Les Parisiennes des Mamansnet: It's French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine and blood all over the place - it's romantic, it's normal.

[botemp]

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

Previous Thread

Not yet, Red, I'll be there in January but tickets were sold out for the next two weeks when I checked so figured it would be prudent to get them in ASAP. I'm not going to promise pics, although I'm sure I'll take some because I've just realised I never delivered on sharing the promised Couture at the Louvre exhibit pics from the past summer (I might try to remember to do them in the post Christmas lull, but no promises).

There should be subtitles available for the Loic Prigent video, it's the icon of a rectangle with a collection of dashes inside on the bottom right corner if you're on YT or the CC icon if you're watching on here.

I enjoyed the HBC pod too, I've lifted the saying she referenced, 'If you stumble, make it part of the dance.' for my collection of random sentences. I know the pace of these threads has gone a bit glacial but I might use it as the next title if I remember it by that time.

Going to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, good health in the New Year and all the rest of it 🎆

Oh thanks Bo, I will try that.

after watching HBC I googled the Prada commercial she references. Here it is if people do not know about it,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-gl-kaGumng]]
I love the play with therapy references, although I think traditional therapy is not a huge thing in the uk like it is say in Argentina, NY, France perhaps?

Yes, here we seemed to have reached a plateau in the thread. But who knows, we might revive it!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. 🌲

Merry Christmas from me too. Funny old year but I'm glad we managed to keep the thread going, however slowly.

I just love this thread - you are all very inspiring and, to mind, very creative.

I do not post but goodness me I love reading it. I am really enjoying the Fashion Neurosis podcast.

I hope you all have a decent Christmas.

And - thank you. 🙏

Happy Christmas (belatedly) from me to all of you, too! I haven’t been following the thread for a while now but I’ve been thinking of everyone. This was my first Christmas as a divorcee and it went quite well. Everyone here as usual, I cooked all the meals and I managed on my own 🙌 A good time! Hope you’ve all had a good holiday ❤️❤️❤️

A Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël 🎄from me too. I will try to catch up a bit with the thread. Good to hear from you too @banivani . Now I'm back to the working world, life has been hectic.

Such a nice thing to open the thread and see new and old faces 😀
AndIsaid thank you and come and chip in more if you fancy!

Bani and quirky I was wondering about you both. And is good to hear that you both have new beginnings in different aspects of your lives.
Bani, I wonder if your new chapter has influenced your style at all?
and quirky hope the new job allows you to express your style? I know is not possible with all jobs!

red, I'm tutoring from home and doing yoga teacher training - so trying to be creative within that! I've decluttered quite a few clothes, as some things I just don't wear/want. The most recent is a charcoal grey, boiled wool skirt which sounds great, which is why I bought it (charity shop) but the shape is off and it's a bit loose.

Oh quirky! Yoga teacher training. Yoga is one of the only exercises that I have been more or less been doing it consistently for the last 20 years or so. Although the last year I have struggled with it … and right now I am in a lot of back pain and normally good old yoga poses would help me and this time round they seem to have aggravated matters , very annoying.
tutoring and yoga training seem to me to fit in with the style I have formed over the years of you (is a compliment!) so I am sure you can enjoy dressing for that.

I have only acquired a couple of cardigans, a grey M&S pretty basic and a yellow Zara mohair and alpaca, both from Vinted and pristine. I am again trying to do minimal purchases of new clothes, last new clothes purchases where a pair of silver loafers and a summer dress, both in August so I have lasted 4 months without purchasing new and I hope to carry on for another 4-6 months.

It's lovely to find a flurry of new messages from friends old and new. Welcome back bani and Hello to @andIsaid.

I haven't bought anything fancy of late, but I needed new jeans and a couple of replacement jumpers (moths! bah!) and I'm happy with what I have acquired, although it is only nice basics. I'm also trying not to add too much and right now it's not exciting enough. If I love it, it's not flattering my body, or I already have an equivalent that will do perfectly serviceably.

And actually, 2026 is likely to be centred on making a significant relocation. We have lived in SE Cornwall for much longer than we ever planned, but we intend to move to the Welsh Marches. Closer to friends and family, easier to get to cities and airports. DH is still taking a drug that requires minimum sunlight exposure, but we have all the wet weather kit we shall ever need already.

DH is already going bananas with decluttering!

Ah Red the thing that is influencing my ”style” is my weight gain 😒🙄

I’ve bought some new things this year but nothing extraordinary. I’ve been leaning into my original love which is wide leg trousers and form fitting tops but this is nothing new. Sadly a lot of polyester - bought trousers in Hennes and that’s what you get. Have also been leaning into monochrome outfits which I suppose is more fun? All brown or all wine, like.

@red back pain is horrible! I had back and hip issues earlier in the year. I am really enjoying the yoga training - it's full on, though and I've had to buy some less tatty workout clothes.

@bani wide-legged trousers and fitted top is classic! I'm glad things are looking up for you.

It’s so nice to hear from old friends on the thread, and new ones too.

Papyrophile good luck with the move. It’s good that your husband is already decluttering, as I know a few people who have moved all of their stuff from place to place. One couple still have unopened boxes 5 years later. It’s good to hear from old friends and new.

Redand, I couldn’t understand why my right sacroiliac joint was still painful despite going to Pilates, and it turned out to be a couple of exercises that were making it worse. My teacher is an experienced physiotherapist and was mortified. I now don’t push myself with the exercises on that side, and it’s much better. I feel a bit of a twit for not listening to my body.

I think I’ll have 2026 as a ‘replace only’ year, as I have gone a bit mad this last year. I have bought some nice things, including 3 very nice jackets, encouraged by my husband, so am pleased with my purchases. I need to do some decluttering as a consequence…

Papyro new year new home! That is exciting but also can be so tiring. Hope you find the right balance.

yes listening to my body … same here poppy been ignoring it. Oh! Replace only year, I like the sound of that.

I came to give you this link of an article about Rama Duwaji and some photos of her on The Cut. The one that caught my attention is the Jacquemus jacket and the shoes. The jacket reminds me of the silhouette of those female figures in some of the Matisse paintings.
here is the archive link to read as is behind paywall
Rama

How lovely to open the thread and find so many posts from old friends and new! I felt like a child waking up to find it had snowed overnight.

I’ve acquired some interesting books for Christmas although my Balenciaga epiphany came too late for Santa:
Jane Austen’s Wardrobe, Hilary Davidson.

The Dress Detective, Ingrid Mida and Alexandra Kim. Some of it is a bit academic but there’s some really useful stuff on how to examine vintage clothes to get an idea about their previous life.

Real Clothes Real Lives, The Smith College Historic Clothing Collection. Most vintage garments tend to be either occasion wear or ‘Sunday vest’ rarely worn but this is an insight into what working people wore.

20th Century Fashion in Detail - V&A. Beautiful illustrations. I’ve developed a bit of a phone scrolling habit which I want to keep in check and I’m going to reach for this whenever I want to look at lovely things without the links.

I’ll attach cover photos - if MNHQ will allow them.

Hope you post again, @andIsaid

Gosh, Rama is chic, isn’t she. Such a lovely jacket that not many could wear, but she does, beautifully. I envy your book haul, Flo. Did you drop hints?

Oh yes lots of hints

Ooo yes Red, very Matisse!

Flo that looks like a great book!

Great books, flo! I love that Matisse jacket, too - agree not everyone could pull it off!

Thanks for the love @andIsaid , and lovely to see the flurry of activity and exciting plans for the new year. <makes notes for all of Flo's books>

Red, for back and hip pain, I love stretching out over a large fitness ball, and it doubles as a desk chair too (well in my case chair beneath my vanity but on rough TOM days I use it behind a desk too).

I think I'm the one person in the world who's very meh about Mamdani (and by extension the spouse). Nothing to do with politics, he ran an impressive campaign but just seems like another shapeshifting slick politician to me. The photos in that article look very AI, odd bit of inception of original art/editing mimicking the thing it's trying very hard not to be... Have seen that Jacquemus jacket in the flesh, it's not very well made as most of his clothes seem to be these days. It only really works in certain static poses, very much made for Instagram posing, which seems to be the brand USP for a while now. I really liked the early stuff and cherish the pieces I have but I rarely give the new stuff a glance. The more sculptural pieces that have popped up recently also feel quite derivative of current Alaia who do it better and more wearable (just way more expensive, alas).

Less negative, I've finally gotten round to sorting the Louvre Couture pics and erasing out people where they were identifiable (it was super busy, don't let my pics fool you). link here (I'm removing permission to view in a week or so because random bots end up asking for permission to edit it all the time and it's just annoying, for anyone bereft after this time DM me for a new link). As mentioned the exhibition was quite exhausting considering how large it was, and it had the added bonus of not having a logical flow and a game of Where's Wally as some items were hidden in amongst the normal collection. (Also, it was very dark in places so some pics are very grainy but I included them where they felt like they added some context).

Also, not clothes related (bar a brief description of an outfit) but enjoyed this piece/interview in The Atlantic with Patti Smith (paywall removed).

Thanks for the photos Bo. I can understand that the exhibition was exhausting because of all the things to look at but how exquisite it was!

Yes thanks bo, I've not looked at the photos yet as I headed straight for the Patti Smith piece cos I adore her, even though I find her poetry unbearably pretentious (not a Rimbaud fan). I still remember buying Horses purely for the cover photo - I only had a cassette player at the time so I couldn't even listen to it. I also admire the way she walked away from her old life when she'd had enough of it.

Just Kids was a really good read as I remember. I went to see her on a tour she did to promote it (15 years ago - surely not??) and she was very cool and funny and also looked great - most photos (apart from Mappelthorpe's) just don't capture her very well. I'll chase up the new book, I didn't realise it was out.

Those are good photos Bo

well, I did enjoy the photos of Rama and definitely felt very staged etc but I thought it was the point. Anyhow.

well, I hope you all have good NYE tomorrow. I always like celebrating it and in a way enjoy it more than Xmas if I am meeting friends as it feels less pressure if I am in the uk.

Lovely photos bo! I will check out the Patti Smith interview next. I agree with flo and the Horses cover, she did look great.

Sorry, Red, didn't mean to poopoo all over it. The editorial choices just puzzled me, and potentially my annoyance with 'artsy women/girls' being crowned the new cool girl (by media at large) is grating me atm. It feels very contrived and performative which I thought everyone was a bit fatigued with. So I'm grumbling, why are we at it again, the cycle feels never ending and it's messing in my adjacent wheelhouse... I suspect the article and accompanying artwork never stood a chance in my current zeitgeist mood😑

I remember Patti Smith cassettes fondly Flo, less so for the cover photos (though I do strongly remember them still), but they always were in the car and on longer trips with my mother were the music of choice which we sang along with, with made up lyrics by me, I think I had a whole repertoire about socks

Poppy, yes, there were so many details, it was a real visual overload. But I did really enjoy how they worked in the setting, especially the historical interiors because the clothes just made sense in the amount of space they took up where in most fashion exhibits they're treated as standalone objects.