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.

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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

Quatorze

Quinze

Not sure how many photos am allowed)

Ah Miss Marple - another style crush. That's a clever mix, I like it.

No, no fabrics at MH unfortunately, Flo, I definitely wouldn't have left without any of those. I can tell you about the other fabric spots in London I visited. Crescent Trading is indeed a treasure trove and the staff are really friendly but I didn't see anything that I absolutely had to have. A lot of lovely tweeds though so I suspect you'll love it there.

Goldhawk road is more of a mixed bag, you definitely have to dig for treasure which only really works if you're looking for something specific. Prices are low (and probably lower if you haggle) but it requires a lot of time investment. Misan West (which also has a normal shop in Soho) had the nicest and most orderly assortment, prices were higher there but still reasonable.

The nicest selection of fabrics I found at MacCulloch & Wallis in Soho, which surprised me as they're mostly marketed as a habadashery. Where most other shops have a selection of quite boring men's tailoring and more exuberant (but largely) synthetic women's fabrics for party wear, they have a really nice selection of fabrics in unique colours.

They sell everything online as well without VAT to me so aside from shipping and a minor local vat admin fee of €3 I'd end up paying the same online as in store so I just took away some samples of anything that took my fancy and I can always order it when I actually have a project for it. Beautiful linens btw, with the exact right rumple to them. They are expensive generally but they're not super expensive (with the exception of some wools and silks) for the quality of the materials you're getting. Most of it wasn't from the UK though (except the expensive wools), mostly from Italy and their interlinings all come from the Netherlands apparently, so it felt a bit odd to consider buying those. I did nearly buy some super expensive UK wool to potentially make trousers of but then ended up buying trousers in a very similar colour so that kind of killed that project.

Seeing the difference between MacCulloch & Wallis with lots of European made fabrics and the other shops actually made me realise I'm actually a lot more spoiled than I think with access to nice fabrics, between the Antwerp sample sales (already coming up next month again 🙈) and the online shop selling designer deadstock for very reasonable prices.

I am making a note on all the fabric shops for when I have time to develop my sewing capabilites; thanks, bo for posting your assessment of them.

flo, I gave the coat a stroke from you

Here are some pics:
-the coat,

-the skirt/culottes (I am trying to extend my leg to show that there are culottes behind the front skirt-like plane of fabric, so it looks a bit odd; from the bag, they are just culottes)

-and summer skirt and jumper. The skirt have buttons in the from which are mirrored by buttons at the back, so theoretically one can unfasten both sides to above the knee and have great ventilation! I think the jumper is man's and it is nicely oversized

I'll post another trousers later

from the back (!; not bag)

Ah, I sort of gave advice on the fabric shops with Flo in mind, to condense it for you micro, I'd say:

When you're just starting out and just need cheap and easy (cotton) fabrics to practice with you can hit up Goldhawk Road (or Ikea). Then work up to the spendier shops with more experience but if you want linen I'd head up straight to M&W, life's too short to faff about with crappy linen. For the rest per category:

Wools and tweeds - Crescent Trading

Special wools, linen and silks but also excellent selection of very affordable toile fabrics - MacCulloch & Wallis

(Lining) silks and coating fabric, also had some interesting technical fabrics - Misan West

Nice cottons were a bit short on the ground, didn't see any prime examples anywhere but this seems to be the case in any fabric shop I go to, might just be down to me. Misan West probably had the best selection of the ones I visited.

Misan West also had a lot of fashion students in it so they must strike the balance of price and range well for them but they brought the most hideous fabrics 😬

The one I never made it to in South London is probably also good for the initial practice stage although you're buying blind in terms of fabric composition. Joel and Son I suspect will be a bit like M&W in terms of selection with most fabrics coming from France and Italy but they're even more ££££, so nice shop to drool in and maybe find yourself lucky with a heavily discounted end of roll piece when you're a bit more experienced.

Bo what a great summary, thank you.

microbius - really great haul. I can second that the culottes-from-behind-skirt-from-in-front looks even better IRL (rather than in *micro”’s pose for illustrative purposes 😉)

flo if you like tweed and MH and Miss Marple where do you stand on Zorro as a style icon?

Thanks so much, bo, copied and safely saved! Sorry for all the wrong autocorrects in the previous post

That coat looks fab on you microbius I'm very . Also the men's jumper looks very cool. Great buys all round.

Thanks for the MacCulloch & Wallis tip bo. I'd always assumed they'd be out of my league because of the west end address, but those linen prices don't look a lot more than Merchant and Mills although I'm guessing I'd have to pay VAT on top. Not that I'm getting much sewing done at the moment - I started another shirt last autumn and it's still not finished.

mm47 Hmm men in cloaks..... I think I'm with Edna Mode in The Incredibles: 'No capes'. A nice overcoat is more my thing.

Love the coat, and everything else, micro, and red's blue/khaki ensemble is perfect.

And elle and babyelle just made me coo...

I expressed myself wrongly. Not a man in a cloak - sorry - I mean all one colour and quite fitted underneath so the volume comes from the cloak alone.

I have a memory of being a teenager and walking past the Army & Navy windows late one winter’s afternoon and there was only one other person out on the pavement, a tall woman wearing boots and trousers and a jacket and a hat and a cloak or a cape swishing over it all and I thought she’d dropped out of a page from my mother’s Vogue or Harpers & Queen. It was the first time I’d ever seen someone in real life dressed UP as much as in a fashion magazine and it was magical.

Thanks, everyone! The coat I think would drown anyone shorter than 180 cm but even so I wish I could multiply and shrink it and distribute it among us fans.

mm These kinds of memories, of seeing someone wonderfully dressed at some crucial moment in your life, or just any moment, are so formative aren't they? When I did my Christmas re-read of Les Parisiennes, there was someone's aunt who made it into the title of the next thread.

I have a question for you people so knowledgable of fabrics. I have Swedish linen curtains in the dining room, to shield from very bright summer light. We are not overlooked, so the only reason to have them is to dissipate direct sunlight somewhat, without blocking it.

After my daughter has wiped her chocolate covered fingers all over the curtain on the right hand side, adding to all the other muck from her, I, in the delirium of baby years, washed it at a very high temperature. I can't remember whether it was 70 or maybe even 90. Although it was pre-washed, it shrank. So you can see the difference in length between the two.

What should I do? Should I try to shrink the one on the left? Is the right now too short and I should just make or buy new curtains? (It's hanging about 4 cm above the floor). How would linen behave over time? The dining table obscures direct view of the curtains, but I KNOW and it irritates me. I would be very grateful for opinions [sorry this is not fashion-related, but related to fabric care]

Hello micro I’m not a fabric expert but from a bodger’s point of view: I’d wash the other curtain on a high temperature as well and then add a slightly darker (Eg v light beige or cream) band to both curtains so that they reached the floor.

I think the thread was called something like Be more Aunt Larry and now I must find the message which inspired the title of the thread because Aunt Larry must have really been amazing.

thanks, mm

Yeah, just wash the other one too, doesn't make much sense to get all new curtains over it linen tends to shrink for several washes unless it's been sanforised. Quickest way to get it to shrink is to wash at high temps and then sticking it in the dryer but I probably wouldn't do the latter with curtains on account of it being a mare to iron those after the dryer.

Yes, I thought the same about M&W Flo as I had only really perused their wools online before visiting but was pleasantly surprised, it's also a really nice shop just to visit. Their linens are definitely nicer than M&M but they don't have the same colour range. It's also the only place I saw things utilitarian fabrics that MH uses a lot like moleskine and cotton drill.

Mm you've described exactly how Anglophiles dress here, it's either that cloaked version or the rather unfortunate fitting tweed trouser look (looks a bit like they're wearing a diaper) like they're on a shooting trip.

Ok, cup of tea at the ready and hoping to revive my memory: pics of my London try ons, will probably stagger it a bit.

Day 1 I went to Shoreditch and had a nice time walking around although I nearly lost it when I was in Reformation where they also sold some secondhand pieces. The prices were insane, fast fashion pieces at higher prices than new and the worst offender was a Sting t shirt, one of those really crappy basic T-shirts, not even an official concert T-shirt or anything like that, it was a £150 💀

Thankfully other shops were nicer to visit (although a seat for lunch in a restaurant without a long wait time seemed ridiculously elusive). I tried on these trousers by a Spanish ethical brand, Monica Cordera (link is to the shop where I tried them on, link to the brand site here), they have some interesting things and what I also find interesting is that up to a few years ago they were a very run of the mill polyester happy typically Spanish style brand so I'm quite intrigued by their turn around as opposed to just founding a new brand as the aesthetic changed quite drastically as well. It has a bit of a Lauren Manoogian feel at slightly less ambitious prices, unfortunately these trousers were just too big and too low in the crotch for me which did very weird things at the back.

Pic 2 is what I was wearing that day (it wasn't that horrifically cold yet)

Pic 3 was a bag on Goodhood store I quite liked from a Japanese brand, Zucca made from recycled leather (not sure what that exactly entails). I've been on the lookout for a slouchy something shopper-like bag like that but just not in black, this one remains top contender for now but I'm not completely set on the available colours and I've yet to see it in the flesh. I really liked the rope detail on the Zucca though, maybe I'll reconsider the black colour by next winter.

I then moved over to Notting Hill, there's a Joseph Outlet there but it's multiple brands like Loewe, The Row, Altuzarra, etc. It didn't look very big but it has a huge basement filled to the brim, I suspect it's secretly a Matches endeavour although I did see some things that were originally sold in Harvey Nichols so who knows. It's a pop up shop but apparently they move around every few months but can easily be found as the Joseph Outlet. I tried on lots of things unfortunately everything came up too big but it was very useful as they had brands I've only ever been able to order online and then been put off by ordering multiple sizes/colours etc.

Pic 1 was an Altuzarra top and Petar Petrov silk trousers. I quite liked the top but its construction was so complex I couldn't move one arm 😑

Pic 2 were a pair of Peter Do trousers, I'd been drooling over some online before, but not only were these coming up big, I was a bit meh about the colour. Prices weren't low enough to overcome that, I was also a little bit shocked about the finish on these, maybe it's down to being an outlet pair but there were definitely some quality check controls it shouldn't have passed at this price point.

Pic 3 was a Peter Do jumper (and the Petar Petrov trousers from before). I loved the detail on the sleeve but it was just a bit too droopy overall.

Hmm my pic aren't showing up anymore...

Really enjoyed seeing your purchases and hearing you had a nice meet-up

Missed the linen questions (have had window open for yonks). Agree, wash the other one. Don't tumble dry, changes the feel too much :( You could maybe lower the hem - personally I think it's practical if curtains hover a little over the floor, otherwise adding a band is a great idea.

Missed Bo's pictures too - just wanted to say I love that sort of pink-red with that beige as a combination.

I'm vicariously enjoying the meetup news, the pictures and new purchases. And the gorgeous baby...

I'd just wash the other linen curtain too, microbius. Even if it doesn't shrink identically, it won't be noticeable.
I think 4cm off the floor is fine in terms of drop.

I must have a look at The Parisian Agency. Thanks for the tip bani. I don't know about Paris, as I haven't been there for a few years, but in my bit of southeast France I think many women are definitely less made up and titivated than was the norm 10 or even 5 years ago.

In moi, moi, moi news, I think the green leather jacket definitely had my name on it and has somehow changed my karma. After a grim divorce and five years of singledom, I have met a rather lovely man who appears to be very taken with me, too.

How wonderful to hear, Auld 🤗 (he better like the leather green jacket too and stay away from the Hermès scarfs as gifts otherwise it's down the plank for him 🏴‍☠️).

My Unorthodox Life is the one I think you mean Bani, I didn't last very long with that, there were quite a few inconsistencies that didn't ring right and her personality was a bit much. I haven't watched the Paris Agency despite Netflix continually trying to sell me on it. I'm not a big fan of the French's approach to renovation and restoration so I fear I'll be watching it and spitting feathers over what horrific things having too much money does to once beautiful buildings. But maybe it's actually worth the watch for the people watching going by your description? I have been meaning to watch a new French Netflix show about stand up comedians in Paris, it's fictional not actual stand up and it's by the same people as Call My Agent but I finally got HBO back (it was part of out tv package as a channel but then they removed it months ago and have now finally launched the streaming service) so I'm immersed in the Gilded Age for now.

Yeah, linen curtains should be a bit long and pool on the floor officially. Partially because it shrinks for several washes but even the heat that gets build up behind it causes the fibres to contract and shrink up and then relaxes again when it cools down. Unless you get sanforised linen, that's worth paying extra for if you want a clean look as opposed to the puddle look.

I'm delighted to report that I'm entirely confident that there is zero risk of any Hermès scarves impinging upon my happiness, bo.
Your memory is incredible, by the way...

Yeah but my spelling of scarves is not

Great to hear he's a keeper