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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Meetup in September 2022 or 2023? The Joseph sample sale sounded interesting but I suspect that would be in October? Is some big event or similar planned in September in London I quickly glanced at available trains and the bulk seem to sold out already in September

I actually saw that Chanel show last summer, it was interesting but only because I'd really just started to sew and it was quite reassuring to see that the early stuff is at about the same level of my capability of getting things neatly done (the level of professional sewing machines at the time is somewhat similar to a modern domestic sewing machine) so it helped me not be so hard on my perfectionist tendencies.

But aside from the early stuff where you really see her finding her designs (she wasn't trained as one and that makes it interesting and somewhat established the female wearability aspect of it) there's a larger bulk of the post war stuff that are more synonymous with the current codes of design at Chanel and it's all a bit monotonous variation of tweed suits. Maybe V&A will do a better job curating but it was nowhere near the Dior show and now Coco Chanel will come and haunt me because she despised the man...

And apologies to Flo all my talk of Ibiza weddings with toyboys is probably to blame. If anyone asks you to be their Mommy Dommy run for the hills.

Thanks for the Telegraph link Volte I managed to read it by switching to airplane mode as it loaded. Are we back to me needing to send journos invoices again

Thought this article was interesting for the gardeners on here about a Chelsea flower show garden that created a model whereby you could grow your own textile. I like the idea of it but as a plant killer with a postage stamp sized garden, highly unlikely to materialise on my back doorstep.

Bonjour! I am up for meeting up in September too (22 or 23?) we already have on the cards the African exhibition at the V&A for sept 23, we have not set the date but micro and mm are up for it.

Yesterday I was in my element at Chelsea Flower Show. Thanks for the article Bo, there was a huge move for naturalistic, wilder, more ecological planting than I have seen in previous years.

Chelsea is glorious in terms of people watching and dresses. Albeit most is very white middle England, but as a person originally from abroad is an extremely interesting event and insight into that spectrum of society. I had a visitor with me from Argentina and she mentioned that is the first time she sees so many people queuing effectively to see a ‘flower’ or ‘plant’ and she was amused at the amount of alcohol consumed and all remained extremely polite and correct.

Thanks for the article link @Voltefarce I was pleased to be able to read it given the usual paywall (that my favourite food writer is at the Telegraph is a permanent annoyance). I agree partially with her point re ‘neat’ being more of a watchword than chic, though one often leading to the other. I definately felt more eclectic/scruffy on the school run in the Paris suburbs than I feel here in the UK. And athleisure definately hasn’t swept France in the way it has the UK (or hadnt by the time I moved back to the UK last summer)

Got complimented on an outfit for the first time in ages yesterday - a grumpykorn tshirt and black/yellow jardigan that channels 1970s bus seats; couldn’t be further from French chic!

Interesting article voltefarce, I like that "souci de soi" idea. I think it ties in with that comfortable in your own skin idea, too.

Sorry bo I was a bit visceral there, probably because the guy reminded me a bit of my son. Maybe I'm not cut out for this Ibiza toyboy business after all. I couldn't remember if the Chanel exhibition was new or not but I'd like to see it if I can, flaws and all, if only because I'm still cross about missing Dior and Mary Quant, especially Quant.

Despite not having a gardening bone in my body Red, your posts about the Chelsea Flower Show always make me want to go, although probably more for the outfits.

And thanks for the article Volte. Maybe I should spend more time in France when I retire. I'm still not getting a pedicure though.

I'm fairly sure it was just innocent interest in your coat Flo, the translation of weirdos on the internet to RL is usually vanishingly small, thankfully.

The Dior exhibit is still travelling, it was supposed to come to The Netherlands but this was thwarted due to covid but I think it's still due to come back later this year, so theoretically you can still seek it out and Dior in Paris has installed a sort of permanent exhibition near the Champs Elysées that looks suspiciously like the original exhibition.

I feel the same about the Chelsea flower show, I always used to watch the BBC coverage with my grandmother and was always curious to see it in the flesh but I've never gotten round to it, I assume it's very busy and crowded though.

Wrt 'souci de soi', I wonder if it's a reference to Foucault's book which had that as the title or something more established thing Foucault referenced. I had to read a lot of post modern literature at Uni but predictably have retained little from it but I think it was something to do with ethics, might be the French version of the Scandi/Dutch obsession with hygiene and communicating certain values outwards?

Thanks for the Telegraph article volte. Seems it is the season for it, as this popped up on The Guardian today:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jun/01/the-new-rules-for-dressing-your-age-after-50

bo time to crank up that invoicing software!

In other news, I just bought a pair of Jil Sander almond toe boots off eBay for an indecently low amount and am awaiting their delivery. Will post pics!

Thanks for the article ShangPie. I must admit, my first thought was along the lines of: Oh great, another article about how silly all these rules are but by the way, here are some more rules.
But I like Jess Cartner-Morley and it looks as if Bill Nighy gets a mention so that's my lunch time reading sorted! Looking forward to seeing the boots.

Bonsoir mes chères amies (sp?) it's been too long, and welcome to the newcomers! I have been very distracted and not on mumsnet, but I have actually been thinking about clothes A LOT. Are there 20 more pressing things I should be thinking about? Yes. Am I? No. Have just had a massive clearout with one of the daughters as style advisor, following a tantrum when we had to go to a small event and I "didn't have anything to wear". So she sat there on the bed and suggested outfits and I got rid of LOADS of things. Very freeing. I'm going to try a few new things this year, including a white t-shirt if I can find one, so I'm now a member of the "are there any non-transparent t-shirts?" club.

Am fatter than ever because perimenopause and menopause hit my stomach hard, so my confidence is low, but fuck it. Have bought a long black linen shirt dress but returned it because decided no pockets is a deal breaker, so good for me for not settling! Have bought second-hand a home-made very seventies style cotton maxi skirt in bright ice-cream colours on the insistence of said daughter who said it's a great item for events. Am still unsure but decided to see money as charity money and let it go.

Philip Hog was not on my radar at all! Sure what do I know. Will be watching though, I kind of liked it, so thanks!

As a person who has never been beautiful I haven't suffered overly from unwanted attention in my life I have to say. ;) I do find that middle age starts putting us less gorgeous specimens in a "support human" box. So sort of invisible, there to prop up society and to be ignored otherwise. But as I'm typing it I'm not sure I agree with the analysis. Let me think.

bani!!!
Where've you been???

Hello Bani!
I have missed reading you.
I would love to see that maxi skirt .
when I have time I will post about my recent second hand finds .

<Scoots over> Where've you been Bani place isn't the same without you. Thanks to you I'm now conjuring up people taking their support human on a plane and desperately petting it through their anxiety because the male purser/pilot didn't say, "Hubba Hubba!", when they boarded.

I liked JCM's piece, however, I'm shit with other people's ages but is she actually over 50 herself?

Eh probably should have gone with 'them' and not 'it' for the support human

You’re all too sweet! 😭💕

Attaching a poor photo of skirt from the charity shop so you can sort of see the colours. Like I said, not 💯 - it’s definitely home made for one thing. But I don’t move in circles where this is an issue, rather the opposite ;)

We are the support humans who will always be asked if they can swap seats on planes - so plane visual correct ;)

Forgot to say I enjoyed Telegraph article - this is the sense I also got from that Netflix real estate series I talked about.

I love the colours of that skirt bani - you always have a knack of spotting great colours and putting them together.

I enjoyed a lot of the Jess Cartner-Morley article, especially the part about not trying to dress as the person you were 15 years ago. I don't have the same taste in books or music or even politics as I had when I was young and I don't think clinging to the same look is any better than asking if you can still wear your hair long or whatever. Less impressed by the advice not to change your style too radically. Why ever not? If I can't do it now, in my mid 60s, when can I? And I was also a bit bemused at lumping together everyone from age 50 to 100+ as if we all face the same issues. I mean, unless you have exceptionally fine motor skills and / or your own personal dresser then at some point, avoiding buttons and zips will become a priority and I don't see the point of glossing over that. Oh and Bill Nighy hardly got a mention so slipping in that photo was a bit sneaky I thought.

But all that said, JCM has a clever knack of being able to write things I wildly disagree with without ever making me feel too cross with her. And yes, although I don't know her age, I imagine she'll be knocking on 50 bo. Hadley Freeman is in her 40s now and I always thought of JCM as the big sister figure when they worked together.

Yeah, I assumed she was around 48/49ish but since the tone was somewhat authoritative on the subject I was second guessing if this was all newly discovered knowledge. The age range puzzled me too and that got me thinking she was down to under 50 again as I have this idea that those who haven't passed 50 yet but are close to it view 45-50 as some special set of years and after that it's all just one endless mush.

I think if you've always been a bit unadventurous and steadfast, then, the advice not to get too radical probably isn't bad, it's the realm of the classic dressers really. But if you've always been a changing chameleon that moves with the tides of time, then, it is, indeed, rather useless advice. I think the basic premise was continue on as you always did, just be a bit more conscientious and overt about it, happenstance is for the young (not sure I entirely agree with it all but it's certainly a lot less prescriptive).

Poor support humans, ignored until they're of use. I once refused to move (I had paid for my seat and the other seat was crap and cramped) and then had to deal with a person giving me the evil eye for an entire flight because she couldn't sit next to her boyfriend

Ooh the skirt colours are great, Bani, from your description of ice cream colours I was imagining Neapolitan bright pastels but this is much more you.

Glad the JCM article was not too divisive. Agree with flo that she writes well - I sometimes find myself nodding along but then think back later and realise that I was confounded by her great way of expressing things and didn’t actually agree at all.

bani welcome back! I got the same Neapolitan ice cream vibe as bo and was expecting a big circle skirt of wide pink and cream stripes. The one you have is much more interesting (in a good way) It should go well with the perfect white t-shirt when you manage to find it <tries to insert rolling-eyes emoji but recoils in fear of wiping out>

I also had in my mind pink and baby blue pastels when you said ice cream (yum).
I would wear that with blue too!
Here is my find, a hand made top made with African print fabric that the shop owner told me it was wool and cotton (feels like it, very very fine and not itchy). The necklace there not too wear with the top but I tried it on my mustard jumpsuit and looked great imo. I found these on a second hand shop in a tiny village somewhere south of the country in Sussex.
I am also confused about the age range over 50 … nowadays it does not have much significance the way it is put there. I have very close friends just over 50 who I would definitely see that advice fitting and others (not with anything done or specially into fitness) who pull off stuff very well that she would put in the año category, just but how people age and go about their stuff nowadays.
I have no idea how much that will apply to me in 3 years time …

So glad you all like the skirt - I’ll tell my daughter who convinced me, she’ll be pleased! ( She also said it would work with blue!) Am I the only one who thought of ice-cream - that pink and nougat, old school?

love the African blouse Red! I was at a flea market a while ago and found a skirt of wax fabric that was lovely but sadly too small. Lovely prints.

i didn’t put much stock in Jess whatsits article myself, seemed a bit filler and not far off trinny and susannah rules? Am I being mean?

Lovely colour skirt, bani! Beautiful print, red. bani has an eye for colour and red for prints I think.

Not sure about that article, I think the trouble with any blanket advice is assuming that what one person can pull off at one age, another cannot. That's true of style generally, though. I definitely break quite a few of those 'rules' - denim miniskirt anyone. I read it after reading a Vogue article about Winona Rider modelling for Marc Jacobs, not making any concessions to age.

www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/winona-ryder-marc-jacobs

*Ryder, obviously I am trying to supervise dd2 having dinner who is very attached to a purple ball she won at the fair.

I read that as dinner being attached to a purple ball

Ugh you've reminded me of a uni friend who put food colouring in everything. Potatoes should never be cyan <- not envy

Speaking of dinner, I hear you've got some explaining to do over there Bani WRT #Swedengate, you heartless harpies, as the internet decided you don't feed your children's friends dinner when they're over to play (tbf it happened to me once as a child, I think it's a Northern European Calvinist thing).

Why can't I see Winona Ryder's face in any of those pictures, surely you pay her for her face?

JCM columns are by definition filler, no? I think it was an odd mix of, 'I'm not being prescriptive, honest' while still being quite prescriptive, I took it as somewhat tongue in cheek with a few sprinkles of actual useful advice.

I’m sorry to jump in with a random question, but does anyone know if Studio Nicholson have regular sales? And when is the summer sale likely to be? I thought someone on this thread might know! Thank you!

#Swedengate is so funny. I fall in the middle where I want to feed the friends if they're here, but get super flustered if they're sprung on me since I try not to overcook. If we're making lasagne - fine. If I have exactly three pork chops - panic!

Got a bit stuck looking at Studio Nicholson there. Really nice.