French Style!

[Les_Sucettes]

^OMG! We do bath/shower everyday!! Well at least I do and everyone I know does! Can't believe such an awful and so wrong cliché is still around! They're crappy people everywhere.

Is there anything in this thread that is not a cliche? This got to be worse thread in FS.

 

[helena]

^OMG! We do bath/shower everyday!! Well at least I do and everyone I know does! Can't believe such an awful and so wrong cliché is still around! They're crappy people everywhere.

Oh come on now Aby...we all know that French people only wash once a year....thats why French people like perfume so much....non? I am scottish and all I ever wear is a kilt....with nothing underneath....we need to be honest here. And all our American members have a diet that consists exclusively of burgers and fries.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Finally the truth comes out

It's also well known that all Italians have a Cosa Nostra connection and say "Mamma mia" as part of each sentence. And all Texans closely resemble the TV show Dallas.

 

[lollicandy]

Aw, don't take it the wrong way! I thought that was more about not caring about looking overly perfect than a shot at hygiene. Trust me, I have been places where showering everyday is definitely not the norm and Parisians really are very hygienic (and smell nice!). Anyway, a little sexy bedhead never hurt anyone.

Mylene is also the spokeswoman for Dior makeup in Asia as well.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ It's the perfume

 

[Virginielle]

She does say, "taken a bath that day," and not "that week" or "that year", I suppose. That's a start. I agree, though, that's a pretty ridiculous generalization to be making, as matters of hygiene are often more an individual thing, as opposed to a cultural thing..?

I didn't notice any bad-smelling Parisians while I was over there, anyway. But the entire city does seem to have perfect skin.

 

[GasolineRainbow]

^ It's the perfume

Yup. Actually, that whole stereotype about the French not showering derives from centuries ago, when bathing often was considered unhealthy, even for the upper classes, who could afford such a luxury. This was not unique to France, I believe Britain and some other European regions were the same way. Perfume was a way of masking stench, and there is the story of Napolean sending a note to his lover stating,"I am on my way home. Stop bathing!"

If anything, that Glamour article is a good reminder not to rest on negative cultural stereotypes. I have heard it too about my own culture from others, that we're dirty, and it's incredibly untrue and insulting. Did you know that in ethnocentric thinking, the first assault on another culture is that they're dirty? It has to do with different principles about what constitutes cleanliness. By that token, everyone is dirty. Believe me, I've heard it all. French, Americans, Japanese, it doesn't matter.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Re Napoleon, it's quite true that many of us are now so clean that we've washed away almost all our own natural scent. This may well have something to do with the divorce rate ...

 

[Virginielle]

^And natural immune defenses...

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

I would have to agree with that.

 

[beauxgoris]

I saw todays entry was about French style so I thought I would post it here. Hopefully that's okay. It's a really cute artists blog I follow.

http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/

the tuesday May 5th entry.

 

[Dija]

Flare magazine (a Canadian fashion magazine) did a spread about French style, with an editorial featuring Sasha Pivovarova. They call this style 'la parisienne' and named Carine Roitfeld, Lou Doillon, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Vanessa Paradis as inspiration. It was a very interesting read and I will try to scan it for anyone that's interested.

 

[beauxgoris]

^^I would love to see a scan if you have the time. <3

 

[Virginielle]

Me too. Thanks, Dija.

 

[Dija]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my scanner- I've never scanned before, so I may just take pictures of the photos. :S

 

[StrawberrySpring]

Dija, can you take the photos of this article, if it's not a problem? I'd really love to read it


I've been to Paris for 4 weeks & I've seen so much stylish people all around me. So I think that what they say about all that french style is true Women there wear colors like pale pink, blue, cream, beige, purple, navy and of course white, black and many shades of grey. You know, nothing too flashy, and I haven't seen so much vibrant, neon colors.

I think most of styles in Paris are combination of glamour, sophisticated and effortless. I was living with a 73-year old Parisienne and she told me that the key is to wear fitted clothes and care about the details: always perfume, manicure, jewellery and perfect, but not too much make up. She also said that french women love pretty underwear - it makes them feel sexy and attractive.

When I was at Champs Elysees and I was seeing all that perfumed girls in expensive, stylish clothes, wearing red lipstick, with a shiny hair, walking in their high heels and carrying one of those stylish leather bags, I was thinking "Oh my God, this is so glamour and stylish, that I can't even describe it" So I think it's all about self-confidence, believing in your feminity and feeling good in your body (but clothes are very important too )

*edit* I also think that French women really love romantic, soft & sweet style. Think "girl in a well-fitted jacket, flowy, pale pink skirt and classic black pumps, sipping cappuccino or latte in one of these stylish cafés"

 

[Underage]

I love the French approach to fashion, beauty, diet, and lifestyle. Everything's more about quality, not quantity. Does anyone know the current fashion icons of France? Our style icons in the states dress so flashy. I know a lot of Italians also seem to dress very flashy, but I'm not as familiar with the French. I do really love Brigitte Bardot's style.

 

[GasolineRainbow]

There are plenty of contemporary French style icons to choose from, but I'm not aware of which ones are particularly revered in France.

We've touched on Italian style in this thread before, and I agree that they are quite flashy. But 'flashy' is usually used in negative terms, and I don't think it stands with respect to Italians. They favor quality over quantity as much as the French do, only their aesthetic preferences are less minimalist and natural. Italians have so much elegance, it's just not the particular elegance that's in vogue at the moment.

 

[Underage]

^ Ohh I didn't mean to dog Italians. I admire Italian style as well. Flashy can actually be fun sometimes. Being a young American woman, I'm drawn more to the minimalistic elegance of the French b/c that's so the opposite of what I'm used to seeing.

 

[GasolineRainbow]

^No worries, I'm not part of the National Italian Style Defense. I understand what you mean, about being drawn to it because of what you're used to seeing. My personal preference is for French style as well. But I still jump at every chance to remind people that Italians could easily give the French a run for their money in the style stakes.