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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Also I've never been that bothered about making style mistakes at work, which might go some way to explaining my less than stellar career! If you're seeking a promotion then it can make a difference.

Thanks Flo, I'll add 'One on One' to my reading list. I fully believe the man has quite a scathing tongue Xing, don't think I'd enjoy being the subject of his observations. I noticed a lot of the user reviews aren't very positive and it was mostly down to casting her as a horrible women, I guess they were expecting a traditional royal biography 🤷

I like Seasoned Pioneers spices, it's one of the few companies I'll bear the Brexit brunt for. The linked recipe was a bit of a disappointment, do not recommend, there's too much grease in it to taste any nuance in it, I was expecting an umami bomb but it was all quite flat. Tea quail eggs were nice though.

I'm like Flo and don't see the point Volte, there's another thread on the Kibbe system on this board. I find that a bit more interesting than getting colours done but it still doesn't appeal as as at the end of the day it's about restriction and that takes all the fun out of it for me but I can totally understand the appeal of it for others. And this might be controversial but I think at this point the way colours are created for the garment industry it's no longer so cut and dry of right and wrong colours, people who have their colours done are quite recognisable they all look a bit rosey, and since it's mostly a thing middle aged women and older do there's probably an aspect of it carbon dating you.

Is it different in the UK, I'll acknowledge appearance has influence on careers, there's plenty of research on that but that tends to focus on height, weight, age, facial symmetry, etc. Clothes IME it's more about not wearing the wrong thing (over or under doing it) that disadvantages you than that wearing the right thing advantages you greatly.

(Sorry for silence - stuff took over and then it’s taken ages to catch up, you’ve all been chatting so much, lovely!)

@Voltefarce

I second @Floisme about liking to think about getting dressed and also it does rather depend on whether you can tell for yourself. I remember donkey’s years ago trying on a black and white sweater in a communal changing room and then putting back on my own tobacco coloured polo neck - it was so blindingly obvious how well it suited me and how I went from looking like death warmed up to fresh and vital, I just put the black and white top back on the rail. Once you’ve seen such a dramatic difference a colour can make to your complexion you can actually do it for yourself.

@microbius those single estate spices look good - we have a friend who brings us pepper from Sri Lanka and it does really make a difference

And I do hope there is a MN meet-up at the MH sample sale in March, I would would love to come along!

It's probably the same here bo - more about not stepping out of line with your clothing than getting extra points for doing it right. In my case, I was in a sector / organisation where, if you enjoyed clothes and fashion you were marked down as an airhead. I always dressed appropriately so there was never anything specific they could pull me up on but I used to get those 'Another new outfit Flo?' kind of comments all the time. If I'd been interested in a promotion I'd have had to do some serious thinking. But it does depend what sector you're in.

I'm thrilled that Xing and by extension, all of us are Craig Brown adjacent but yes I'd be mortified if I ever found myself on the wrong side of his tongue.

Excellent points everyone on the colours. I suppose I just don’t really know what suits me, so I just fall back on black. I work with start ups and tech firms, and would like to be a little more adventurous with clothing. I would also like to find my perfect red lipstick, but perhaps buying up a range would be a cheaper way of doing it

I think that, if I couldn't see it for myself, then I'd probably do it Volte. The only thing I'd add is that I'd want the consultant to teach me what to look for so that I could go away and do it on my own just by looking in a mirror. If I was fobbed off with a set of swatches that I had to carry around with me for evermore because I still couldn't see it then I'd be pissed off.
I guess the problem is, it's hard to know in advance if they can do that.

Yeah, I think the difficulty with it is these systems are presented as an individual result but effectively you're one of a small variation of options. It's not as customised as they make it seem and if you're borderline you could end up sort of adrift. I remember there was a thread on experiences with them on here once and some people were misdiagnosed for lack of a better word and then had to go somewhere else to get a better consultation which had more variables. I'm fairly sure that with my odd colouring (it's not even consistent throughout the year) I'd be declared different seasons by different people.

I think my main concern with it would be that the baseline results of these consultations is a very safe basis to operate within, you'll still need to inject some sort of individuality into it yourself.

I've also been bingeing on the book Bad Blood and the Dropout podcast about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos and that has me believing everyone in tech and start ups either dress as covered in crumbs slobs or Steve Jobs, I'm struggling to see the stereotypical colour me beautiful types among them. I'm sure it's a lot more expansive than that and it's just my limited imagination but maybe something more personalised like a good stylist would be a better spend of the money.

I think being allotted a season and a swatch is the least interesting part of the package. If a consultant told me, 'You will leave this session with the skills and the confidence to look in a mirror and tell if a colour works for you, and if you still can't I will refund your money' - then that's something I might pay for. Do any of them say that?

To go back to gloves briefly, I am very pleased to have found and bought mid length Celia gloves from Atelier Agnelle; on sale in epitome. (as a lurker by calling, for interested lurkers on the thread. I will be returning long gloves in cognac in size 7, too small for me, so they will probably pop up there as well)

Flo it would be pretty impressive if they managed to teach a group of women who can't get to grasp with colour at all to understand it in an afternoon. I'm sure some explanation is given to help you 'see' it but from what I can see it's a well oiled machine that will leave most potentially feeling like what you've described after but realistically they've got some handlebars in some swatches and a season. It's not quite a pyramid scheme (more Avon/Hostess type thing without the plethora of stuff to buy although there does seem to be a lot of add on things) but most of the consultants are often former clients and this is where the alarm bells ring for me. It's a system and you can apparently teach people with no intuitive feeling for colour this system and they can replicate it and convincingly present themselves as experts in colour.

Yeah I can't really see any consultant making herself a hostage to fortune by promising that!

I will say though that everyone I know who's done it has been very positive about it.

I don't doubt that, I think they do deliver what they advertise to the target audience but you or I would probably come out grumbling about all the things we're not supposed to wear.

I think there are some YouTube tutorials that basically show you how it works (in large brush strokes) it doesn't come across as overly complex, just testing lots of different shades and then you can discern a pattern of sorts.

What @botemp suggests sounds really worth doing (YouTube) because when you start to notice a pattern of what suits you, it’s much more empowering than being given a swatch and told
“This is is your palette”. It’s almost like being taught to see.

Yes thanks mm47 that's what I'm trying to say! someone teaching me to see - that would def be worth paying for in my opinion.

@Floisme you did say it only I missed in my rush to show I’m back, I’m back! And I want to contribute! 😉

Agree that it’s probably a bit of a swizz and likely not all that hard to do yourself. Instead of paying someone to drape swatches over you for 2 hours, why not take the time to go to a big department store (or better, a fabric store!) and do it yourself? There may not be the 5,723 shades of green to find the exact one that makes you sparkle but surely there would be enough items in enough shades to get some ideas. volte could do changing room runs by colour!

More generally, if you are client-facing with tech / start up people, could you be looking for more of a uniform and want some confidence finding the right thing rather than specific colour advice? Some of the old ‘Swedish Architect’ threads might be useful reading? The current Kibbe body types thread is also quite interesting. Alternatively just add a pair of Allbirds and you’ll be fine

I’d rather pay than spend hours in a department store to be honest the consultants I linked to have an excellent reputation, and they do a colour/styling session for £650. I might go for it, and if I do I shall report back.

£650? Your money your choice how to spend it and all that but I'd be getting myself an exceptionally well fitting pair of statement trousers, the obligatory allbirds (thanks for confirming Shangpie that it's all just a variation on Steve Jobs' uniform, I still snicker at the Swedish architect threads though, I assume actual Parisians do the same at this thread) and treat myself to some gelato after (I've been craving some, no idea why )

That does sound like a lot from where I'm sitting Volte though I know people say it saves them money in the long run. Maybe it's worth totting up all the mistakes you've made in the last 5 years and comparing the two figures? (If you've not done it already!)

What it does seem to do very well is give women a real boost: women who'd lost their way style-wise after kids, menopause, poor health etc, coming away buzzing because for the first time in years, they'd seen themselves and liked what they saw. It was a big deal for them and I don't want to wave that away. It was only when months later they were still taking their swatches everywhere and, if something didn't match exactly, dismissing it rather than looking in the mirror to see for themselves - that was when I began to question it.

Apologies if this has been posted already. For people interested in the Uniqlo U collection, it is apparently already on sale in Japan, and the website has short videos of models wearing each item.

You can see the videos by clicking on each item (it should open automatically, but if not, it's the first "photo" in the gallery): www.uniqlo.com/jp/ja/contents/collaboration/uniqlo-u/22ss/women/

I was just idly looking at the clothes, but now interested in quite a few of the jackets and t-shirts. There is also a nice sweater in the men's collection.

Thanks for the link, missmoon

I was always also puzzled - in terms of colour analysis - how it is actually actionable? Colours go in and out of fashion and with some colours it is years before they come round again and you can actually buy something in this colour. What's the point of knowing a specific very flattering shade of colour if you can never find it?

For promotion, I imagine, a flare of seriousness is beneficial, which could be helped by all black, even if it doesn't really suit you.

Thanks missmoon, I had posted a Singapore link but that didn't have videos. The plot thickens though, as in Japan the baker trousers are called gaucho trousers 🧐

I'm not particularly interested in anything from Uniqlo U but I think I'll go in store to have a browse anyway.

Microbius the Kettlewell colour analysis system has a whole tie in of a clothing line where you have the same item in all sorts of colours so that's useful (and smart of them) in the not having to wait until the colour comes back in again thing. I don't know if there's proper developed theory that all these franchises work off of or that they've just adapted general colour theory (although that doesn't make a lot of sense to me as colour theory is in effect entirely dependent on light and really a study of that. A walking talking person throughout the year in different geographical places means you could never distill it into something fixed IMO).

Personally I feel it's a touch outdated, if you go in a vintage shop you'll see colours are very different and quite specific but these days dyes and materials are so much more advanced and they're designed to suit as many people as possible as that's the most profitable, makeup has come on leaps and bounds as well. There's colours I previously avoided and now can wear, yellow is one, in the past pastels always felt too cutesy and flat but the newer batch of pastels are a lot punchier somehow and suddenly I'm considering the previously much hated pastels. I hardly ever go, ugh no awful colour, where it's really obvious in a shop, but I do plenty in a secondhand shop. I'm half wondering if this is what's still selling these colour systems as it isn't as overly obvious as it used to be. A trip to a vintage shop might be better than the department store/fabric shop.

If you look at the Kettlewell online shop there's something very 90s graphic about all their colours as they're so specific, clothes don't look like that anymore in your average shop. And tbh I don't think the models look spectacularly different or better than models on any other site and I'd assume they were analysed and dressed according to their colours.

bo how fascinating! of course, it should be tied to a whole chain of merchandise!

There has just been a fresh upload of Isabel Marant to the OUTNET…I am in love with this pair of straight metallic leather leopard print trousers. Far too small for me, of course. I shall just have to imagine myself in them!

Apologies if you have discussed this multiple times. I have discovered a shop that sells kids' clothes that I could only find in Germany before; after a heartbreak of losing my daughter's hat bought during my last trip there, it was a pleasant surprise to locate it. And browsing other things, I was reminded of wool and silk under layers so popular in Scandinavia.

Question: can I wear wool and silk leggings under a skirt? I have trouble with tights [don't like them, they always slide down, etc] and never wear skirts/dresses with tights, so my skirt/dress season is only limited to summer and early autumn. Can I extend it by wearing suchlike leggings or will they wrinkle around the knees and look awful with socks and trainers? I read that people wear Uniqlo thermal leggings, but they are polyester and might hold shape better, so I am really undecided. I do have icebreaker merino base layer leggings and I can't wear them under a skirt...