subtle doesn't work on me bani don't you know that yet? At least not online. In real life I might have noticed the tensing of a shoulder or the twitch of an eyebrow. But not spelling.

Nineties M&S knitwear, then Autograph chief, was Kim Winser, but I didn't know she was at Jaeger before. My mum, grandma and great aunt were all Jaeger fans, and the knitwear factory was just around the corner from DH's office at one stage. I had a very nice violet linen shirt dress for ages and still have the belt I bought to replace the one in the same fabric. But they lost the sense of London style at some point, although there was an attempt to develop a more expensive "black label" for some time.

It was me who brought it up with my dithering blazer/coat
And no wonder my ebay searches for something with lower cut lapels but still JaegEr arent going well if I'm spelling it WRONG.
Obviously I'm on a JaegEr tangent because of all the chat here and I'm trying to replace a linen cardiagn/wrap from them which is just too big.

There used to be a website years ago called fatfingers or similar that collected ebay listings were the lister had mistyped the brand name. You could get some very good bargains. I'd completely forgotten about it. I wonder if it's still around.

On a washing/ironing/consumerism note, I've just ordered my Grandmother a new washing machine to replace hers from 1974!!!!!!! I can't decide if the clothes will come out almost ready to wear in comparison, or if the old machine was what kept them in such good nick in the first place.

I have a pressing cloth too, but it's so long since I used it that it's down at the very bottom of my useful cloths pile under the kitchen sink.

I think the woman I'm thinking of was called Belinda something? But it's quite possible she's a character in The Crown or Line of Duty and has nothing to do with either JaegEr or M&S (which I will refer to by initials only from now on).

Floisme you are thinking of Belinda Earl. She was the hugely successful CEO of Jaeger from ( about ) 2005 for 5 years or so. She introduced Jaeger Black and Jaeger Boutique. I was a regular purchaser of both ranges and still wear many items from these ranges. Fabulous quality. Nothing like it now very sadly.

Didn't Belinda Earl go on to run Debenhams after Jaeger? IIRC.

Yes yes yes that's her! According to Wikipedia she went from Harrods to Debenhams to JaegEr and from there to M&S as style director, where the trail stops but I think they kicked her out a year or so ago?

Thank you Gonegrey and Xing - good to know I haven't lost my mind just yet.

I'm trying to decide what I want to keep and get rid of to fund new things at the minute.

Are Isabel Marant Bobbies just over now or are they still something I should hold onto? Are these still current enough to wear with long dresses or has their moment been and gone?

Likewise dark brown Acne Stars? Though I'm thinking these will work well with my new flared jeans and floral dresses so should be a keep.

Tbh, I think you have to treat the pandemic a bit like a death, don't make any rash big decisions for at least a year as you're probably not in the right frame of mind right now. And, yes, contents of your wardrobe are totally big decisions in my book

I also have a pair of Acne stars and no way am I getting rid of those until they die and fall apart they're very versatile IME, good with the whole rolled up hems this past winter and have definitely worn them with flares in the past and that works really well.

I don't have Bobbies but the other infamous wedge sneaker pair (can't remember the name now, also something with a B, Barrett?) and they do have their moments of disappearing and coming back again. I think you need to try to wear the Bobbies differently than previously to see if they have another application, I can actually see those working with the very poofy sleeved babydoll dresses you see everywhere (provided you like those, I'm very meh about them).

Tbh, you also have to accept that if you're no longer feeling temporary iconic items, other people aren't either, so they're unlikely to fund much newness.

Change of topic, perhaps I'm just being cantankerous but is anyone else annoyed with all the newness flitting into their inboxes? I'm finally craving some spring (white dresses and anything in a good green) but it's all twee frills, puffy sleeves, country lace, etc. I despise the whole cottagecore takeover, it's far too juvenile for me, great if you want to live out your studio Ghibli dreams at any age if you want, but I'm ready for some adulting again after this brief pandemic existence of a lethargic teen.

Yes I'm with you @botemp. I have been moaning about all the joggers, and the blacks and beiges but not too keen on the (only it seems) alternative of floral, frilly things. Surely grown up light and bright wardrobe is not impossible. The upside is that I am not tempted by anything.

Having said that I do have a yearning for one of those French blouses (which embody everything I just complained about minus maybe the floral) that Isabel Marant and APC do so well - but then I'm contrary like that. I don't want a frilly one but a wide peasanty in blue cotton would be lovely.

Tha cottagecore stuff makes me think of the KarenBritChick video where she purges her wardrobe, and her friend Rhianna goes on about how many milkmaid dresses she has. luggage, I can manage a peasanty blouse if it's not too frilly. The same with florals, I can manage a more stylised/oriental style print but not chintzy. I agree, bo, several of the supplements are full of photos of pouffy, flowery dresses at that weird length that suits very few.

Yes, milkmaids it's all a bit Marie Antoinette and her sheep, isn't it? But I suppose the escapism is the allure of it all.

Yes, luggage I know the blouses of which you speak but in their defence, despite their Lolita-esque details when they're by those brands they're always cut in a way that they're not so prissy and can easily be combined with tougher items and then they have that enviable laissez-faire quality.

Well I suppose I could be made out to be a hypocrite too, Raey popped some interesting things in my inbox. The baggy jeans I was eyeing but were constantly sold out in my size now come as shorts, since I'm always lacking fabric in shorts I'm rather intrigued. Also like this dress (forgot to mention that aside from white dresses and all things green I'm also craving some check style patterns) but it's stupidly overpriced and sold out in my size.

Omg, yes very Marie-Antoinette! Though, I do think KarenBritChick pulls it off quite well - I would just look ridiculous. bo, I like that Raey dress. I definitely could do black and white checks for spring. Not even checks, just black and white or like luggage says some lovely colour - like that orchid purple we looked at, last year? Or green or even red.

I'm still a fully paid up member of the anti frilly league. These days, I'm so austere I'd probably tell Oliver Cromwell off for wearing that big silly collar. I've been here before but normally I've got bored by now. Maybe summer will shake me out of it or at least get me back into some colour.

I have the +J jumper replacement, some pics and - possibly - a verdict but I've got to charge my phone and do some work first.

I got that Raey email too, and I thought that shorts looked much more wearable than jeans in this style. The dress looks lovely but I wonder if checks are too of the moment and it may lose the appeal quickly. I ask this because I'm eyeing some check linen on Merchant and Mills to make some summer culottes or a skirt in this sort of style www.margarethowell.co.uk/womens/shop/trousers/drawstring-culotte-linen-plainweave-charcoal

@quirkychick I agree a peasanty blouse with not much frill is the perfect thing sometimes, and so versatile. I have a couple of APC blouses that I have worn happily at work and at weekends, but they are dark, and one made of wool, I'd love to find summer versions of them.

Hmm, difficult to say wrt longevity of checks, I like the Raey one specifically because they're at an angle and more like diamonds which will look good one me and works really well with the design. Standard ninety degree check can sometimes do some weird optical illusions with curves so I can never really do anything fitted with check patterns as it can look like I have a giant tumour...

Also, check can also look a bit of golf course, so you'd have to choose wisely. I like the M&M linen check though but you'd have to place it just right, probably.

+J jumper verdict: I'm focusing on the neckline as that was the problem area, and I'll do a separate post with each pic so they don't get mashed up.

So this is the smaller size, which has already gone back. It ends just where my neck starts going crepey, makes it look shorter and thicker than it actually is and worst of all - although I know you can't see this - is the way it seems to drag down my whole face