French Style!

[tiffany]

Im going to france this summer with my boyfriend soon to be fiance so what should i wear? hes french his family lives there! what shoul i wear when i get there so i can fit in? show me some pics thanks

you might want to check out the Paris street style thread, it has some lovely examples of what people are wearing in Paris and France in general

 

[thepeppers]

I am going to a posh wedding of some parisians in Biarritz this October, would I be able to wear this Dolce and Gabanna dress? Many of the french ladies will be very fashionable and well off, so I want to make sure I dress appropriately.

Oui or non?

(photo credited to : neimanmarcus.com)

 

[LeonieAlexandria]

hm.. a bit colourful for me personally. I'd rather wear a white,dark blue summer dress.. But that's just me.

 

[LeonieAlexandria]

I just read it's in october. Its still quite warm there. But I'd suggest something a bit more well.. elegant. And maybe a dark blue blazer or white pullover wrapped around your shoulders.

 

[thepeppers]

I just read it's in october. Its still quite warm there. But I'd suggest something a bit more well.. elegant. And maybe a dark blue blazer or white pullover wrapped around your shoulders.

Thanks for the advice!!! I will definitely look for a pullover or blazer.

 

[newprincesita]

There´s an article on french style in the latest Bazaar, by Rita Wilson. Can anybody post it? Thanks a lotsa

 

[Whitelinen]

I'd like to read that too! I hope it's different than the usual articles written about French style---they are all the same.

 

[Steam]

I thought I'd share this article (albeit quite an old one) about French men's style .

(from International Herald Tribune


That Indefinable Air Of French Male Chic

By Rebecca Voight International Herald Tribune
Saturday, January 24, 1998


Haughty and notoriously self-critical, Frenchmen have a love-hate relationship with clothes and they are proud of it. While the English celebrate eccentricity, Italians radiate proud sensuality, and Americans are a clean-cut team, the French manage to be both in and beyond fashion.
.
Jean Paul Gaultier may put men in skirts, but he's never without his classic blue and white stripe French sailor's sweater. And the chain-smoking characters dressed down in minimalist dark suits and skinny gray sweaters at a Paris gallery opening today wouldn't look out of place in one of Francois Truffaut's New Wave classics.
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"I come from a country where nobody dresses up, not even to go to the theater, so France impresses me," said Matthias Vriens, editor in chief of Dutch, the European fashion magazine that is edited in Paris. "A young French boy in a bourgeois navy blue coat and boring flannel trousers can be more intriguing than someone in a pair of screaming orange pants by W&LT."
.
Fred Sanchez and Fred Bladou, the "sound illustrators" for fashion shows from Jil Sander to Calvin Klein, describe themselves as "hyperclassic." Their choice is a Gallic razor's edge edit: suits by Helmut Lang and Prada, Brooks Brothers shirts, and "Chelsea" boots from the French shoemaker Weston. This is topped with odd finds like a sky-blue scarf that Bladou recently unearthed at Old England, Paris's out-of-time purveyor of style from across the Channel.
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The Paris press attaché Guillaume Chaillet wears clothes to suit his urban life on a bicycle, but he doesn't look like a New York City messenger. In khaki chinos from APC and a Saint James turtleneck, he admits he likes being chic. "I might wear a suit, but without a tie," he adds. "The French love fashion, but they're snobby enough to know how to protect themselves from it."
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Seraphin Dupellier, a journalist and director on "Paris Modes," a weekly fashion television program, thinks French designers have lost touch with Frenchmen. "The Italians and the Americans have a strong sense of marketing. They always design with a customer in mind. In France, we have such a high opinion of creativity, the idea of who will wear the clothes often gets lost."
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Reviving France's men's fashion identity is a focus for Hedi Slimane, designer at Yves Saint Laurent. "It's in the shoulders," says Slimane of the classic tailoring in the new collection inspired by the period around 1969 when Saint Laurent designed the menswear himself. "I'm trying to get back to a Saint-Germain-des-Pres attitude like a YSL duffle coat over a sweater."
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The designer Christophe Lemaire is into the same period. He likes the rumpled chic of crooners like Serge Gainsbourg or Jacques Dutronc. "France hasn't had a clear style for the past 20 years," he laments. "Men on the street here look like traveling salesmen."
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When he wants something new, Edouard Lehmann, the French photo editor who works with Mario Testino, visits the Parisian tailor Francesco Rovito, whose style hasn't budged since he made suits for Salvador Dali.
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The "old is better" point of view rules in French cinema, too. The costumer Olivier Beriot, who worked on Robert Altman's "Pret-a-Porter," might mix Agnes B. and secondhand clothes from Paris's Guerrisold for a film set in modern France.
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In real life, the actor and documentary director Nils Tavernier goes for "nonstop jackets — the kind you can wear with anything." Tavernier says he is sensitive to clothes, but admits his own wardrobe is a limited mix of sneakers, biker jackets and pieces from old films.
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"I used to get dressed at the flea market for 20 francs," says the comic actor Elie Semoun. "I've been a mix of zazou, ska and punk, but I've never been out of a suit."
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The interior designer Jean-Louis Riccardi, currently renovating Paris's Crillon, says the French can be the worst-dressed men in the world. "Change is not a way of life for the French, that's their weakness, but also their strength," he says. It's a tradition he feels at home with. "I like strict clothes," he adds, "My ideal is the priesthood."
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The architect Christian Biecher agrees. "French style at its best is the art of turning your back on fashion."
.
REBECCA VOIGHT is a freelance journalist based in Paris.


Here's the link to the article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/1998/01/24/sfran.t.php

 

[Diorling]

I just read it's in october. Its still quite warm there. But I'd suggest something a bit more well.. elegant. And maybe a dark blue blazer or white pullover wrapped around your shoulders.

Ooo. A nice Navy cocktail length strapless dress with a full skirt, pumps and to top it off with a white cardigan tossed around your shoulders held together with a stunning brooch.

Well, I expected my cousin...Well, my Mom's sisters husbands sisters daughter...she was from France (Nice to be specific) I was expecting stunning RTW when she came she was wearing Abercrombie and when we went to the mall she got all excited over Abercrombie, here I was expecting a 17 year old French girl in vintage Balenciaga, she was wearing Birkenstocks too.

Her grandmother on the other hand, she was wearing the most beautiful Bulgari scarab earrings, they were huge, but on her right wrist a 10.99 watch she bought at the airport, still effortlessly chic. Amazing wardrobe...I asked her if I could be put in her will to inherit her clothes, and bags...and jewelry.

 

[starface]

hello all!
Ive loved french fashion for ages and have been hooked on it ever since i went to france!!!

anyway theres a new book called " Two lipsticks and a lover" by Helena Frith Powell and its all about the "French women", the way the dress, the type of clothes they wear and how they stay thin. its a good read and its way better than some of the french women type books

 

[hermes_lemming]

^ thanks for the tip!

 

[PinkAddiction]

I am going to a posh wedding of some parisians in Biarritz this October, would I be able to wear this Dolce and Gabanna dress? Many of the french ladies will be very fashionable and well off, so I want to make sure I dress appropriately.

hii!!!! i like this dress and i think that with the correct accesories you will look great and even more dressed!
when is this wedding ? month so i can imagine the season

 

[PrettyBlueEyes]

I agree, french style is really chic!

 

[pasu1]

French style has more class than the American style.
American style is vulgar with too much skin showing off.
I have also realized that American women in order to show off their skin wear low-waist tight pants. They don't realize that lower the pants, more chances of belly fats hanging out. As a result it looks such a turn off.

 

[GabiChic]

French style has more class than the American style.
American style is vulgar with too much skin showing off.
I have also realized that American women in order to show off their skin wear low-waist tight pants. They don't realize that lower the pants, more chances of belly fats hanging out. As a result it looks such a turn off.

Very TRUE, pasu1. Saggy belly make me .

 

[Fox in the Snow]

Very TRUE, pasu1. Saggy belly make me .

Same problem in England, love handles all over the place

 

[J'aime_la_mode]

^very true. Also thanks for the article Steam, its great to hear more of the male side of french dressing.

 

[alwaysacitygirl]

This thread was amazing lol.. I just read through the whole thing & though I've never been there, my impression has always been that the French dress with simplicity and elegance. Like most people have said.. I don't think the French are really huge on the whole following every single trend like it is in the US, yet they always manage to look great.

 

[Steam]

You're welcome, j'aime la mode.

 

[ballroombeliever]

I love parisian style
I really cant wait to go there! (and hopefully gain loads of inspiration)
Does anyone have any more pics?