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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I have a long pair of leather gloves by Prada, which I bought in a vintage clothing auction. I wear them with a --entirely impractical, unfashionable— vintage fur coat which has short sleeves. I’d love to wear the ensemble with jeans but am too scared of the judgement that comes with it, so it’s reserved for balls and other parties.

Wear it with jeans already Volte, so much faux fur is indistinguishable from real these days, you can totally pass it off as fake if cornered. Vintage fur is also high up on the ethical lists as being a good choice so I don't think it's taboo as it used to be.

I have some Sermoneta elbow length gloves, they go over clothes fine I have some silk lined and cashmere lined, the silk go on easier. No overt a chunky jumper but gloves over a chunky jumper would be pointless anyhow. Gauntlet gloves are nore decorational than useful for keeping wrists warm.

Tbh it sounds like some wrist warmers over gloves are the easier solution for you. Johnston of Elgin has nice ones.

I would add, silk lined gloves are pretty bad at keeping you warm.

The recall of detail amongst you lot is enough to dispel any notion that we are past it... we are rocking our prime.

The gloves story, Microbius is easy... you need a weekend jaunt to Somerset/Wiltshire because they reared livestock and the glove factories -- Dents and Pittards are the biggest names are based there, and they still make kid gloves for most of the big companies. I bought two lovely pairs about 18 months ago in the Dents factory shop, on an industrial estate in Warminster. One black opera length, unlined (which is standard for opera/evening gloves) which I slouch down to work with my great aunt's early 60s vicuna blanket check coat (3/4 sleeves and chilly without gloves) and an olive pair with snakeskin panels that go with country wear. I think the two pairs totted up to about £55, but I think you need to try gloves on in person. One finger too thin or stubby is just enough to make them imperfect (which they all are very slightly because these are seconds, or returns) and in my opinion gloves need to fit really well or you won't wear them... says she who has a drawer full of lovely gloves, slightly too tight or loose or the wrong tan shade.

I probably have 20 pairs if I count the hand-me-downs, but every jacket I wear in winter has its matched or clashing gloves in the pocket. I wear gloves every day from end October to early March.

Does that make me a saddo? Forgive the lecture, but I do think you need to try gloves on in person. And, I've just remembered another stash of gloves. Twenty pairs is perhaps conservative... but I have had most for years, and have worn lots out too!! And lost a few along the way.

I have an embarrassing amount of gloves too Xing, I got my first pair of leather ones when I was about twelve I think. My mother declared me a premature geriatric at that point. She may have been on to something

I agree they need to fit like a glove and the person fitting them should know by sight what you size is when you present your hand, elbow up on the counter and impressively wield those wooden tong type stretchy things before wiggling them down your fingers with a little too much force. It's a proper experience and now I obviously want some new ones although I've just spotted the Johnston's of Elgin cashmere wrist warmers are on sale...

Not wishing to enable bo, but my DSis did give me some last birthday from Johnstons, and they are very lovely worn over thinner calfskin.

But as you are all my sisters in clothes-aholism, I would send you off to NEW Zealand for practical fingerless warm gloves. For about NZ$18 (£6) you can buy possum-merino knit fingerless gloves in a decent range of colours, and they are warmer than sheepskin, but not very sturdy... there's maybe two winters in them. And for whatever reason (they weigh almost nothing, perhaps) you never seem to get charged duty on them. I have worn out at least five pairs each of the black and navy. Small hands here, and I get extra small.

I have child-size hands - all normal gloves have fingers that are about an inch too long on me. :)

I'd be remiss not to point out some local talent for glove oogling...Paula Rowan. Sadly not in the price range mentioned, but lovely to look at. I love this first pair and she made the gloves for the House of Gucci movie. Picture 2 at least wouldn't slip down!

I'm not a big glove wearer, our climate rarely calls for them. I have one nice, but less elaborate pair from Paula Rowan and a warm suede pair from Hestra - bought in Stockholm out of necessity Ban!

I think you posted those previous Elle and I disappeared in a rabbithole of want want want.

If we're allowed outside the price point, I'm weirdly attracted to these cookie monster gloves. I'm fairly sure it's down to the connecting line thingy, childhood nostalgia in full force squared. I wouldn't actually want them but I love their absurdity and the models face is a proper wtf am I wearing now look.

It is very much glove weather here most of the time in winter and they're somewhat essential on a bike. I'm also prone to eczema on my hands so it really helps manage that. I don't have teeny tiny hands though, proper man sized ones they're quite elegant but proportionally they're big in proportion to my body, more long than massive though. I'm fairly convinced I'd be at least 10cm taller if I wasn't raised vegetarian.

If you asked me to pick the most botemp gloves out of a line up I definitely would not have plumped for those! The colour is gorgeous but I think that's the only thing going for them.

Ah, tone wasn't translating in text, I fear I think they're hilariously bad (which probably makes them good at some level), I'm sure there's some brave man that can pull them off but it's not me and my man hands 🙈

I do have some fur lined gloves that were my grandmother's, they're not the prettiest thing either (just a bit bulky) but omg the nicest thing ever to wear when it's cold.

Salut mes maids! Is it too late to say Happy New Thread?

Sad to hear about your MH woes flo - nothing really grabbed me in the sale, and to the ‘final reductions’.

Love those comedy Cookie Monster gloves and the very grumpy model

Agree with Xing for NZ gloves - I have some merino liners from one of their technical outdoor brands (Macpac) I wear them as everyday warm gloves and they’ve have lasted forever.

IIRC, think I was told once that possum items tend to be short-lived because the fibres are quite short and fluffy so they don’t hold a weave for long. I once saw a possum bikini for sale in Queenstown but I think that was for the tourists

I love leather gloves but don’t have the patience to maintain them properly. I screw them up in pockets and then wonder why they are knackered.

It's almost Chinese New Year Shangpie so you can feign jetlag on the NY wishes

What does MH do with her old stock, I know she has the outlet shop but there must be more left than she can fit in a shop and I suspect she buys back stock from resellers because she seems like a decent person like that but also the brand never comes up in online outlets or private sales.

I am wondering if the cookie monster gloves are some fetish thing, I know fur gloves are a niche thing somewhere sex related (no experience though).

I have to say I'm a bit squeaked out by the idea of possum, don't know why, they just look like sinister little things that would come and take revenge on you for wearing parts of their brother.

Possum are vermin in NZ and have decimated populations of ground nesting birds. The fur isn't hardwearing but the fibres are hollow and retain warmth even when wet, so wearing possum-merino woollies is a patriotic duty.

Squeaked out

It’s always funny seeing Aussies encounter possum fur in NZ. Possums in Oz are protected and well-loved little furry creatures, while in NZ they are reviled as evil interlopers that eat all the native bird eggs and MUST BE ERADICATED

YY to CNY - an early gong xi fa cai and all that. Off to the nearest Chinatown tomorrow to stock up on ingredients for a modest feast. Not sure if I can be arsed to make dumplings. Might be a good excuse to get a haircut and some new undies tho!

my autocorrect has been atrocious lately but in this case it probably works, assuming possums squeak.

I dunno, rat are vermin here too, I don't really want to wear them either...

Ah, yes, gong xi fa cai to to you too. I have lots of noodles, fish, and cabbage recipes lined up for the next couple of days (about as much acknowledgement I'll do to my scant Chinese heritage, my parents uses to take me to Chinatown for fireworks and to watch the dragon dancing but it's a lot less elaborate these days). My main attraction of CNY food is the dried prawn puffs/spring roll thingies but the ones we can get here aren't that nice which is probably a good thing as the good ones are difficult to stop eating. There's a good dumpling shop though, if it's not too busy I'll pick up some.

I'm trying this recipe tonight and some tea quail eggs (I'll put some on a dainty little skewer) alongside which are marinating in the fridge currently.

I quizzed the assistant in MH outlet shop and she said that what is in the outlet moves to the sample sale, and what is in the current sale moves into the outlet shop. Which doesn't seem to be the full story because there was a coat I liked in the outlet which seems to be from 2020 aw collection, so has obviously resisted being moved to the sample sale...

Woah, step aside Imelda Marcos, Xing is in town No really I am hugely impressed by all the gloves and it's got me thinking it would be a great way to raise my winter dressing game (if only I didn't keep losing them).

microbius the long M&S ones just slide down my arm and concertina around my wrist, not uncomfortable but very annoying, and also cold as I used to wear them with a couple of 1960s coats with bracelet length sleeves. It made me realise how getting the right fit is all important and how much skill must go into making them.

I'm glad you enjoyed 'Maam Darling' bo - yes funny and melancholic and also troubling in equal measure. Another one of his that I've read is 'One on One' which is a kind of history of the 20th century through chance meetings, starting with Hitler being knocked down by a novice motorist in 1931: each of them bizarre and, so Craig Brown assures us, true. I dread to think what the inside of his (Brown's) head must be like.

I'm not going to tell you how old I was when I realised possums were still around - I'd always thought they were extinct. Nature not my strong point.

I would like to state, for the record, that I have a lot of handed-down gloves; it's my DMa whose nickname is Imelda! And yes, Flo, the construction is skilled. DGma sewed them for a while, according to DMa, which surprised me because I never thought of her as a needlewoman. But I think she must have sewn together from someone else's cutting, probably on piecework rates.

Another one who enjoyed Ma'am Darling. He was a contemporary at uni in the 70s, and a friend of a friend. Apparently, regarded as a high flyer even then; also so I was told, possessed of a venomous tongue.

@microbius that’s really useful to know, I’ve also wondered where the stock goes.

Loving all the glove talk. I have an old (vintage?) pair of fur-lined gloves from the 80s. My mum bought them for me, as I get very cold hands and 'thermal' gloves then were not great, they do feel lovely. I have always bought leather gloves, as they are warm. I have one pair of gauntlet gloves, but a lot of my coats have cuffs, so don't need long gloves (but they look great).

Continuing a food conversation, do you know bo's single origin spices? [https://botreefarm.co.uk/single-origin-spices botreefarm]

I discovered it by chance, and started with the pepper that is divine, and just ordered a wide selection of spices the work well with winter dishes

Has anyone on this thread had their “colours” done? It is something that I have been thinking about for years now, and I think might be worth it as (as discussed) I now have a grey streak and have stopped dying my hair. I’ve been looking at Red Leopard (redleopard.co.uk/). It is rather expensive, but thinking of it as an investment. Especially as I am looking at promotion at work and dialling up my “personal branding”. Any thoughts?

Volte I would say it boils down to whether or not you can already see what colours suit you. I think I can tell reasonably well on myself - admittedly I can't put a name or a season to it but I don't see how that would add any real value.

I did think about it at one stage because I knew so many people who were getting it done and they were all enthused by it. I got as far as going to a clothes sale / coffee morning at a colour consultant's house but when we got talking, her main selling point was that it would 'take all the thinking out of getting dressed.' And when I said to her, 'But I like thinking about getting dressed' it pretty much killed the conversation!

But lots of people don't enjoy thinking about it and just want to dress well as quickly and painlessly as possible and, if that was me, I'd go for it.