In today’s Reader Mail:

can you read the la redoute site and see if they ship to the us?  found a bag i like but my french isn’t good enough to navigate. either way, could you recommend an easy way to get some french basics here?

Voila! La Redoute has a US site. Unfortunately, the only thing we want there is this hoodie. ("Hoody".) It is cheap, but it is not sufficient. LR hoodie, was $29.99, now $14.99

Otherwise: our first choice for French basic-y things is Zadig et Voltaire, which is about a billion euros out of our price range. Which leaves us with Petit Bateau:

Nothing fancy, but everyone needs tee shirts. Petit Bateau "chemise pointelle," $22