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

993 replies

botemp · 20/01/2022 08:51

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


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183
Redandblue11 · 25/04/2022 14:36

(…tanned Labradors are equally bad at shedding… you all have my sympathy black lab owners)

XingMing · 25/04/2022 16:29

There is a reason that I wear a lot of black!

microbius · 26/04/2022 17:07

Red let me know when you going to the exhibition - shall we go together?

I have a question for, probably flo concerning dying garments. I have this cardigan (a guilty succumbing to TKMaxx). It's in all respects very nice, good shape, soft wool, but the white and grey stripes on the sleeve make me feel I am part of some kind of patrol. They do look ok, especially when the cardigan is worn with a grey shirt, but it has been sitting in my wardrobe for 6 months now... I think were it totally back, I would wear it lots! What science tells us, is there any chance getting it all black? And how? Many thanks!

Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: Maids Cosplaying as Schoolboys are Going to Get Themselves Cancelled by North Korea
CatherineMaitland · 26/04/2022 17:43

I am still finding the odd chocolate Labrador hair around, and ours died in 2008.

Hi, everyone. I have been too depressed by the war in Ukraine to think about anything much else, all my colleagues are Ukrainians in Lviv and Kyiv. Well, one's now in Poland.

Hope everyone is well.

In clothes news, I bought a darning kit. I shall be terrible at it.

Now to start the two-month catch up. :)

banivani · 26/04/2022 18:02

That exhibition on African fashion looks amazing. Hope it’s as good as it seems!

Catherine - that does bring it close to home ❤️ Must be very difficult.

Redandblue11 · 27/04/2022 07:50

Catherine I remember you mentioning your lovely chocolate lab when I was making up my mind about having a dog . Good to read you again but sorry you are so close to the situation, sending you 💐. It is absolutely horrendous what is happening, I wish all would stop soon.
Darning kit … off to Google that …

Re African exhibition- Absolutely micro! Let’s go and if anyone else can be tempted let us know.
It starts in July and runs till next year. So maybe after the kids are back at school… September or early Oct? A Friday or Monday would be good with me.

mm47 · 27/04/2022 09:10

Hello Catherine 💐 for you, you must be so worried for your colleagues and it makes the war so much more real than whatever we see on the news when you actually know anyone who is -or was - in Ukraine. When you say darning kit, do you mean like the ones from Visible Creative Mending on Instagram? I love her work it’s so pretty.

Red and Micro I’d love to come with you to the African textiles exhibition. It looks amazing in the V&A website.

mm47 · 27/04/2022 09:13

Re African fashion maybe we could combine with some African textiles shops, the wax cottons are glorious …. 😈 … although I imagine everyone’s saving for the next Margaret Howell sample sale which must come round about then, so maybe not!

microbius · 27/04/2022 10:53

Great, let's plan an outing red and mm and anyone who wants to join. September it is then, Fridays are good for me.

Any word of advice on patrol cardigan?

Floisme · 27/04/2022 14:11

God dammit, I've just written a long post answering your question Red and also about my recent flying visit to the menswear exhibition at the V&A - a bit disappointing to be honest - only to see the post disappear in front of my eyes. Will have to come back later and try again.

Floisme · 27/04/2022 14:27

Sorry microbius it was you asking about the cardigan wasn't it, not Red? Anyway if it's a wool cardi then yes, you should be able to dye it but with two caveats: 1) It'll need doing by hand. Dylon do a special hand dye which isn't hard to use but more faff than machine dyeing as you have to keep stirring it. (If you do a machine dye you risk ending up with loads of fluffing and bobbling - at least that's what happened to me.) And 2) I think you'll probably end up with a slightly different shade of black where the stripe was, so a kind of shadow effect. You could try dyeing it twice but I'm not sure if you'd get rid of it entirely. However if the stripe is only on the sleeve it might not be that noticeable as you can push up the sleeves to disguise / distract.

microbius · 27/04/2022 15:07

Thanks, flo, this is very useful. I now need to decide whether to leave it as is or dye and possibly have a darker patrol band 😵

CatherineMaitland · 27/04/2022 15:42

Someone should invent a fabric colouring pen.

I just meant basic darning @mm47. I keep getting small wear holes in jumpers (not moths), grr!

XingMing · 27/04/2022 17:39

Yes, fabric colouring pens would be so useful for retouching the spots of bleach I always seem to spatter... there's a very pretty skirt I have that I have to wear back to front.

SeaRabbit · 27/04/2022 19:02

Cleaners used to dye clothes (information garnered from reading Mapp & Lucia, I think), and maybe some still do. It might be worth a try, at somewhere like Jeeves.

Can I seek advice? I recently bought these boots in size 37:

www.russellandbromley.co.uk/belgravia/373538

I have realised that the reason they are uncomfortable is not faulty manufacture but because I have bone spurs on the top of my foot, so extra bony bits. They are in almost perfect condition so I'd like to sell them. Any advice on how to do this?

mm47 · 27/04/2022 21:00

Running with the idea of colouring in the stripes with pen:- Micro. would you consider covering the stripes with silk and/or velvet ribbon? It seems a lot of hassle to dye something by hand which nonetheless doesn’t end up being totally black. Although you’d still have stripes with the ribbon or silk, at least they’d be the same colour, just a different texture? Neither solution offers you the totally plain cardigan you are hankering for…

banivani · 28/04/2022 07:24

Ah Micro, the lesson must be to not buy the almost right items … I missed the dyeing question but I agree, you might blend the stripes but they won’t be solid. However I think the effect would definitely be more muted if you have two almost black stripes on the sleeve, then it might be an Interesting Detail? And you could learn Swiss darning and but interesting patterns over it? I’ve booked a course in visible mending, just one of evening and my only reason is to have the woman show me how to do Swiss darning haha.

Redandblue11 · 30/04/2022 08:22

@SeaRabbit just saw your message regarding the boots . Shame they are half a size too small for me …
Anyhow, I do not have experience selling any of my good stuff nowadays. I have only sold on eBay (but not recently) items but at a lot less money, you could always try to take really good photos of them etc and list them with a reserve price to protect them? It is free to list so you have no risk there?
how about Vestiarie Collective? I am not sure what % they take but that might be an option?
Or, are you near any dress agency? Although I know the one near me takes quite a large cut and the price you get is probably less of what you would get on eBay.

Floisme · 30/04/2022 10:32

SeaRabbit I'm not a seller I'm afraid so I can't help but I'm sure someone else will be along shortly. It sounds like you're doing the right thing, uncomfortable boots are pointless.

So I'll try and recreate my post about London that Mumsnet ate the other day. Only had a couple of nights there in the end so not long enough to see very much (but also not long enough for it to start getting on my nerves). I went to the V&A menswear exhibition which had some great ndividual pieces, including the coat Nelson wore at the Battle of the Nile. But overall I found it a bit disappointing. They seemed fixated on gender non-conforming dressing which is interesting but hardly anything new and it was at the expense of so much else e.g. hardly a mention of Savile Row. But the tea rooms were as splendid as ever and there were some fabulously dressed visitors, e.g. a young man in a beautiful powder blue wool coat and an old guy in what looked like a hand painted leather jacket and full biker gear - another tribe that didn't get a look-in, the wrong kind of menswear presumably.

I only had time for one charity shop run so chose Marylebone High st - some great stuff but painful prices although I adjusted so quickly that by the 2nd shop, I was forking out £40 for some Toast trousers without even blinking. I can barely post at the moment, never mind upload pics, so you'll probably have to take my word that they're in excellent condition and slouch beautifully. I also wandered up the road to The Wallace Collection which was as sumptuous as ever, although I always come away feeling like I've eaten too much wedding coat.

Floisme · 30/04/2022 10:38

Sorry forgot to say, SeaRabbit I think my dress agency keeps 30% of the selling price but I don't know how typical that is.

Floisme · 30/04/2022 10:39

Whoops - too much wedding cake not coat!

Redandblue11 · 30/04/2022 11:37

I was curious about the menswear exhibition Flo thank you for reporting.
I have forgotten about the Wallace Collection Flo, do you have to book to visit? I cannot remember if you pay or not.

Floisme · 30/04/2022 11:44

Red the main collection is free. I just turned up fully expecting to be told I had to book first but it was very quiet and they let me in - not sure if that's standard.

whataboutbob · 30/04/2022 15:56

@Floisme I was in Marylebone last week and couldn’t believe the prices in the charity shops. There was a lovely ( Ok, a nice) Liberty tana lawn dress in the cancer research shop, second hand of course, and they wanted something like £170 😯. There was also a nice pair of Agnes b straight leg trousers in the Oxfam shop but alas at size 36 too small for me. I think they were a bargainous £25. My favourites charity shop haunts in Barnes have closed post pandemic.

Floisme · 30/04/2022 18:04

I think I started off in Cancer Research bob and was 😮The clothes were for the most part in good condition - better than I'm used to - but even so... There was a discussion on here a few months ago about London charity shop prices and I can see what they mean now.

I get that the purpose is to raise as much money as they can for the charity, not to keep me in bargains, and clearly Marylebone is a pretty affluent neighbourhood so they can reasonably assume customers will pay more, but the gap seems to have widened since I was there.