Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: JesusFlo Superstar in a Back Lit Kaftan (Toyboy Not Included)

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

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Speaking of models, I heard someone on the radio yesterday saying that Levi (I think?) were moving away from 'real life' models and using AI instead, because AI allowed for more diversity. Honest.

Stop marginalising digital people Flo 🤬

Interesting, the technology probably has been there for a while but I've always assumed that it's not been effective enough for sales. I guess it's more sophisticated now that it is but I'm really curious, I assume it should be technically possible to input lots of your own measurements (or even scan them with your phone of you wear a special suit), save it as a profile, and have clothes projected on it and give a more accurate size recommendation. It all sounds really good on paper but without the aspirational element would it still be desirable or will you feel even more like a sack of shit when your supposedly identical polished up AI model looks better in it than you do in RL?

I have succumbed to the Collagerie colab: the chevron striped rib dress and the flat striped mules... I will report back tomorrow. I am hesitant about the fabric, so the dress will be returned if it doesn't feel good. And the shoes... who knows but the first colab sold out fast and it's not coming to any RL stores west of London!

That dress is really striking Desmond and those chevron stripes can make your waist look tiny if they're in the right place. I did look at the rib skirt but cream is useless for me - it wouldn't stay that colour for 10 minutes. I'll look forward to your report. I can't see any flat mules?

I noticed the twill silk scarf too. I don't need one - got loads - but just taking a mental note of how they've styled it with a clashy print dress....

That may be because they're in the main catalogue but they are prink, black and white striped so should work with the dress. I liked the skirt too but decided against -- for the same reason as you, Flo!

I was actually contemplating the striped mules.

The rib skirt and dress were also catching my attention but irl I know I would not wear therm enough.

I like jigsaw for basics (eg ballerina tops). And they normally cater for tall people so length of clothes is normally quite generous, but not sure how it will be in this collab.

awaiting for feedback Desmond!

These are the mules in case you still cannot see them Bo

I also like the top and skirt, nothing out of the ordinary but is something I would find easy to wear and the colour suits me. But cannot be arsed with the dry clean only and that the price of the two items is much more than I would pay.

I think that making it look like you and your measurements is a whole separate field. The ‘diversity’ ai article I saw just sounded incredibly lazy and anti diversity really - we know people want a range of body types and its easier to make them up in ai than expand our model search to a wider range of bodies and find real people. So the real people stay unemployed by us but we are celebrating diverse! (Also we aren’t going to say this out loud but it’s MUCH CHEAPER to use ai models, which people would notice immediately if we were asking them to generate someone with cheekbones and hipbones so sharp they could cut you, but maybe if we say it’s for diversity they won’t realise?)

rant over. I saved an article today with the lead line Elon musk says ai research should stop and I have to go back to read it. Of course I don’t think it should stop exactly but the ramifications will be far reaching and not all expected.

I regularly hand wash dry clean only red, I wouldn’t let that on the label stop you! I like it, wonder if we have it here-
probably not. I almost bought these today then suddenly wondered if I’m feeling it from 2-3 years ago, and I don’t usually like fake leather. (Fine, call it vegan leather, doesn’t change what it is)

Oh. These. https://elkacollective.com/shop/apparel/leather/kara-pant-black/#zoom

bo🤡honestly I did not make the connection as the pronunciation is quite different…. Don’t take on (latest favourite verbal tic). 🤗

I rather like the collagerie/jigsaw patchwork suede jacket and yes that blue is fabulous - sitting firmly on my hands as suede and dogs aren’t a terrifically successful combination (as I know to my cost!)

Do not worry mm I'm exhausted from reading subtext in everything, I'm over it now and out of ape shit to throw.

I actually think the sleeveless parka is the dark horse of the collection. It's even got a hood, and it's not really sleeveless, it's almost cap sleeved but hovering so it elevates everything a bit, but more of an autumn piece than S/S. Even though it's black it looks to be a more faded black that'll combine well. Pricey in euros though.

Ok, Levi's idea of diversity does sound weird and pretty much reveals that brands are looking for something very specific in a non traditional model and it's no surprise they would rather engineer it than seek it out. Glad I never took brands and their sudden devotion to diversity all that seriously.

I've been eyeing some cargo leather trousers on Vestiaire time. I've never really attached leather trousers to a time period as my mother always had some (suede, though). Leather leggings definitely had a moment but it was a very long one and was very much under the radar for a long time, until the fake leather ones started looking semi decent, more or less.

Bonne soiree a tous

Thought this article might interest depress the hell out of some here, on the ubiquity of design and the way pretty much everything looks and sounds the same

Link

A pendulum swing towards creativity and vibrancy is hopefully in the mail (not holding my breath for 2023 though)

I laughed out loud at I can see you’re enjoying country life, you’re looking very relaxed 😂

Personally I didn’t care for that collab at all, it feels like stuff I see in the shops all the time (+ colours I don’t want to wear). But I am a dull dresser atm. Not inspired.

So we do have that jigsaw collab here. Jigsaw prices have bumped since I last saw them though- up to AU$800 for a silk jumpsuit. Between interest rates up on my mortgage and astronomical childcare costs and small children who would shred the silk where they haven’t snotted on it that won’t be happening.
I did buy a second hand MH black wrap dress that I suspect from the price is quite worn but very interested to see what it’s like!

Yes, Jigsaw seems really expensive in euros too. I think they briefly stocked it in a department store here but it looked like fairly middle of the road clothing, not something I'd equate to their prices now.

Thanks for that article Shangpie, I'd defend the architecture position in that we've known this for a while and are already course correcting or never succumbed to it all depending on where in the world you look (see 'hyperlocal' and the Aesop case studies) but that does take years. However, since most examples were US based for that, I can't vouch for them, although I somewhat dispute calling those examples architecture, a lot of project developments aren't architecturally designed.

I'm not as depressed about the future though, I think AI will change things but not in the way we think. It will somewhat clear out the slackers and genuine creativity will become more valuable (as AI just appears to work on replicating, and doing so in patterns and creativity that we value doesn't work like that). I did sort of miss the influence of data and profit, in the past companies largely depended on creatives to sell things but that tended to be based on emotionally induced aspirations/security. Data has really disrupted that and now the market tends to deliver exactly what's wanted by the masses at the exact right time, and shock horror, most people have very bland tastes, especially when you reduce them to a large grouping.

Thanks for the article ShangPie, hell and we thought it was bad when Philip Green owned everything! I've only skimmed it so far (I acquired the skimming habit at work because I needed to but now I can't shake it off) so I've not read the cars or architecture sections, but they're dead right about coffee shop interiors. The first hipster to open a coffee shop with soft chairs round here will have my custom for life.

Fresh air made no impact on the charity shop odour from the leather jacket so I went straight to ground zero and gave it a cold machine wash. It's not properly dry yet but it seems to have worked. The sleeves may be a bit tighter than before but I can live with that. I'll take a photo when it's dry.

😮😮 tell me more about machine washing leather flo!! I don’t know if I’m agog or just aghast 😂

Interesting reading, ShangPie, but somewhat depressing. I knew about the effect windtunnels had had on car styling, but the global influences on AirBnB and hipster coffee shops had escaped my attention. However, it's even true in Cornwall.

My items from the Collagerie colab have been unpacked, tried and re-packed, ready for the return trip. The shape of the skirt was lovely, and the fabric was good: but why didn't they make that colour in a skirt? The neckline was not for me, it came up too high, and the shoulders were too wide, so back it goes.

I did really like the sliders, and they would have gone with so much that I own, but they were too big, especially in width. In store, I would have tried the size smaller, but I CBA with online buys. I may see what's for sale when I am on holiday, and if I don't find anything I like as much, then re-buy a size down, if they're still available. Nice leather, good finish, comfortable footbed... had they not felt so loose, they would have been keepers.

Flo is it worth putting the jacket on before it's dry to stretch it a bit? (Thinking of how wool can be blocked/stretched quite a lot when it's wet, and those OJ Simpson gloves)

It is indeed worth it MmePoppy, I've tried it on a few times and, once it's nearly dry - which takes forever - I'll keep it on for the rest of the afternoon. I also keep pressing it (under a cloth obvs) to prevent wrinkling.

time MrFlo started it - he once bought a leather jacket for about £20 that stank of smoke and stuck it in the washing machine while I wailed, 'You can't do that'. But he did and it was fine.

Sorry the Collagerie buys haven't worked out Desmond. One of the reasons I pretty much gave up on dresses was because the only ones I could find that fitted reasonably well top and bottom were those stretchy jersey ones, and I just got bored of them. And what on earth were they thinking, doing the skirt in cream.

On the Levi's AI models, interesting piece in the Guardian today. I am rather 😲 at a digital influencer sharing her 'experience' of sexual assault.

It walks and talks and quacks like blackface to me. I wonder how they will walk back on that once(if?) people realise and get more vocal.

Flo I need more information! Hand wash setting? Cold? No detergent? Wool wash liquid? Or just bung it in with the sheets and a scoop of detergent at 60’ for 3 hours? (Yes I probably need a new machine)