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

But bo I deliberately made no mention of the double-T word! There is enough fighting and strife in the world right now and besides I've just applied for a job as a Peace Envoy and was hoping you'd give me a reference.

Yeah I can imagine real shopping making a return in some places but I was thinking mainly of my own wretched local high street for which I don't think there's any way back.

Peace Envoy? Did you wake up this morning deciding to be Angelina Jolie? Tell you what, I'll give you a reference if you can make peace on AIBU ✌️

I am Angelina Jolie. Whoops...

Oh no have I killed the thread? I was just kidding!

In other very un-Angelina news, I have just bought a set of new bras (not going to tell you how long I'd been wearing the old ones) and OMG the difference! I swear I feel half a stone lighter and two inches taller. It's possibly the one thing I still agree with Trinny and Susannah about.

Yes, Flo, you've outed our little thread of Hollywood A-listers 🫣 how could you!? (slight tangent why do so many people on MN claim to look like a celebrity, I don't know anyone who even remotely resembles a celebrity).

It is suspicious though, at an impressionable age I saw some sort of B movie with Angelina Jolie that pretty much opens with her boobs out behind a chain link fence and that's now my default Angelina Jolie image in my mind so all your bra talk isn't convincing me of your innocence... And how goes your peace effort on AIBU?

I've not much to report, Antwerp sample sales are soon so I'm holding out until then. Trying to decide in between whether to make a weekend getaway out of it or just go back and forth for the day.

I was going to post about my London trip. I had a wonderful time in Dover Street Market. I didn't buy anything but was delighted that a size medium Renli Su dress was only a little bit too small (an L would have fitted)

I was tempted by, but didn't buy, a Daniela Gregis crushed navy wool dress. The Comme des Garcon clothes were exquisite- especially a navy gaberdine pleated dress. Their display of Egg dresses and coats was an art gallery exhibit. The assistants are lovely. I had a chat with a young man from Falkirk.

I did stock up on Pretty Ballerina pumps, navy leather flat, navy low block heel patent and flat burgundy velvet Mary Janes.

I was also forced to buy comfy shoes. I didn't want trainers. AllBirds sold me the least trainer like option- black felted wool shoes which look like the shoes the peasants are wearing in Breughel's Country Wedding/ Peasant Wedding Dance paintings. My husband said I was being ridiculous but recanted when shown the pictures.

I was in London to see Eugene Onegin and Alice in Wonderland at Covent Garden and Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in Oedipus.

At Eugene Onegin I was sitting a few seats away from a woman wearing the most revolting, nasty, tasteless outfit I've seen in a very long time- a white fox fur stole, which I'm pretty sure was real. I'm glad she wasn't sitting next to me. I'm not sure I would have stayed if she'd been beside.

We also fitted in the Elton John photography collection at the V&A. Really well done and laid out and the van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery.

I missed this article about Ruthie Rogers's style, when it was in The Times, in March but it is interesting:

Why the River Café’s Ruth Rogers has one of the coolest wardrobes in London.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/bc87ffa0-4cd5-4261-b9ed-a0be17db8132?shareToken=2bed7c2b61d68e2651eed1e2ce400e477_

Ooh I was about to tell you all about my little spending spree but now I'll have to read that article first, thanks Poppy

That sounds like a lovely trip, Castle. I must remember to go to Dover St Market. I trust you dressed up for the theatre??

That was a delight, Poppy, thank you. My favourite was where it said, 'Rogers’s default outfit is a denim skirt and a brown jumper' and it turned out the skirt is normally from The Row or Celine or Phoebe Philo. I don't begrudge her -it sounds like she works harder at 75 than I did at 25. I think she ought to start a clothes podcast though and share.

So my shopping: First I found a gorgeous long tweed Aquascutum coat at my favourite market. It's at the cleaners at the moment then I'll be drumming my fingers for cold, dry weather.

Next - as you'll know if you've been following the Bella Freud thread - I think I may finally have found my androgynous suit jacket in her M&S collection. I've lost track of how long I've been going on about wanting one, so many false leads that turned out to be more like Zoot Suits. (I don't dislike wide and boxy, in fact I've got a couple like that, it just wasn't what I wanted this time.) I'd pretty much given up till I read an interview with her about the collection and saw she was wearing her own jacket and thought, 'Hello....?'

It's sold out at the moment but there's a photo of it with these jeans if you scroll down. Hard to explain why it's different from all the others I've tried. It just is. The sleeves are fractionally long but I can alter them and, in an ideal world, it would contain more wool but I'm not going to carp. https://www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-rich-wide-leg-high-rise-jeans/p/clp60709889#intid=pidpg1pip11g4r1c2|prodflagNew

I've also heard good things about the jeans so I'm waiting to pounce if any are returned in my size. This is pure hype at work - I don't need any more jeans. But then again, now that I live a life of idleness, I wear jeans more than anything else so can I ever have too many?

What else? Oh yes, I'm eyeing up another jacket. This one's very different, from the final Cabbages and Roses ready-to-wear collection which is engulfed in mystery and chaos - check out the C&R thread for more details. I'll post a link if I decide to pre-order. The timing isn't good for my budget but it looks like my last chance to get one without fighting it out on Ebay.

Hello everyone!

I've been following you around, Flo, on those threads :) and dutifully explored the M&S avec Freud as well as the Cabbages' au revoir. Congratulations on various purchases and [waves to everyone whose news I've missed]

I have two clothes-related things to share. One is that I've had a two-week house-tidying binge. Finished a massive project, and it was a kind of outside-in cleanse. Surprisingly, I found dealing with the clothes very difficult.

First, there is a long legacy of buying for a better life in times of difficulties, a tonne of holiday and going-out dresses, with beautiful beading, silks, velvets, etc. But! Do I keep all of them? They are quite narrow - not of today's silhouettes - knee length and maybe not the most brilliant of designs. But how do you judge whether something might come back, whether it's worth keeping something for one's daughter? How much do you actually keep (storage space does not have that cosmic infinity)? Doubts, doubts...

Second, it was a bit sad as all the mistakes and difficulties are there, glaringly before me. Very few surviving trousers (always had difficulty finding those) and too many tops; then a period of Ganni and scandi fashion which resulted in much viscose that shrinks like Alice in wonderland. I observed this "past me" with a certain dismay and pity.

And a piece of good news at the end: in my trip down under I bought a classic Fedora in grey which turns out to be quite a nice hat colour; not too demanding like beige/green and not as draining as black. Beautiful hat.

Thanks for that enjoyable article Poppy. I had heard previously she's a close friend of PP but didn't have much of an image of her beyond the restaurant. I'd like to blame the photographers for the lacklustre pics of her wearing the actual clothes but I suspect she just wasn't particularly interested in posing.

I can't make out if you actually got the suit jacket or you're waiting for it to come back in stock Flo? I haven't followed the thread but out of curiosity I did look at what's left and I quite like the tote bags but feels it's a bit weird to order them not sure what's up with me probably overinvested in US politics turning me into a nihilist at the moment. Although Kamala is totally selling me on flared suit trousers (Chloé, I assume) but I'm unsure of how much use I'd get out of them. The Guardian seems to be pushing Tim Walz' barn jacket as the breakout sartorial star of the election but that wouldn't work for me, delightfully practical as they may be.

C&R? If it's final collection thing I'd definitely just go for it and eat pot noodles for the rest of the month or something, at least order it and see if its worth starving over? (Assuming a pre-order can be returned).

Micro, as a noted anti Kondo-ite I tend to err on just keeping everything but that is probably actually quite Kondo because I tend to hold on to things that I've got a lot of joy out of but am just a bit bored with, it probably is different if there's a lot of experiments that didn't go to plan lingering in your wardrobe.

IME things that come back tend to be silhouette related rather than gimmick, so bootcut jeans rather than pearl embellished jeans. But only so long as you can envision wearing them in a different way. For example, you had those colour wash jeans for a hot second, that was all part of colour blocking where the jeans featured heavily as this loud colourful bottom but I could see them return in a tonal or head to toe one colour look where they'd just be an aspect of the look rather than the star feature. Skinny jeans are tricky in this sense and why there's probably endless discussions about them, they have potential versatility but they've pretty much been worn all the ways they can be, my theory, anyhow.

Yeah I've got the suit jacket bo - I pounced on one at 8.01am on Thursday. I'm also waiting to see if any jeans are returned in my size although that's looking less and less likely. I didn't order jeans because I had no idea I needed any but now it seems I do. Gullible, moi?

I'm afraid Kamala Harris may be one of the reasons I didn't fancy the suit trousers. That's no reflection on her whatsoever, I just feel a bit dismayed at how the trouser suit has evolved from something non-comformist, and even slightly racy, into a safe choice for politicians. Of course it's not like Harris started the rot - it's being going on for decades.

I was wondering where you'd got to, microbius! I'll try and think about how I decide what to keep and what to let go - not that I always get it right. I find it particularly difficult when the silhouette isn't in fashion any more.

I'm not surprised you find sorting out clothes difficult micro. If getting dressed is about self expression - and I think it largely is - then you're potentially deciding which parts of yourself to jettison. It's going to can painful.

I've started to find the 'dress for the life you have not the life you want' mantra really quite depressing. I think that, if we're constantly buying clothes that are out of kilter with our lives, then that's our subconscious trying to tell us something and it's worth listening. That doesn't mean wearing your ballgown to the supermarket but it might mean allowing a bit more glamour and luxury into your everyday dressing, even if it's nothing more than the odd velvet trim or sequin collar. Admittedly that still leaves us with the issue of what to do with all the unworn ball gowns but it might help wean us off stockpiling even more.

I always assume most things will come back into fashion at some point and sometimes far sooner than we expected. But even I can't keep everything. If it's a style I was deeply into then I just keep one or two versions. E.g for a couple of years I wore nothing but those stretchy tube skirts and had loads from a variety of places and price points: (Whistles, Me and Em, Hush, River Island, H&M etc etc) Right now I can't imagine wanting to wear them ever again, but they clearly 'spoke to me' for quite a few years so I've kept 2 from Me and Em but moved on all the others. I've done the same with skinny jeans - they still bore me senseless but I know that won't last forever so I've put away 2 pairs.

Thank you, bo and flo, that's useful to think with. I find it hard to trust my own sense of what to keep as I would have a strong opinion in the moment (for instance, that I don't need a yellow shirt and a yellow skirt), but then, at the same time, I know that there will come that February when I suddenly will want to wear all yellow. I guess a rule of keeping two out of multiple sames or a specimen of a silhouette are two good rules to take away.

One mistake I make quite a lot is I'll buy a second hand 'high end' item to upgrade something I've got already, let's say a navy blue jumper. So far so good, but then instead of moving out the original navy jumper, I carry on wearing it and saving the new one 'for best'. And then I compound it cos I keep looking out for further upgrades and end up with a load of navy blue jumpers that take up space and aren't being worn. I've had a bit of a knitwear cull this year for that very reason.

Which did you cull Flo?...

I never save anything for best or put it away to keep it good. (My husband on the other hand regularly finds stuff he's put away, even a whole suit once)

Unless it's patently absurd like a ball gown I wear things immediately. The upside of Covid destroying formal work wear (it wasn't so rigid even before Covid) is that it frees up so much stuff that can be worn to the office. One of the trainees was wearing this today with black opaque tights and trainers. To use that MN cliché "no one batted an eyelid".

Black velvet dress

I wish I could be more like that Castle but saving for best was drilled into me for too long. I'm never going to shake it off now.

Poppy it was mostly knitwear that, the odd bobble aside, was perfectly fine but where I had better versions of the same thing. And some sparkly jumpers for which I have a weakness - I moved them out in January when they look at their cheesiest although I don't suppose the charity shop appreciated getting them post Christmas. I may even have gone too far and left myself short of seasonal sparkliness.... we'll see very soon.

Also some office wear from my previous life'. I'd tried to 'casualise' them but could never shake off the feeling that I was off to do a presentation. It's that 'safe trouser suit' syndrome I was talking about earlier.

A couple of tweed jackets that I just didn't like as much as the rest so never wore. There are a couple more awaiting the same fate unless I can think of a way of customising them that's a little bit more than adding jaunty buttons, but still within my skillset.

And a few vintage jackets and suits, mostly 50s and 60s - same reason as the tweed, they just never got picked.

Funnily enough the old navy blue jumper that triggered the whole exercise survived because I like it too much. I've even tried darning it - badly. I suppose I should cull some of the 'better' upgraded versions instead but I can't bring myself to do that yet.

Sorry Poppy that was a long answer but I might have misread your question. Did you mean how did I select something for culling? The rule of thumb was if I had at least two versions that were of a higher quality, and that I also liked better. The minimum was two in case I accidentally washed one of them on 90 degrees.

There's a Vivienne Westwood sample sale next weekend (fri-sun) in London if anyone's tempted.

Flo when were business suits subversive?They've always been safe and a bit staid in my mind. Le Smoking, I definitely see as breaking the mold but that's a tuxedo not a business suit. Anyhow Kamala was wearing a smashing green version of what I assume is just the same suit and now I'm even more sold on it and eyeing these even though I don't really like velvet. Although I'm not sure if it's actually velvet, doesn't say and it's cotton.

Micro, to a point, by now you have a sense of things you'll still be drawn to and things that really feel like a different lifetime? I think sometimes there's too much pressure on knowing exactly who you are (style or otherwise) in the moment and therefore knowing what you'll be in the future when that's not always the case, and that's perfectly fine.

I think bo it's because when I was starting out, a lot of workplaces still banned trousers for women. That was a long time ago but I've never quite shaken off the idea that a trouser suit as business wear was - or should be - slightly subversive. I know that's been steadily undermined for the last few decades: Angela Merkel, Hilary Clinton, just about every female politician in the UK etc etc but I still can't help feeling a bit disappointed. I might make an exception if Kamala Harris chose burgundy velvet though.

Good afternoon, les Parisiennes. I have a new job (in Jan) and therefore as is traditional (for me) need a whole new wardrobe. Tragedy!

I came on to ask if anyone has experience of Sofie Schnoor in terms of quality? The Vinted algorithm thinks the brand is good for me.

Congrats Volte, but did you not too recently get a new job at something tech startup related (or was that another poster)? Are you just continually switching jobs so you have an excuse for a new wardrobe 😉

My local fancy department store carries that brand but I don't have an active memory of it. Seems to sit in that section of brands that would cost a lot less if it was elsewhere. Not sure if that makes the quality good or bad but I assume reasonable enough made in China type things? If it's survived a bit of wash and wear secondhand it's probably not a terrible buy if the prices are good. I can have a better look in my department store and report back if you'd like?

Flo that makes more sense, the UK does seem to have always held out longer with dress codes that don't make much sense. What was so scary about a woman in trousers?

Thanks @botemp. I should probably get off my arse and see if I can find some in real life myself. Or, what I’ll probably do, is do some Vinted shopping and immediately re-list it.

I last moved 18 months ago (although not to a tech start-up - I work with that sector but not in it for the moment - I recall another poster also being in the crypto space).

As the new job is remote first, my immediate need is for warm jumpers as I am a cheapskate as regards heating. I am also on the never ending hunt for nice quality t-shirts.

Your message was hidden for a while by MNHQ I'm trying to figure out what was the automatic trigger. I'm guessing the c-y-to word? Yes, I recall Web 3.0 chatter on here, I thought that was you earlier this year but I'm apparently mixing you up with someone else.

I saw some amazing quality t-shirts in a boutique in Rotterdam semi-recently but it's by a Japanese brand, Ernie Palo, and as far as I can tell only sold by this boutique outside of Japan/US. It felt so nice to the touch, never felt a t-shirt like it but unfortunately already sold out in my size in the colour I wanted (white, which now seems completely sold out) 😢

Arket did seem to have some nice new t-shirts in, but everything now pales in comparison to the EP shirt.