Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: Maids Cosplaying as Schoolboys are Going to Get Themselves Cancelled by North Korea

[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

Douze

Treize

Quatorze

Quinze

Which part don't you agree with Voltefarce?

Welcome BabyElle.... congratulations to Elle et Lui. And another snuggle from me, and some more .

Sorry I’m rubbish at quoting. I meant that I believe that the smaller changes people make can have a large impact.

Ah right! Well I don't dismiss making small changes because I've made them myself, but I believe in making them because it feels like the right thing to do. If the motivation is to bring about bigger change then I think it ends in disappointment

Congratulations Elle, hope you and bebe are well and the rest of the family are enjoying the new addition

a quick note to say thank you to bo for the bag recommendation

Sorry, happy baby news overshadowed you there Happy, hi and welcome. Does Monoprix deliver outside of France?

Came here to post about Dries van Noten's beauty line. I must admit my first reaction was a major eye roll as we really don't need another beauty brand, surely, but then I saw the packaging 😍 I want want want one of the refillable lipstick holders. I'm not a fragrance person (incompatible skin, it all just smells like toilet cleaner on me ) but he's a keen gardener with a love of flowers so I'm quite curious to what that translates to in fragrances (if there's a candle I'll be there for the scented candles). Launches the 2nd (upon which I'll probably be at the price of the lipstick holder).

www.vogue.com/article/dries-van-noten-beauty

Ohhhh I'm intrigued by the Dries masculine Rose fragrance. I used to adore Rose type perfume and then one day I just hated all of them.
I now prefer darker, heady perfumes so I wonder if this would tempt me back.
The lipstick cases are totally bizarre, exactly the type of thing I would love.
Wondering what exactly the objects d'art are?

Hello Happy nice to meet you! Some of the prints look lovely on your link. Would be keen to know if they deliver outside of France as well.
Definitely saw a pair of mad trousers that look right up banivanis alley.

Sorry Happy I missed your post! The first time I went away without my parents was to France and the two discoveries that blew me away were that you could buy a bottle of wine for less than a litre of milk, and that the supermarkets sold clothes. I've even got a Monoprix silk scarf still.

duvet it's stupidly overpriced but the Byredo Burning Rose scented candle is a really nice 'alternative' rose, somewhat masculine I suppose (masculinising and femininising scent has always bewildered me somewhat), it has a very woody dark rose scent, the rose is very powerful but it's more like the intensity of scent in dried roses than fresh iykwim.

I think the objets d'art are things like in the first pic which I think is a pocket mirror.

Thanks for the above articles and interviews. I didn't get a chance to look at until yesterday.

The narrative of buying the best you can afford doesn't always ring true for me. Buying what you need and know where it will fit in your life is possibly where I'm trying to aim. The best I can afford hasn't always given consistent results.

But then I'm back to that whole problem of not at all wanting a capsule (ughhhh) wardrobe.

I have however, become much better at saying no.
In my funeral outfit frenzy/grief shopping. I bought a pair of leather jeans, a patterned cardigan and 4 jumpers.
When I looked at them again carefully, the jeans were too baggy in the thighs, the cardigan made me look too boxy, unless I wore it with one specific pair of trousers. 2 jumpers were too big, not casually oversized, and one was too long in the arms even though I loved it the most.
So I kept 1 soft mohair lilac jumper out of it all.
In the past I might have kept it all, as the off-putting details weren't much, but I've trained myself to have a better eye now.

I think last year's 2nd hand year helped. If the things I bought weren't perfect I sold them. If the things I already owned weren't perfect I sold them. So why would I now bring unperfect things back in at full price
(Funeral outfit expempt, as dress is a bit big but blazer will look great with black buttons)

I read this article yesterday about what I feel to be the true fast fashion. Those websites and influencers who turn red carpet trends out within 24 hours of the backs of them appearing. With a very short life cycle of being "on trend"

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/feb/24/hustle-and-hype-the-truth-about-the-influencer-economy

Personally, I will buy clothes from supermarket to designer(mostly on sale), I buy a lot 2nd hand, lost my head to ebay last year after only being a true jumble/car boot/charity shop hunter for years.

I try to buy knowing that the item won't be "fast" in and out of my wardrobe. If I pick carefully a pair of M&S trousers can last just as well as a pair of Joseph ones. I have dunnes stores £2 cotton vests that have outlasted £35 boden ones

I am also like Flo a bit afraid of what's going to be happening in our vintage and charity shops now that it's the in thing to be doing. (Causing a mild panic as I haven't been able to do my rounds for 6 months and I'm afraid to see what I'll find when I return)

I find it also hard to be overly ethical about it, as I don't like the clothes from the very "clean" brands; and I don't really believe any of the others, high to low end have much to separate them from each other.

I forgot to share that I did get some lounging clothes in the end. Please see shite photo. The hoodie and bottoms, with wonderfully posed leg to show off the side stripe, are from Dunnes, from the Savida brand which is sort of their nicer range. It's only 30% cashmere, but very soft, snuggly and soothing to wear. The lighting looks like it's bobbled but it hasn't at all....yet, but I do have my little machine for when it obviously will.
The massive cardigan was given to me by a neighbour who thought it was too bright for her. Right up my street then. Its also great as I can put it on and off by myself during the day, still needing DH to dress me before he goes to work
I had planned to get a neutral soothing colour but then thought nooooo I need colour to make me happy in the gloom of winter.
Also happily I usually wear with orange cashmere socks and grey and pink birkinstock clogs, so I get to be amazingly matchy matchy

Also has anyone tried or seen Etre Cecile?

I'm looking like I'm in stretchy waistbands for a while yet and have seen a pair of bnwt retro tracksuit bottoms on ebay at what seems like a good price - about 30% of retail. But have never come across in real life to know quality etc.

Glad you found yourself some colourful comfies duvet. I do get what you mean about buying the best you can afford, that doesn't work at different stages of life. There was a thread about Shein on here the other day, quite informative in what motivates purchases and how to puritanically berate people like only MN can.

Être Cécile is one of those fake French brands it's either British or Danish (think British there's another Cecile brand that's Danish iirc). It's not that expensive to start with so I wouldn't expect stellar quality but not fall apart after a few washes quality either or poor construction, probably just decent high street sort of point.

Speaking of high street, I got an email that Uterque is merging into Massimo Dutti, not sure if the store will carry both brands or if it'll mix and match (or that they've just killed Uterque and think those customers will like MD 🤷).

I'm saving that article to read later, still doomscrolling for the moment...

Firstly - many congratulations to Elle and welcome to baby

Secondly, thank you for all nice thoughts. Family member is out of danger now and back at home, some follow ups needed but all well now.

I have not caught up with latest posts yet, and nothing to contribute. But I hope that changes soon!

Although this caught my eye
… Uterque is merging into Massimo Dutti…

I hope to still have both options of style as I always saw them as very different??? Wasn’t uterque part of Zara?

I'm glad things are improving Red

I think I must have the wrong Uterque in my head as I can't think of a less likely teaming than them and Massimo Dutti.

On buying the best I can afford: I do it for some things, like my specs because they're the first thing I put on in the morning and the last I take off at night. My Margaret Howell Barbour was another after years / decades of trying to do it on the cheap. And probably the main reason I try and buy second hand is not because I'm a saint but because it means I can find better stuff at lower prices. But when it comes to, let's say shoes, I generally buy cheap as I know they're not going to last long anyway because I always trash them. (I make an exception for Solovair as they're indestructable.) Plus there are certain life stages, like the menopause, where I'd now advise against 'buying to last' until you know what kind of body you're going to come out with. And finally, and to my shame, I do like a here-today-gone-tomorrow trend now and again because it's a good way to shake up an outfit that's looking a bit tired. And now I can't remember where I'm going with this.... Or maybe that's it.

By the way, speaking of bani upthread, where are you? Not seen you in ages!

Didn't Bani start this thread by saying something in Russian, was she a Russian bot all along 😱

Yeah, my first thought was huh about Uterque and MD too, they're very different classical Vs contemporary but it is about the same target demographic where Massimo Dutti probably skews a touch older but there's plenty within that would wear something from both. I've wondered if it's maybe like Clazedonia and Intimissimi, I think those both belong to an Italian company and they're always right next to each other (one is tights the other does underwear/lingerie but there's a bit of overlap in types of products) sometimes they're just two stores next to each other but I've also seen them in one store unit sharing a door in an indoor shopping centre so as a customer you'd never notice it's actually one shop.

In theory it could work to hand over some square footage but I suspect it'll be more like a special line within MD and that it just made more business sense to have it there (also for click and collect logistics) than open up additional real estate.

Flo can you tell me more about Solovair? Can you try/buy in shops and do they need wearing in much? I do like some of their designs, and I like the indestructible quality.

SeaRabbit they're seen by some as the one true Dr Martens! I've never quite got my head around their history but my understanding (feel free to skip this if you're not interested) is that The Northampton Production Society (NPS) used to produce both Solovair and Dr Martens. (Happy to be corrected if that's wrong). Anyway at some point Dr Martens became a fashion brand in their own right, broke away and moved most of their production overseas (apart from a small factory in Northampton where they make their 'Made in England brands). Solovair stayed in Northampton throughout and basically carried on without them.

I have to credit Mr Flo with discovering them. At the time - probably 25 years ago - you could buy them on market stalls but they seem to have tightened up their distribution and I think they now only list one official outlet in London along with their factory shop. I've seen them in shops around Brick Lane too, but they're not listed as stockists. I'm not sure what's going on really!

If you don't want to buy online and can get to Northamton, I recommend their factory shop which is close to the M1 - the last time we visited there was a regular discount (10% I think) on all their current stock plus a factory shop where everything was discounted by 60%-70%. I think they do a factory tour too!

They also do ranges for other brands - they've done quite a bit for Toast recently.

In terms of breaking in, it really depends. I had no problem with their Gibson shoes and I've got some hiker boots they did for Toast that were comfortable from the start. I had more trouble settling into their Monkey boots but I bought them in the factory shop so they were quite likely substandard.

A quick heads up for anyone interested that there's a further sale of the Uniqlo +J stuff. I'd already decided to buy another pair of their jeans and also another hoodie cos they were the real stars of the collection for me. So the good news is I got an unexpected £30 off the jeans, the bad news is that the hoodies only had L/XL left, which is annoying as they had them in my size (albeit at full price) only a couple of days ago.

I didn't wait to see what else was reduced I'm afraid because once I saw what had happened to the hoodies, I made a dash for the till before the jeans went too.

And just to clarify the Solovair post: at the factory there's both a shop where you can buy current stock at a small discount, and also an outlet shop for discontinued lines, seconds etc - when we last went (3 or 4 years ago) these were all reduced by 60-70% although I'm not sure if that's a standard offer.

Thanks Flo. I have a day off tomorrow so might go to the shop in London.

Hello everyone! Just to offer 💐for Elle and her new baby and say sorry I have been too busy doomscrolling (perfect word Bo) to have much to offer). I am swithering between feeling the end of the world is nigh and panicky retail therapy (although any excuse tbh) resulting in a fantastic haul of a vintage tweed skirt and a not at all matching ancient tweed jacket which I hope to rework (or have reworked) for a Miss Marple cum Margaret Rutherford on acid look… #displacementactivity

Loved the info on Solovair and might have to trek up to the outlet shop especially if the shoes last forever.

🍰 🍷 💐 or whatever gets you all through this nerve wracking time

mm I need all the above! I found myself getting into mind knots like at the start of the pandemic.
So I reintroduced some of my tactics , like getting the social media app out of my phone, keeping up with yoga, potting plants … and then trying desperately to check back the news and my deleted social media, and failing at my self imposed ban on information
I got some me+em and Boden catalogues. Boden still sends me their catalogue from my baby days when I used to buy from them. Now I am dreaming with being in an Adriatic holiday and everything is peaceful.

I have noticed before that the worse the state of the world, the more I think about clothes.

I love the sound of your outfit mm47. I've got a few jackets and coats that would fit the bill but I must try and get hold of a really old school heavy tweed skirt while there are still some around. I'm not sure how I'd wear it but that bit can wait.