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.

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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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Previous threads:

Un

Deux

Trois

Quatre

Cinq

Six

Sept

Huit

Neuf

Dix

Onze

Douze

Treize

Thank you for kind comments - I agree that those colours together are really good (possibly what started swaying me) but I’m still not sure an oversize shirt is something I’ll be wearing and I’ve never had anything in that blue so a big step for me 😬 I like the wider than normal placket and deep cuffs, but the sleeves are long so need to be permanently rolled up or similar bla bla yes/no/yes/no. But my style consultants (daughters) are visiting on Sunday so I’ll ask them 😉

Nice to see your photos Elle! Which sweaters were those, were they the knitted jumpers as I’d call them ? Sleeveless dresses so often have enormous armholes which I think is one reason I don’t even look at them any more - sure I’m older and self conscious about my arms but all my life I’ve not enjoyed the peekaboo bra look. I think it’s so shoddy. 😒

Missed comment on fisherman’s sandals- I think my little toe would poke out of those ie I’m not against trying them on but ime the straps have to be in very right places And I’m not really on the hunt for an ugly shoe but I don’t mind it if the primary usp is comfort which is why the toddler ones spoke to me ...

Finding decent pyjamas is getting easier I think - I remember when my daughters were small say late 90s there was nothing that didn’t have Disney characters on them but now I regularly see nice ones. With pockets even.

I was watching a Norwegian programme on fashion this afternoon - a lightweight thing but the first episodes were all about how she wanted to try to purposefully make something trendy by using influencers, which was interesting (in a good Friday afternoon way anyway). Seeing how the influencer sector is bought etc.

I really like the jacket, Elle. It looks good both ways, versatile but not too basic.

Interesting you say the same about Arket, CatherineMaitland. I hadn't ordered from them before. I know M&S went through an atrocious sizing phase where it was a lottery. Why do companies do this? It's even worse with online shopping.

My best guess is that working from home means a lot of mistakes in the process happened? Not sure how the process works exactly in the fashion industry, I think they draw patterns digitally already, but maybe something in the prototypes didn't get picked up?

Just got alerted by the new JW Anderson x Uniqlo collab, not very fashion forward either (feels a bit of H&M LOGG in the old days when it was reliably good) but I appreciate there's a lot of breezy linen in there and it's not playing on the usual, if you want to be cool (temperature wise) you need to be half naked. I'm liking the linen shorts so far, and some of the skirts. All the models look ridiculously wholesome though, has no one told the dolts there's a pandemic on and life is shit?

I think it's because they seem to go in heavily for everything being oversized, @quirkychick . If I order my normal size I'm often swamped and think I should've gone 2 or even 3 sizes smaller and right now I just can't be arsed with it.

M&S is wonky - usually if I'm a slim 12 I'll order a 10 and if I'm a bigger 12 I'll order a 12. That most often works.

I haven't bought anything from Next for ages but when I was actually size 22/24 I could buy a 16 or 18 from them and it would fit with room to spare.

It really is annoying.

Thanks Bo. I quite like a couple of the men's shirts and the socks, and maybe the design hem skirt, from that one.

They do look quite wholesome, now I think about it. Still, prefer that to the desolate-misery look.

CatherineMaitland I think I could understand if both Arket dresses were too big, but one was too small (on the shoulders).

bo, I quite like the pinstripe shirt dress and wide trousers, but realise I have a very similar linen dress by Nicole Farhi and trousers from Anthropologie. The hem skirt looks good, too.

I look like a WW2 ward sister in any kind of blue shirtdress, so even though I really like them, I steer clear. :)

I've found that with Cos - either massive or miles too small.

I like your pyjamas catherine I am tempted myself now.
I am quite partial to a ‘lovely’ white or pinstripe blue and white shirt dress 😀, I have both types and last year I wore them to picnic meet ups. This year might be a continuation of that?
Yes WW2 sister look ... possibly... I still really like them .

It's only me that looks like that in them, not everyone! I really like how they look on other people, sigh.

Just flying in and out. Elle I really like the +J parka on you. I also like the shirt but it's no good if you're not feeling it. Thanks for offering to sell on the jumper in medium. I'm still looking out for one but I think I want to keep the option of returning it to Uniqlo if it's still not right, especially as, from what you've said, upsizing might not solve the neckline problem.

bani I can see what you mean about the shirt not looking oversized but it still looks great. You're really good at putting colours together.

Thanks bo for the JW Anderson link. I've noticed that the women's linen stuff is nearly all described as 'linen blend' while the men's is 'premium linen' which kind of makes me think, 'fuck off JW', but it's been a long, full-on week so I'm probably overreacting.

To be fair the men's 'premium linen' is slightly more expensive than the women's 'linen blend', but personally it's a fiver I'd have been happy to pay.

Well if it's the same linen blend that was used for the 'lovely' white dress from the +J collection I don't care how premium the men's linen is, that blend is waaaay nicer. I'm eyeing the khaki green dress that's very similar to the +J dress and wondering if it's the same material, the design is a bit meh though, JW obviously doesn't put in the hours Jil Sander does.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/06/magazine/fashion-sweatpants.html

I read this longform piece last night about how the fashion industry has pretty much imploded on itself. And how covid has brought the fashion world to a standstill.

The collections within collections within collections to get store exclusively and the non stop cycle of fresh ideas seems like its come to a long awaited halt.

The interview is with Scott Sternberg, who having been through the shows and the stores cycle now produces leisurewear in a direct to consumer line.
In some ways he's been protected from the "hit" by the massive boost in sales of tracksuits. And he acknowledges this.
But this article seems to ponder if fashion can survive as a direct to consumer market.

Having been briefly involved with a friend attempting to break into this area I see this type of model popping up all over the place esp MN S&B. A lot of the suspicious threads pop up with new "cool named brands" that get raved about, especially leisurewear, only to have multiple posters come back with disappointing reviews, real trials to get refunds and very lax quality controls appear in this direct to consumer market.

In other news, I've sold a lot of my too big blah not very exciting clothes on FB, very shocked by how much easier, quicker and how much more I got for them than ebay etc, especially as they were really ordinary items gap, m&s etc.
Now need to work out whether to keep or sell the special things that are too big. And if to sell where?

With that money I'm now on ebay, I got a very nice DryKorn navy leopard self patterned shirt for £9 which arrived this morning. It was still in the original packaging and fits perfectly

Fair point about the lovely dress
I think linen and cotton can indeed be better than pure linen sometimes, e.g. regarding creasing. I guess when I see 'linen blend' I immediately think 'linen viscose' but will cheerfully eat my words if I'm wrong. (And this, Uniqlo is why we need more detail in the fecking previews.)

Thanks for that link 70s I haven't got time to read it at the moment but I'll save it for later.

Ive also just noticed that the looong response I had thought I'd sent before the post with the link didn't send.

Mainly...

Loved seeing all the J+ looks. Glad a lot of you were pleased and yet again it's sizing that's the issue mainly
The heightened level of detail did look 👌 though

On opening the JW Anderson page I immediately wanted the rainbow smocked white top, but then realised its a dress. I will look like a member of the cast of Annie in a dress like that but that's the only real stand out piece to me. Everything else looks like something you could find elsewhere. But again maybe if you could see it or touch it, I might feel entirely different

These threads and the thread recently about fabric weights and weaves have helped so much whist trying to buy on ebay as I've raged before about how I dont do online.

Bo & Bani? being in an actual shop and trying actual clothes on

Imagine all this in a much more cohesive way.... that was how it disappeared 3 or so hours ago

Very interesting article, 70sduvet (I will confess to skimming through). Some things that would be a great change would be to have clothes on sale during the actual season you might want to wear them. Also, paired with a core of transitional basics, I think the article talked about perennials, that you could wear year round. It sounds much simpler than all the complicated rounds of collections. It will be interesting to watch what happens.

Good article. I'm clearly too old for Entireworld. Couldn't even make the website work. :)

Hello all,
checking into the thread, with my +J report. Didn’t fancy anything in the morning then panic returned after seeing all the posts and I have got the dolman shirt in grey (the white had sold out) and blue and white stripe overshirt with grandad collar. They are both going back. I liked the folded detail on the back of the dolman sleeve shirt but the colour did nothing for me and I was reminded that the few tops of similar style I have actually get little wear, the season for them being short when you don’t need to worry about pairing with an oversized cardigan or jacket to fit in the sleeves and when it’s not too hot to wear on its own.
The stripe shirt was too comic stripy for me, the combination of bright blue stripe and poplin fabric was just too much.

In other news, I have finished the trousers I have been making. I used a basic pyjama bottom pattern which I tweaked it a lot to create a perfect pair of barrel leg trousers with slit pockets but fearing failure I had used boring fabric that I didn’t want to invest too much in. They are greyish navy twill so look like any old chinos. I feel after all this time and effort they should look more special.

I’m now in the process of drafting a dress inspired by a Lemaire dress from the current season. It’s cotton and linen fabric which drapes and falls beautifully and richly but again I’m starting to fear that I’ve chosen the wrong colour. It’s forest green and being handwoven has a texture which brings it into the wizard of the forest territory. Shall persist though, in my fantasy it’ll be the perfect summer throw on piece.

@botemp I adore the trousers you have made, what’s the fabric you used?

The dress I’m trying to recreate. Sans the buttons on the side though, I thought that was unnecessary overengineering

They're wool twill still for sale here but it's a bit flimsy on its own for tailoring so I had to use silk organza to flat line it. I think the fabric would be better suited for something that's more drapey like a skirt. I still have a large piece left that I was going to make a 'not a Chanel Chanel jacket' with (so not the cardigan type jackets, see attached) but I don't think the fabric works so I'm currently in the process of making a longer fitted jacket sort of tuxedo mockup where I can use some hair canvas with (the Chanel type jacket I wanted to make was more weighty and drapey where my fabric is just drapey and organza wouldn't have solved that issue).

I want to start experimenting with draping too (and finally get to using my adorable half scale mannequin), funnily enough I was looking at Lemaire designs too and a bit of Rick Owens but he does draping on a mannequin and on the bias so I figure I'll start somewhere simpler.

Is this the dress luggage, must say I really like the button details and feel they're somewhat essential to the design if you look at the back picture in beige. The design doesn't look too complicated but there's probably a lot of nifty tricks I'm not seeing.

Checking into this thread I'd been lurking as usual

The JW Anderson link reminded me that I really want to find a replacement to a favourite Susan Wolff shows how old it is , generously cut white linen sleeveless shirt that is now so thin that even starching it to within an inch of its life is not sufficient - and it's even starting to split

I actually quite like the shirt dress but probably not enough to buy it. If I did, I'd want to be sure it was cut generously.

Yes that’s the dress @botemp, Matches Fashion has some detail too www.matchesfashion.com/products/Lemaire-Belted-cotton-blend-canvas-dress-1398984

I can’t figure out what the buttons do apart from enable the dress to convert into an overlayer (and being an interesting way to put the pockets in) but I’m worried about the way they stick out (I don’t need unnecessary width) and also I have never done a button hole in my life and I’m scared I’ll ruin it if I fiddle too much with it. Pockets and side slits will have to do in my version. Are you seeing something I’m not in terms of construction of the back that buttons contribute to?

You are right this is a simple construction (it’s a caftan dress basically) but closeups of the Lemaire dress prompted me to put a lot of work into shoulders and neckline, so that they sit flat and don’t move while the rest of the dress floats. I also made my sleeves not as wide (they would swallow my frame), so I inserted gussets under sleeves to be able to move.

I’m impressed you spotted that fabric on that website, their pictures are terrible and tiny, and descriptions non existent! I still take a lot of handholding with choosing fabrics - and still get it wrong...

I love that jacket, but it looks like it’s made of sturdier wool. I really like that colour too, been fantasising about making myself trousers from 8 wale corduroy in that colour.

In other news, Pinterest has been sending me pictures of gorgeous things that Roxane Baines makes, it reminds me of holidays and heat and when we used to go places. roxanebaines.com/
The website looks unapdated for the last year, I hope they keep going.

I think the button placard thing stabilises the bias there and the extra weight anchors it a bit, and also allows a bit of wafting movement, I think. The buttons are repeated in the belt and is an interesting way of integrating a pocket but I don't think they're actually functional. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with button holes, just attach through both layers, it's not like they actually need to unbotton.

I've also noticed there's a very unusual double dart below the waist, not sure how it works and what direction. I think it's to keep the volume centred rather than sweep out. Not sure if they're in the back too, they might not to make room for bum volume. Unless it's something to do with the pockets but it would be weird.

And a little triangle at the bottom of the V to keep it stable. My guess is those strips are on grain to stabilise the bias there.

Matches site seems to be down for me so can't see any further details but this is my best guess, I think there must be something going on at the waist too as it doesn't look too voluminous there but if there's no zipper it would have to be wide enough to get shoulders/boobs through. I was thinking about the shoulders too, I'm guessing there might be a dart there too that flows into the side seam.

I hope you have enough fabric, as it looks to be two large pieces I'm guessing it's three metres or more, but not sure how long the belt is looks to be the length of total fabric needed.