So, what is the obsession with Parisian fashion and the French girl aesthetic? There has always been global interest in French fashion and it all peaks around the Paris Fashion Week each year. With more and more global accessibility of French luxury brands beyond Europe and North America, there is also an innate interest in French as a language to get the pronunciations correct for these larger than life brands and to add a tres sophistique touch to our social media lexicon.
To sum it up for all you TL:DR enthusiasts, French style is chic, timeless and gives a rich girl vibe without being too in your face. Americans have played their part in making the French girl aesthetic mainstream. In my opinion, Americans have always been inspired by the French lifestyle when juxtaposed to the severity of their British origins and past rulers.
During my visit to Paris, I did pick up a book from the famous Shakespeare & Co. called The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard by Ollivier Pourriol. What I thought would be a book on the French way of life ended up becoming a self help book with iconic French personalities in the limelight and their methods of success under scrutiny. However, the key to anything French is making it look effortless (even if in reality you have spent hours and days perfecting it.)
I am no fashion expert, just your desi girl next door documenting my observations on what makes the French girl tick from the streets of Paris to your style boards on Pinterest, have been captured in three guiding principles which can be applied to wardrobes across countries, cultures and climates.
Table of contents
First guiding principle of French Fashion: Effortless and timeless
The dishevelled Parisian girl blow dry is the biggest dichotomy of French style as the woman may have taken a couple of hours to first tame the frizz, add that bounce to her mane and then ensure in an effortlessly dishevelled yet flattering way best suited to their face cut. Parisian women surely put in a lot of effort in their day to day styling. The key is to only make it look like they #WokeUpLikeThis.
Parisians buy outfits made of fabrics that do well even without ironing them. They also do not wash their clothes too often which keeps the lustre of the fabric intact. This definitely saves them a lot of time on managing their laundry and they can channelise these hours to blow dry their hair and their nails.
The outfit is never the highlight of a daily Parisian look (unless you’re going to a party). The clothes are always understated with embellishments like gold toned custom jewellery, light makeup, well styled hair and maybe throw in a pair of boots. Parisian women invest in a lot of neutrals and of course stripes. Owing to the colder and windier weather, they often layer up and pairing neutrals together gets easier. These also never go out of style and are indeed pocket friendly defying the whole rich girl aura around the stereotypical French girl.
I also saw denim jackets a lot in the Paris metro which is another classic making its way back to racks. Parisian style is the perfect recipe for a capsule wardrobe as every piece of garment you own by itself it Ringarde (in the words of Pierre Cadault from Emily in Paris) but when styled well with each other and some more adornments, it does make heads turn.
Second guiding principle of French Fashion: Less is more
Parisian women do not overdo anything. Their make-up is almost au naturale, like your no make-up make-up look with just a lip tint or a gloss being noticeable. It was only towards evenings that I did spot women wearing coloured eyeliners as they may be catching up with friends for dinner or drinks.
They may stack up their jewellery like layered necklaces or a stack of rings or tennis bracelets - yet they mostly do it by putting together pieces that are really dainty by themselves and enhance the look of that blue and white striped dress without being too jarring.
Since I was in Paris in the summer months, I did see women sporting colourful dresses. However, they made a statement through their dress and only styled it with sunglasses or a hat and went easy on the jewellery.
If they go for a belt with a tucked in shirt or a waist belt on a dress, the colour of the belt, their bag and their footwear fall in the same family. I did spot a punch of whites and tans here as they have been around for sometime. Parisian women are still into a form of heels I must say, and have not fallen for the crocs, sneakers and Birkenstocks of the world yet.
Third guiding principle of French Fashion: Practical and comfortable
Another striking feature of Parisian outfits is comfort. I did see baggy jeans being paired with a tucked in shirt. At no point did I come across extremely skimpy or body hugging outfits that accentuate the curves. Parisians walk a lot and they do travel around by the metro and they like to be kinder to themselves and keep their fashion chic yet practical.
In the name of comfort, I did spot women (and even men) carrying a lot of totes around in the metro. Some totes would sport their interests or some may just have some striking French quotes. These were also easier to manage in the Paris metro where you have to constantly lookout for your belongings and can always toss it towards your front so that you can guard it.
Weather and infrastructure play an important role
An important consideration while we assess Parisian fashion from tropical India is that while denim jackets and pant suits with blazers make for high impact looks, they may not be the most practical choice for us Indians who live in a hot and humid weather for most part of the year. We can be inspired by all the layering if we experience a few months of the winter like in Delhi or any part of North India.
But the plethora of boots that most Parisian women choose to invest in can potentially be a red flag for Indian women as I cannot imagine treading the eternally dug up roads of Mumbai wearing boots and not end up with shoe bites.
Lets face it, hair also plays a vital role in giving finishing touches to a look. The hair indeed stays tamed in the temperate climatic conditions of Paris. If you have styled your hair on a particular day and you have managed to save it from the shower and the rains, it can potentially stay set for the next four days. However, in India the frizz is back within minutes of stepping out of home unless you have emptied bottles of setting sprays and shine sprays. Probably the curly girl and wavy girl hair methods may prove to be more effective if you have that hair type and also end up damaging your hair less through heat in India.
Fashion as a form of expression in Paris (sans the judgement)
Overall, I think Parisian fashion is all about highlighting what you love about yourself and expressing your personality rather than aping someone else's. I could see men wearing makeup on the streets and dressing up the way they liked without people giving them odd looks.
I did live my Emily in Paris dream by wearing a beret and walking the streets of Montmartre and felt like I blended in. However, back in India, I think one must always toe the line between being dressed right and overdressed. Oversized sunglasses, shorter clothes, a lot of make-up or even wearing hats or any form of fancy headgear will invite looks while you walk on the streets that may make you feel like an alien in your own country.
Even when you walk into a party or event, Indian care a lot about if they are underdressed or overdressed as compared to the crowd in that party. But in Paris, if you are underdressed you may still not shy away from appreciating someone whose style you would appreciate and if you are overdressed, you’d wear it like a badge of honour and gracefully accept the compliments that may come your way.
Last word: Is Parisian fashion a practical source of inspiration for a desi wardrobe?
Inspired by the neutrals that all Parisians swear by, Indian women could use lighter and more breathable fabrics during the summer and monsoon months. The cotton and linen dresses, shirts and the co-ord sets are stylish, fresh yet very feasible considering our weather for the larger part of the year. If we’d want to go for a more Indo-western look, we can switch up the blazers and trench coats with linen blazers and cotton shrugs to achieve that layered look yet not be sweating like a pig from within.
Most of us also have a good mix of Indian and Western attire in our wardrobes and I think it would be absurd to switch up all of that with only t-shirts, shirts and jeans. We can use contrasts to style our Indian outfits. If the outfit itself is bright or has a statement embroidery then we go very easy on the jewellery and maybe even avoid a neck piece. (Our moms may not agree with this, but if we are seeking inspiration from Paris then this is the way to go.) However, if it is a neutral hued kurta, then we can go all out on heavier and more colourful jewellery including a neck piece. It is indeed best to choose between a pair of statement earrings or a neck piece and not both unless you're an Indian bride.
Overall, Parisian fashion is based less on trends and more on classics. So we should create our own wardrobe staples inspired by some of their styling principles and yet create something unique and true to our own self.
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