I inadvertently ordered two copies of this absolutely gorgeous book, Parisiennes: A Celebration of French Women. Rather then send one back, I'd like to share it with one of you, so what better excuse for une femme's first contest? If you'd like to enter, add a comment before 12am PST on November 15, and tell me what about French style most inspires you. I'll pick a winner from the answers.
Bonne chance!
Wow, very cool. I've been following your blog for a few weeks, and have been enjoying it immensely.
ReplyDeleteWhat inspires me about French fashion is hard to pin down. To me, it's in the details and in the attitude. Not all French women, if we're being honest are slender. But many--particularly Parisians--are well put together, sartorially speaking.
First, there's an attitude of "I'm worth the time I take to look properly groomed and attired". And with that grooming and attire go confidence. Confidence goes a long way toward looking good.
Second, it's in the details. As you say, it's a bright scarf on a neutral outfit, the way a cuff is turned, an interesting seam line here and there. It's an eye for details and fit that keep an outfit interesting and doesn't allow it to cross the line into dull or weird.
Third, it's not overdone. When I think of French fashion for women, I think of elegant and feminine, without straying into overdone or overblown. Like the territory between dull and strange, being elegant and feminine without crossing into conservative or vulgar is a delicate balance, and they achieve it.
For me, it's the combination of tidiness and relaxed confidence. Tidiness has always meant anxiety to me: is there something on my face? is my slip showing? too much cleavage? lipstick on my teeth? I've never been one for frills, so the clean and tidy lines of French fashion and the women who wear it show a definite-ness that is somehow both casual and elegant. There's no vagueness to style.
ReplyDeleteI too am a femme d'un certain age...and I adore it. What makes French women so "je ne sais quoi" is their dedication to being "soigne." The taking care of themselves and her presentation to the world. A French woman would never walk around in flipflops with a Starbucks. Noooo!!!! A French woman doesn't want to look like any other woman, she just wants to look like the best version of herself. God--and life-- is in the details! It is all about her "toilette." A French woman doesn't want a lot of things, she just wants the perfect thing. She is an adult, an individual and full of the mystery and desire of life. Now that's attractive -- at any age!
ReplyDeleteDejapseu:
ReplyDeleteIn my view, the essence of a French woman's presentation to the world is two-fold: one is the attitude to life, which is increasingly under pressure, and the second is 'soin', a word for which no exact translation exists in the English language. The presence of both in equal measure makes all the difference between bohemian and scruff, between jolie-laid and plain ugly, between non-chalant stylishness and tacky self-consciousness.
What most inspires me about French women is their insane amount of self-confidence... avec ou sans much clothing! A few years ago in high school, I spent a few days in an exchange program with a French woman in Aix-en-Provence. She showed up to meet me at the bus wearing an old leopard print sweat suit with gold stilettos, and she didn't speak a word of English. She was delightfully witty - how I know this, I can not say, because at the time, I barely spoke any French! She was "une femme d'un certain age," and yet she still sunbathed topless - and took extreme pleasure in doing so. Her "regime" (diet) consisted of elaborate 5 course dinners followed by long walks in the park. And she was of a certain voluptuous size, but unlike any American women I know, she seemed perfectly at ease in her body. She flirted with almost every one she came in contact with, but without seeming needy. That confidence is what is always stylish, regardless of age or attire - though it must also be said that she was effortlessly chic (naturally).
ReplyDeleteIf anyone happens to know of one Marchal Rafaella from Aix, please let her know that her confident and insouciant style continues to inspire me. I see so many I would tell her myself, but my French is still quite atrocieuse! (Though, quite gracefully, she did not seem to mind).
What a lovely giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThis post makes me think less about French style through time, but my own experiences with it. When I was in Paris about four summers ago, I remember being so struck by the style of women there. Because unlike their American counterparts, it seemed that they weren't dressing for trends and style, but rather dressing for their own personal aesthetic and shape. I was struck by the women who tucked their jeans in to their boots (as no one in the States was doing it yet), how they cleverly wore their scarves and layers. Most of all, for as fashionable as Parisian women look, they're always comfortable. In America, it seems unusual to be stylish and comfortable-- comfort is synonymous (often) with sloppish clothes. In many ways, there is so much that American style can learn from European style.
For me it's the fresh approach to everything they touch. I worked the setup of a tradeshow with a French colleague, and I remember how she showed me how to use a long strand of pearls as a belt, a headband and a bracelet. Forget the doubling up! This was innovation!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, any discussion of French fashion begins with its cinema, which begins with New Wave, which begins with Godard, which really just boils down to Bande à Part. You have not experienced cool, effortless style until you have watched the cafe dance scene, when the music cuts out and the only sound is the stamping of their feet.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtube.com/watch?v=ekQZPozjCX8
The key with the style is that it does not appear to be a style, in that it does not come off as contrived. Even in a movie such as Le Samouraï, where a central joke of the film is the iconoclastic dress of its main character, the look never appears staid or overdone. He wears his fedora and his trench because he can do nothing else - they are natural extensions of his persona, and in the end his undoing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EluXfEaODSw
As odd as this may sound I want to have a look that functions much as a uniform; like a character in a Wes Anderson film, I want to be identifiable entirely by my attire, or maybe even by how I wear my attire.
That for me is French style.