One of the reasons French women’s style is so aspirational is because it’s unwavering, which is refreshing considering the landscape of fashion and its fast-paced nature. For millennia, French women have demonstrated fail-safe and effortless combinations that have inspired the way people dress worldwide. There’s no effect like it. Whether it’s the timelessness of Breton, androgynous blazers or ballet flats, if French women wear and sartorialists pay close attention.
Since my early teens, I’ve been an observer of French style from afar but it’s only since moving to Paris, immersing myself in the French culture and living amongst locals that I’ve picked up on a few key points. Although there’s a foundation to French style (namely easy wearing and chic styles), French women also adapt, interchange and dabble with trends more than I had anticipated. I’ve chalked some pieces to fun fashion stereotypes that are seldom worn here (the Beret, for example), whilst also deducing that some of the latest trends (lingerie slip dresses and pops of red) are being celebrated across the city.
Take the scarf coat. I’ve seen French women wear Toteme’s exact iteration on many occasions, or, the generously sized tote bag. Although the diddy-enough-to-tuck-underneath-your-arm baguette bag was popularised by Parisians, its antithesis is making waves here, and it’s certainly big enough to house a baguette, or three. Since moving to Paris I’ve been privileged to live amongst the women whose style I admire the most and I’ve delicately measured the longstanding trends with their newer variants, to ascertain their appeal. As with French style, nothing has an expiration but some contemporary styles have the same longevity as the styles loved for decades. Keep on reading to discover these pieces.