Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: Always Have a Ball Gown at the Ready in Celebration of Your Enemy's Demise

[botemp]

Lovers of Parisian style and fashion with a conscious mindset and lots of chatter in between.

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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:

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Sept

Huit

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Dix

Onze

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Quatorze

Quinze

Seize

Back to Paris in a few weeks, does anyone know which is the best /biggest Sézane?

The one near metro Bonne Nouvelle/Grands Boulevards, the original one anyhow. If you're there at the end of the month the secondhand Sézane shop (Demain) will be open on certain days (very French shop hours 🤐) it's a few shops down. Personally I prefer the concession stand in Le Bon Marche though, seems a better selection and a lot easier to try things on and change sizes but it's a lot smaller. I've not been very impressed with them for a while now tbh, what are you eyeing?

Cheers Bo, not eyeing anything in particular, although I like some of the Chloe blouses. I just have major FOMO, having read so many threads about Sézane !

Oooh Bonne Nouvelle is only five minutes walk from my hotel.

Thanks for sharing your perspective VolteFarce. You've al been great at making me feel better about my hair. And yes, the grass is always greener

Hope you enjoy Paris TwoBlondes. I've never shopped at Sezanne but get the impression the clothes are quite feminine with nice detailing - is that a fair assessment?

By the way was it you MM47 who was interested in Zeus & Dione? Did you get anything in the end? They are actually using a curly hair model at the moment.

I'm also looking for a new black bag. In a perfect world I would love a Chanel Boy bag but of course that is not happening at the price of them now 😱. Anyone have any ideas for anything similar? I tried a more relaxed bag yesterday (more hobo style I think) but want something a bit more structured.

Have a lovely weekend!

Crikey, I go away for a few days and come back to find a wonderful hair chat… I’m another one whose hair has become wavy as I’ve got older, and the grass-is-greener feeling is so so true. I never appreciated how easy it was to have straight hair, but with the right cut and when the styling and weather stars align I think my waves look so much more interesting than the lank Nigel Planer in Young Ones mop. I will read back through these tips with interest and consider a Heidi braid something more elaborate than a ponytail.

Nothing really going on here, apart from the daily battle with jeans / trousers and footwear. I have several pairs of boots that are either too short or too long with my jeans, and no matter how I roll them up or down, it just looks odd. Anyway, I don’t loose sleep over it but would love to figure out a lazy hack.

I just popped up to say that bo might have even more readers-in-high-places than we suspected. This was in the Goop newsletter!

And yes, flame me and shame me for getting the Goop newsletter 🔥

I mostly look at the pictures for styling ideas. Definitely avoid the gift guides!

I'm laughing at the idea of Gwyneth (is the writer actually her) standing in line at L'As du Falafel. As ever she's wrong, it's not the best falafel ever, it's second-best to Pitzman (who she really should have known about as they're organic), and anyhow the best falafel ever (outside of Israel) is Beni Falafel in Antwerp.

(Bagelstein is kind of shit too, sometimes when French people make something French it's an improvement, bagels very much not. And who the fuck goes to Paris to eat Chinese food).

If she's reading here, I suggest she hire me instead

On the boot/jeans thing, I've been contemplating socks, leg warmer aesthetic sort-of ish. I still need to experiment.

I know you've moved on but I've been thinking about actresses who had curly hair in the early 90s and who are now ultra sleek and glossy. Nicole Kidman's the obvious one but also Julia Roberts when she was in Pretty Woman and Julia Louis Dreyfus in Seinfeld. Was their hair permed to begin with - or even a wig - or have they spent the last 30 years straightening?

I do get being dissatisfied with what you've got by the way. I'm mostly very thankful for my hair but it goes its own way and I do sometimes envy people who can put their hair up or something for a change. I can't ever do that.

Yikes those pics are huge!!

I have a pet theory that enviable curly hair is a young person's thing (and obviously they don't appreciate it in the moment, very much guilty of this myself). It's not completely made up, hormones influence hair a lot (hence those with straight hair suddenly getting curly/wavy hair around menopause) but I think curly haired people are more effected by it.

Sure there are some genetically gifted people who don't mess with their hair much who can maintain healthy enviable curly hair into old age (men are overrepresented in this area as they tend not to grow it long or mess with it) but they're unicorns.

I don't know this for a fact, just speculation from hair loss boards, but Nicole Kidman has likely had hair major loss issues, when you don't have much and it's prone to breakage curly hair doesn't look great naturally. When acting she wears wigs so that does sort of confirm it for me (my hair loss is only apparent when there's a lot of light directed at it and going much lighter with her hair colour also disguises it, it's probably also grey hair related but her red hair was iconic so it's an odd choice to go for something more subdued).

Julia Dreyfus was definitely not a perm but I don't remember her being held up as a great beauty ideal (hair wise). Julia Roberts, I'm on the fence it could have been a perm, but I suspect it was just her best hair at the time and lots of processing, colour and age means it's no longer the same.

But basically my theory still stands, the more cameras improved, the more they were able to pick up frizz. I think Elaine transitioned into straightened hair in later seasons, maybe it was to do with her being more of a professional but that was also around the time TV quality changed and also the switch from 3:4 to 16:9 aspect that had all actress trying to look as slim as possible as the new aspect made you look heavier (big curly hair is also not helpful with this, it gives a certain fullness to face, which again you only appreciate when older).

That's interesting. I didn't know that about Kidman.

To round out the three above, a genuine Unicorn, Andie MacdDowell, she's managed to maintain her curl pattern (it's a little looser but not much), hair health and density. Even the natural receding of the hairline (with age) at the front is minimal.

Love the idea about TV ratios shifting hairstyles. It makes total sense, but it does sound a bit tinfoil hat at first but the tinfoil hat would mess up our hair Also love the pics of Andi’s curls.

While we’re on this topic, any tips for a hairdryer and diffuser for a reluctant hair-drier? I only really use it in winter as I hate the feeling of cold wet hair, and my last one fritzed itself after I forgot about the change of voltage when moving country. I’ve never actually used a diffuser, but assume it would be useful 🤷🏻‍♀️

The diffuser is essential! If you blow-dry curly hair without one you get a frizzy mess. It's a bowl with spikes for the air to come out of and fits onto the end of the hairdryer. Tip your head upside down again after combing your styling products through (right way up for that). Turn the hairdryer to half power and half heat. Collect a pile of it in the bowl and push it up to the roots, don't leave it there too long a few seconds is enough. Continue all over repeatedly until hair is half dry. Switch to cold air (it's not actually completely cold) and continue until hair is 3/4 dry. Let it air dry to finish, you'll have bouncy curls full of volume. If that's too much hair for you, use the diffuser in the same way but skip the cold air stage, the curls won't set the same and will drop out a bit, they'll still look good but you'll lose the volume after 15min or so. I have long hair and it takes me 10min to blow-dry with the diffuser.

Ten minutes, mine takes at least 25mins, my technique is a little different though. I gather hair into the bowl and position it and only then turn it on and after cooling I switch it off before removing then do the next section.

If money is no object and you don't object to James Dyson's politics and one of his vacuums hasn't completely pissed you off the Dyson hairdryer is very beloved in the curly hair community and cones with a good diffuser (and in case you move again it works all over the world at different voltages). The Remington 3D is a decent dupe with a good diffuser attachment but I think it's being phased out and replaced by the Hydraluxe Pro, no idea on how good that is but it looks similar. I'd wait until Black Friday to get a Remington they always go on offer then.

Personally I have a Diva (professional brand like Parlux) which is pretty good but it's super powerful if I don't pay attention I'll accidentally launch my gym ball (the super big body one, I use it as a seat when not in use) across the bedroom 😲 I bought the Xtava Orchid diffuser (which is really popular for wavy hair) which sort of fits well on my dryer but also can dislodge so it's a bit of a perilous experience. I have a converter piece to make it fit better but that fit is even worse . There are some other diffusers that were popular but a few got discontinued and since buying mine I haven't really paid attention but the moral of the stort not all diffusers are created equal, and very few cater to wavy hair.

Back to my conspiracy theory, I bring you exhibit B of a show that was on roughly the same years, in reverse order, Rachel Green went from volume and wavy to straight hair practically glued to her head. It's the cameras I tell you, and media has infiltrated our personal lives and calls itself social 🧐 They're watching us <adjusts hat for the camera>

Very sad that Nicole Kidman wears wigs for all her acting roles. Can't be that comfortable I would imagine. And I always assumed that Julia Roberts' curls were natural.

Diffusing is so boring. I will do 10 mins max and then leave it to air dry. Also got the diva hairdryer and the diva diffuser which annoying is marketed as one of those that fits on all hairdryers but doesn't actually fit properly on the diva one

I want to say I like the wavy hair photo on Rachel green best but she does look better with straight hair. The big hair seems to engulf her face.

Ps went to a party yesterday with hair down. First time in ages. Normally wear it up for parties to look "smarter". So thank you all - your encouragement and advice really helped.

Good to hear you had a good time at your party, Sophie.

I think wigs are fairly standard for actresses, most of the Game of Thrones actresses wore them too and apparently it's preferable to sitting in a makeup and hair chair for hours to get the hair matching exactly to the last time you filmed. Wigs give nice consistency like that and apparently high quality wigs are not so bad to wear and sets can be very cold so it's like a nice warm hat.

I do think Nicole Kidman has 'fixed' her hair issues since, medical management and potentially a hair transplant and ongoing PRP injections is my guess, the latter probably quite a common procedure among the actresses who do that ageing magically better than everyone else thing.

Speaking of magically altering, Jennifer Aniston did have a different nose originally, that probably made more sense with her natural hair and would be less engulfing the way it is in that picture (TBF it's not the most helpful crop of the picture).

Forgot to mention previously, apparently the new shark hairdryer (not the air wrap dupe, just a dupe of the Dyson hair dryer) is also good and comes with a great diffuser for curly hair. If that had been around when I was shopping for a hairdryer I think I'd probably have gone with that (also magically knowing my diffuser woes).

I’ve fallen off the thread and am now recapping from 5th of October:
Xing, so sorry about your MIL, and perhaps mostly sorry for you dealing with that and hapless husband. :(

Quirky, I hope tribunal went well. <3 (skimming I don’t think I actually saw update?)

I see covid is doing new rounds with everyone - hope it hasn’t been too miserable for anyone. One of my daughters had a fresh bout (but not too bad) so we’re all waiting to get it again now. Our anti-vaxx relatives got it too recently - more worrisome there since they haven’t had vaccine, but they seem to be on the mend and calling it flu.

Flo I like your wide-legged jeans, I don’t know if I said. But I see Justine has a video out about looking long-legged which might be - haven’t seen it - telling us not to wear wide legs. She can feck off. That said, it’s very wet and muddy here and me and my trousers are having troubles.

Red, that vintage silk Max Mara blouse looks great, I wouldn’t even look at something like that twice normally but I’ll bet it looked fantastic on you!

Welcome Justasec, and I hope you let us know how the haircut turned out (can’t believe Bo actually had advice on that! How do you pick up this sort of knowledge???).

Bo, I really like those massive sleeves because they look so structured, like old paintings- (Tudor?).

I love curly hair - then again, I don’t have it. I have straight hair that might wave in the way I don’t want it to, and otherwise will hold no styles. It’s rubbish. I sort of agree with the cameras and frizz thing, but I think it’s also a fashion thing, frizz is unacceptable. A few years ago I watched Karate Kid again and your wan’s hair is very sort of naturally messy and frizzy. And it’s fine. Now it wouldn’t be, they style everything. It’s just rubbish.

Fashion wise I have nothing interesting to report. I just spent 20 minutes on Asos buying jeans for teenage son, that's as much fun as we're getting here.

I bought some nice wool fabric second hand that I was thinking of trying to make trousers in. You know, the trouser project that I must have talked about for four winters now? Place your bets, ladies. Now I have two bundles of fabric and two trouser patterns, it might happen!

I follow a Swedish fabric shop on Instagram that specialises in deadstock (I know I know) and natural materials, and they’ve had some gorgeous stuff this autumn, by the way. Cashmere wool fleece from Rick Owens www.instagram.com/p/CkWZHUYLNO7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

double gauze wool muslin www.instagram.com/p/CkKytOvrgcg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Coat wool that looks like denim www.instagram.com/p/CjfMmDLLmS4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I just want to be able to find garments made from stuff like this. Excuse links, cannot be arsed.

Oh god Bani, I bought the square toe mules already and now I want Tudor sleeves. Ahem meet my style icon, and mind your heads 🗡️🛡️

I disagree that fashion is anti-frizz Freja Beha Erichsen's USP as a model is basically her frizzy hair and she's not the only one (and she's been a working model for yonks). I think it's accepted in this sort of rock chick or je ne sais quoi Parisian thing like Lou Douillon. It's more the Glamour contingent of actresses and beauty queens -and probably porn too, I'm not going to go and verify, but very much that idealistic view of women that's really very generic and also a bit American, shoot me.

Maybe soft frizzy hair is due a comeback, that sort of Pre-Raphaelite look has come and gone a few times but it's always quite solid and manufactured, none of that. Granted I've never been a fan of styled hair much so this may just be my wishful thinking.

See, see, very fashion.

(I keep forgetting we can actually attach more images at once 🤷)

Personally, I have zero fashion/clothing news to offer. DMIL died last week. So I'm a bit busy with admin as she left her body for research and the paper trail needs to be perfect. We are all very relieved TBH as she was miserable for most of her last months. It is a burden lifted, but there's been no let up for the last month. Back to normal soonish I hope.

I'm sorry to hear that, Xing, but I also understand the relief. End of life can be very hard on the surrounding family.

I don't know if it's available on all Netflix, but has anyone watched She's French? Lots of French women laughing at the stereotype 🇫🇷

Sorry, my post feels rather crass ahead of yours, Xing. My condolences and, yes, it's an odd sort of grief when death when death comes a relief. Hope things are sorted with the admin soon