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

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Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset and lots of chatter in between. Feel free to join in.

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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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Thank you Red and Flo this thread (and clothes) is such a welcome distraction from all the ghastliness! Although my haul came from the local charity shop, there is masses of tweed on Ebay- I bought the most glorious oversized tweed check coat last autumn. It fits really well so it’s not in synch with the oversized coat that’s on trend at the moment (but I already had one of those 😉 - one of the joys of doing your own thing is being so out you’re in IYSWIM). Do you remember the Babycham advert?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=u7RFYEe42VI

Love that advert , I don’t remember it (I was in a different country/continent then).
The sound of that coat sounds really good. You can never have too many coats or jackets, we all here have coats for every different minute occasion. In fact I feel right now like I am missing one or two types of coats … I am not sure yet what I am looking for, but when I see it I will know.

Oh yes I remember that advert - I also remember Babycham n' brandy being quite a cool drink for a while! I agree with you mm47 on the joys of discovering something that's totally off the fashion radar - no-one else is wearing it but it doesn't look dated either. They're hard to find though.

Uuurrrggghhh sorry for being such a plopper on this thread, people. I've been a little overwhelmed with everything in my life.

I've missed loads and won't bother recapping, but did gather that there is a new baby to welcome to the world, congratulations Elle!

bani! How nice to see you! I'm not sure about questions for you other than, 'What's happened to bani?' And there was a rumour about you being a Russian bot...

I've got some of those spiky shoe things too but I hope they're more effective for you cos they're bleeding useless round here - quite good on ice but as soon as you hit a patch of clear pavement you're skittering around like that veloceraptor in Jurassic Park.

I'd be a fecking marvellous prototype of an insidious bot wouldn't I, investing years in creating trust to then strike ... haha!

Mine are ok on pavement but then our pavement is tarmac not cement, so a bit more traction. I don't like it though, feels wrong to walk with the spikes on a hard surface. But bloody marvellous to be able to just STRIDE over an icy surface!

I have a cold and couldn't sleep last night. Bought a pair of trousers and a shirt online, knowing full well I'd probably be returning both (no high hopes for fit). Feel very guilty. I'm donating some more money to MSF today for sure.

'Twas I who suggested Bani was really a BaniBot to lure her out of her China firewalled cave and look it worked

I've been stress buying in between the doomscrolling too, and then quickly donating more in guilt I bought the Khaite Monaco slides that you all thought were hideous (I'm still deciding, the proportions are odd but it's kind of a good thing iykwim but it means it goes with things I hadn't anticipated and not with the things I had thought it would) and a new bag in a khaki olive leather from a South Korean designer that I instantly liked when it arrived. So not that panicky really, especially not compared to the handful of Russian women I saw in our local luxury department store on day one or two of the invasion who were talking rapidly on the phone hands free and buying everything in sight. Still haven't figured out what that was about, I assumed if they could still get money from their account they'd just take it out in cash 🤷

For the rest, I'm in preservation mode and bordering on being a touch too disassociated, it's mostly robbing me of energy so I'm probably heading for some sort of overwhelming emotional crash set off by something minor soon

Haven't been in a good state in post anything either. But just saw this - if anyone's subscribed to mubi (kind of an art film netflix), they've just added a film about Andre Talley, The Gospel According to Andre. Will try to watch tonight. [if I manage to peel myself off the doom scroll]

Fiendishly clever, you are. ;) Show us the bag, please. I need to be distracted by new designers and proper fashion. I am still in a folk costume/historical costume loop, looking at old embroidery and techniques on Pinterest and Instagram, so I need to be shaken up.

I'm - shallowly, when I'm not worrying over WW3 - worrying about the financial hits. Now, I don't come from any privilege whatsover and have had no family support in getting on property ladders etc. So I own nothing and have no mortgages to worry about interest on. I don't have a car. However, slowly slowly we have managed to amass a savings account by using those fund saving accounts the bank offers (terminology in English, I haz it). Not enough for a down payment on a flat or house where we live, but a security. I'm worried all that would disappear (after years of no financial security I am fond of my blanket) and more importantly I worry about our children who can get little to no help from us and are building their own financial blankets. It feels unfair (perspective perspective, we are alive and healthy) because they have so many friends with wealthier parents who can get financially settled so much earlier, I feel guilty for my kids having to graft so much.

Obviously I realise my fortune, these are worries that pop up in between the worries for the world and the empathy towards everyone who suffers. Disclaimer disclaimer and so on.

Bani you've certified been playing the long game, a sleeper bot, now effectively deployed.

I haven't felt much like buying stuff alright, but would love to see the bag. The only thing vaguely interesting me are wide legged trousers and I quite liked these sandals. I'm buying nothing though. I'm enjoying rediscovering my own wardrobe albeit that my figure has changed so not everything works the way it should.

I remember everyone going mad trying to find those shoe tracks during "the big snow" when we all had to walk to work due to oooh 4 inches of snow. The velociraptor in Jurassic park is a brilliant image.

I wonder if they were able to buy luxury goods using Russian credit cards bo when EU transfers and withdrawals may have been limited (only for named sanctioned individuals right now)? Would make sense to buy Chanel bags etc that can be readily sold for cash.

I'm stress buying too. What's the point in saving with the speed at which money is devaluing?

Idly researching a jacket I have a love/hate relationship with (was "peanuts" cheap, pockets zip, fairly wind proof surprisingly, but I'm not sold on the colour) because interestingly for something so cheap it appears almost indestructible. I'm not precious with clothes, never keep anything "for best", they get used and abused. A year later this amazingly still looks like new, so I investigated, found an old advert and it seems I got a bargain. This also meant I discovered ASOS, which I'd heard about but never bothered to look at before. They are having a sale, plus an additional new account discount. I am now £50 lighter and my wardrobe is 50% brighter.

I'm ignoring the war. I haven't recovered from covid stress yet or Syria or Afghanistan. I'm sorry in an abstract way for any civilians caught up in it, but I have no capacity left for caring. I'm working through this problem and sorting out that thing, the general minutiae of life, all the while thinking in the back of my mind how it'll be irrelevant if we get bombed soon, then shrugging my shoulders and carrying on some more. The pandemic has turned me weird.

Loving those Alberta Ferretti trousers Elle.

Elle, I love those trousers (obviously, still love wide legs).

Wild, that sounds sort of stressful in itself :( but no judgement from me. I didn't really have covid stress, we weren't as doom and gloom in Sweden obviously which helped. Some journalist wrote recently that "we" felt worried now in the same way as we did at the beginning of the pandemic and I was like no, I could take the pandemic fine, it wasn't a zombie virus. WW3 is another matter entirely thank you very much.

I had another realisation - linen is going to rocket in price, since a lot of linen fabric comes from Belarus and Ukraine.

Oh forgot - I liked the sandals too Elle. They remind me a bit of those clothes that looked like they were drawn, like cartoons? But not cartoonish. Just the white and black lines reminded me.

Those sandals Elle!! Love them

The trousers too , but that is no surprise.

Well if trousers offer solace from WW3 thoughts I'll offer these from Nina Ricci that I've been drooling over. I keep remembering them as natural linen colour and then I'm surprised it's not 🤷 I did buy some beautiful deadstock Loro Piana linen fabric from a new designer deadstock etailer I've discovered based in Belgium, highly recommend if you're in the EU, I'll look up the name when I remember. Hoping to get started on making trousers with them today (but forgot to prewash them and debating whether to just say sod it to that...)

I'm also all over these draped numbers from Loewe which feels like a nice deviation from the tailored trousers we've had for so long.

Weirdly, I was looking at those Dries van Noten trousers in the NAP sale, Elle and then they mysteriously disappeared 🧐 if you're still wanting some come autumn/winter and your body has settled back into shape, these woollen/viscose ones are nice too and they seem to be in stock and on sale for eons.

I understand your worries Bani but realistically up to a 100k your money is safe and guaranteed by the European bank and if that ever defaults we're all screwed regardless with what we started with. If it's the value, I'm no currency expert but being part of the EU block will curb the worst of it, realistically you've been saving for this and not to have a nice padded number in your account.

Doesn't mean it's not worrying and unsettling. I feel the same WRT pandemic vs. this, as unknown as the pandemic was you knew what we were all aiming to get back to and restore. This feels much more geopolitically complex and impossible to predict (except China will benefit greatly) where we're headed to and we can't take solace in the delusion that eventually we'll get back to normal soon enough.

Will post pics of new bag later.

Current affairs seem to bringing out my inner hippy because, so far, I feel surprisingly zen about it all. I've been thinking a lot about the events my family lived through in the first half of the 20th century and, if any of them were still around, I'm pretty sure they'd be telling me I've led a pretty charmed existence so far. I'm anxious for my son though.

Great trousers Elle, and sandals with foot coverage too

I may have tracked down a decent Kim Jong-un jacket at last but I'm keeping quiet till it arrives. If you don't hear anything further you can assume it turned out to be another stinker.

Dammit another cross post with you bo - not read it yet but those pics look very soothing.

Greetings from the western fringes... No shopping to report (unless you count black leggings for Pilates to replace some that died). No hospital visits either -- yippee! Yet it's frantically busy here as we are in the process of re-letting our industrial unit (last tenant went bust and had to be evicted but not before he'd left us with ££££ of making good) and DH is negotiating to sell the business to retire.

I'm reading along with you all in between administrative tasks. The sandals are lovely, Elle and the wide trousers, especially the black ones bo posted.

Like flo, the geopolitics of Ukraine/China/Russia are a worry on account of having a son in his 20s. We hear quite a bit because DH is involved with big ships.

All I want is trousers that fit. Is that too much to ask? I am having no luck with the trouser pattern from the Merchant and Mills book I borrowed at the library, the markings on the pattern and instructions are too sparse/inconsistent for me I think. I haven't got the patience to work it out. I just want a trouser pattern that I know will work, boo-hoo.

I bought the Merchant and Mills Workbook without realising you had tp trace all the patterns, Doh. Since then it's spent most of it's life posing on the coffee table. But I've found their standard paper patterns ok. I've made the Eve trousers and was quite pleased with them until I went off-piste and tried to add side pockets when there was already a side zip. In any case they're straight and slightly tapered so might not be what you want bani but they also do a wider leg pattern with either an elasticated or a drawstring waist - can't remember which. But I've not made them so can't report back.

these are the ones I mean. I've not made them myself but they can be wide leg or tapered and, best of all, there's no zip. They might not be quite as wide as the ones in the workbook though which do look deliciously swishy.

And these are the ones I made and then botched up although they seem to only have the pattern as a PDF at the moment.