What French women get right
Claire Dhelens
I just came back from a week’s vacation in Paris with my family. I love Paris and especially enjoy the people watching whether I’m having lunch on the Louvre terrace at Cafe Marly or watching my girls run around the Jardins de Luxembourg. Not every French woman is the epitome of chic, but many are and they all seem to share the same formula for everyday dressing. It’s also a formula that is rather casual and very modern, but trendy? not so much. While New York women dress similarly, there are some subtle, refined differences that made me rethink what’s in my closet and how I want to put myself together everyday.
Everyday French Formula: skinny jeans/pants (black, usually, but cargos and other dark colors), a blazer or wool jacket, boots with walkable heels (no four-inch stumblers), an understated, often cross-body bag (occasionally Chanel, but most of the time, not a designer I can pinpoint), and a scarf.
Black predominates but it is often black with brown or black with navy, or other neutral combos such as army green and brown, burgundy and gray. And the occasional red scarf. There are no pastels in Paris.
French women wear makeup. Not a lot of makeup, but grown-up makeup. Either a kohl-rimmed eye and bare lips or a red mouth and mascara. Beyond that, their faces look bare of any heavy foundation or powder. No hot pink lips, or even beigey/nude combos.
French women NEVER wear anything related to sport or exercise clothes unless they are on their way to Pilates class. No fleece. Ever. Only cool sneakers as in ones you cannot excercise in such as Converse or Isabel Marant.
At the same time a woman in her 50s will be in the same Converse sneakers and skinny jeans as her younger counterpart. French women don’t care about “age rules” but at the same time, they aren’t afraid to be womanly. Cool is always ok, but girly doesn’t fly.
What is my take-away lesson here? I will invest in more dark denim (luckily my new Rag & Bone zip jeans I posted on previously just arrived and I’m in love), I am considering another pair of mid-heel ankle boots in brown (I have black), I will wear a pea-coat even it’s just to the playground and use the new Chanel gray eyeliner I bought at Bon Marche with regularity.
Cecilia Bonstrom
Topics: Chanel, French women, Isabel Marant, Rag & Bone
Thank you for the great post! I love reading about how French women dress & I try to dress like that myself. I love your blog, keep up the great work!
What a fun, simple and expressive post ~ thanks for reminding me of the Parisian specifics to an always pulled together easy look! I loved Paris, and will start to wear my peacoat around town starting today! Love your blogs!
LOVE these types of post! in the fashion photos we don’t see the day to day parisian chic!
But easy to emulate
thank you!!
Great post! Thanks for sharing these lessons from Paris!
The Styleseer
I love reading about French women and their style it appears so effortless…thank you for your blog it makes my day!!!!
i’m french and from paris and can tell you… you’re very right!
i would add to the sneakers point: never ever ever white (ie tourists only do that
and no big blow-up… french women seek natural beauty, enhancing what genetics gave you, definitely very french to show very little effort to achieve great things! very different from US, right?
And if women cheat with genetics… they never ever say (no botox party if you see what i mean…)
thank you!
Right on! I love those french women, they have their priorities straight–comfort and chic.
Great observations, great post. Must also add more dark denim to my wardrobe.
Having lived here in Paris for over a decade now, I would add that French women do a lot of maintenance- good haircuts and colors often, facials very regularly, polished shoes, EVERYTHING ironed (especially t-shirts). I think its very true that French women are not terribly trendy. They find a look, a fit, a style that works for them and they confidently stick to it, just updating the details. Definitely a great model to follow.
You nailed French style in that post! I love your site by the way!
Tu as completement raison ! Bien vu !
Love your take on ‘le style parisien’. Love the way they mix fur and hats on top of the dark skinnies and ankle boots – they know how to rock December in style..
TrésorParisien
Love this post. Thank you for articulating the details so well. Ill be avoiding pastels like the plague from now on.
I collect your bags by the way. I love them and feel so spot on when I carry one. Still trying to get my hands on a Getaway!
Best to you.
I love French style & the fact that French women don’t care about age – that sense of feeling ‘bien dans sa peau’ – we can all learn a lot from this.
Love French Style. Curious – Did you see any stylish French women with Gray hair or is it all about coloring one’s hair?
Thank you for this fabulous post.
Kiss Kiss,
Lynn
Yes, I would also love to know also what the French attitude is on gray hair! How do French women make gray hair sexy, or DO they dye keep dyeing it?
Thanks for the fun and informative site!
French women are the best-dressed on Earth!!! Their sense of style and attitude is unique. I believe that it’s difficult to copy them, because it’s not just their clothes, but their lifestyle and genes!!!
Do you know the brand of the heeled boots in the top photo? They may be the cutest things I’ve ever seen!
I love this post. With spring (and summer) on the horizon, I’d love to hear about what Parisian women wear in warmer weather.
Love the story, I have a bit of an obsession with French women style and ways of life. So chic.. good quality items.. neutral colours and not many pieces. Ideal!
Hi again — I would love to read most post like this one — Parisisan women style. I guess I am in good company on this one. Wainting — Kiss Kiss
Just came across this looking for some chic european boots, just like th ones pictured – model with the hat.
Any idea what brand those are or where to find some like it?
Hi! I just came across this looking for some chic european boots, just like th ones pictured – model with the hat.
Any idea what brand those are or where to find some like it?
So where can I find a peacoat? Any particular shops in Paris ?
Well I’m a French native man, I wanted to thank you for your appreciation of the way Parisian woman dress themselves, I’m sorry but I must add, cause it’s so visible, Parisian woman’s shoes are always at their exact feet size, never toes exceeds their shoes and especially their shoes behind never exceeds the length of their feet. To make it as short as possible because I think they are other things that could be said like during summer season they never wear winter shoes and the opposite as well, also their hands and feet nails are or without color varnish, only transparent or with a nail’s color that correspond to the color of their clothes day , or evening clothes. The only elegant and unique color that they may use, as well during day or night is the uniform red. Sorry for my English that is so bad.
I don’t want to offend California women where I leave but I think I never saw less well dressed women throughout my travels all around the world.
Please try to look more like a woman than some time, even hard to make a difference between a man or a woman.
Dedicate to my love of the woman.
Just found your blog and LOVE it! It really speaks to me – thank you,! Really love this post too, I like
how French women are NOT girly! From the pictures that I am seeing, and Emmanuelle Alt whos style I love (especially as she is my age) they have a very chic, laid back but very womanly thing going on. J’adore!
I return to this post of yours over and over. It’s my favourite. So few photos and little text really, but so evocative and inspiring all the same. Great work you two writers! I wish I could visit Paris! Maybe if I stopped buying so many clothes I could save and afford it. It’s a very long way from home (Australia)! Andre your response is sweet.
I love french style.
But Andre, you say you love “the woman”, but apparantly you think ladies who do not wear french style looks like men :S The body is what makes you a woman. The clothes are what makes you a stylish person (or slob.) Sex is not in the clothes.
Hello Miriam, I never said or even thought for a moment that women who are not French style look like men. I said that a woman who takes care of her physical appearance and the way she dress herself make her look like a woman, so I think that French women in general on their everyday are more concerned by their appearance and by their clothing than the women I meet every day in California.
The Italian style is very feminine too, but it’s not because you do not dress Italian style that you look like a man.
Also you do not need to wear particular brands of clothing or shoes to look like a woman.
I had the luck, happiness and the pleasure of meeting and knowing a few women everywhere around the world, and I assure you that nothing is more woman than the hand of a woman that give you the salt shaker at the restaurant, has slender fingers, nails even without color, just natural, just clean and filed, sometimes the hand is so beautiful we want to touch to better appreciate it.
Femininity of a woman is not only in her attire, but also in her way of being, talking and finally in the way she emphasize her femininity and differentiate herself from other women and must of all from the man.
Finally and most importantly I think, at least for me, the beauty of a woman begins from the tips of her toes to the top of her hair.
Thank you, Andre, for your thoughtful posts. I appreciate the time you have taken to compose them so clearly on this topic that us American women find so fascinating! I sometimes wonder if it is the blood of my French ancestors from 150 years ago that makes me love all things French? Or perhaps I just want to eat better, look better and live better…?
Thanks for the post. I’m leaving for Paris for the first time this week and am glad I found this, so I don’t look like a silly American tourist. Much appreciated! xo
I don’t care much about age either. I’m what you could deem “old” only a year and a half from 50 but I’m not all tweeded out, etc. I’m more a boho chic kind of gal. A French woman told me I was “sexy-cool” for my penchant of jeans, cowboy boots and leather.
Love! Merci….
I love this post. Recently moved to Fontainebleau, 40 minutes away from Paris and have to agree with you 100%. It’s funny because only this week I was trying to decide between black or brown ankle boots, my autumn must-have. Now i think I will have to get both
Great post! I just moved to Nice, France and I believe the style is a little more laid back here, compared to Paris. Some things I’ve noticed include the big presence of the hair clip, as well as the banana clip. The French women here effortlessly put their hair together…very little structure, but it works! Also, the make-up is very minimal, but, yes, womanly. I’ve also noticed that their hair color is very natural…for example, natural light brown roots with naturally sun-bleached ends. It will be interesting to see the fashion as the weather gets cooler.
I love french style.
Just found your blog and LOVE it! It really speaks to me – thank you,! Really love this post too, I like
Hiiii! I absolutely looooooove your blog!!! I am from Melbourne, Australia and am travelling to France for the first time next year!!!!!! I am happy to see that my style is already very French (I wear minimal makeup every day… Just mascara and take great care of my skin and hair). I am a true believer that less is more and hate seeing so many women cover their natural beauty with so many makeup products… Foundation in particular! Please please keep up your writing, you are fantastic! If you have any tips for me whilst travelling in France I would really appreciate it!!! xox P.S. Andre you are so sweet!
Thanks Giselle, I love women so appreciate them, as naturally as possible, especially that some time, make up instead of highlight the beauty of the woman, gives one side more vulgar, or makes seem like the artwork of a bad painter. I must say on more thing about French women, I never, never saw in France, or even in Italy or Spain one woman wearing shoes too large for their feet, like the women I meet here every day, with the toes, which exceed the front of the shoe, or the shoe which overflowed from 1 inch behind or sometimes even more no matter if it’s open or closed shoes. Don’t they try their shoes before buying them? Finally, there’s that damn boots fashion, fine, but at least not high fur boots in full summer. There is also very beautiful short leather or whatever boots for the summer. So please do not wear winter shoes in summer or flip flap in winter even when it rain.
Great post. French women are are absolutely stylish!
spoonsandstilettos.com
Love the post–leaving in a few weeks for an impromptu trip to Paris and South of France as the guest of a friend — ooh lala!! I usually pack soooo many things on a trip to wherever, but your Frenchwoman-described style is pretty close to my everyday look, I think I may be travelling lighter than ever before—just my black skinny jeans, peacoat, scarves, and assorted fitted layers! Thanks!
Thanks for the info that I can pass along to my teenage students, 15 girls who will be traveling to Paris with me for a week. They want to blend in and they are more likely to believe this article than me when I say “no” to white sneakers. I have seen American women in the Louvre wearing sweatsuits and sneakers and I feel embarrassed for them. French women do have a knack for looking good without looking “done”.
Perusing articles in your blog, and especially love this one – I wish more women aspired to the understated chic and elegance of french women. I live in Memphis TN, and very often feel like a fish out of water among the sorority sister/southern bell approach of more – more labels, more over-the-top accessories, more hair, more makeup – just MORE.
And its too damn much.
I most appreciate Andre’s point of view, and in particular agree about the lack of attention to correct shoe size and appropriateness of style for the season it is worn.
Uggs are NOT the same as a proper shoe. And flipflops are for the pool ONLY.
Karen
I am leaving to nice tomorrow and I am debating if boots, like in the picture, are still a good choice for the weather, 57-60 degrees? Or flats instead with ankle length pants/jeans?
Love the blog. Appreciate any help.
Am I right in thinking that French men also have alot to do with French womens style? Where are British and American men when it comes to commenting and even noticing what there women are wearing?
Well I think you’re very right, most of the British or American men don’t really care for their own look, so when it comes to their women I believe it’s the same, which is a shame, because women likes you notice the efforts they make to please us, men or sometimes, to other women.
This should not, however, prevent you from getting dressed well to please yourself first. Because when you feel beautiful, you are even more beautiful for us. Love you, women.
Andre, I love your comments! It is so wonderful to have a man’s point of view. I have always felt that less is more, and that attention to detail is what makes life beautiful.