Amayzine

SO YOU'RE JUST A REAL PARISIAN

We strongly suspect that there is a special combination of genes in the DNA of French girls that makes them, no matter what they do, always prettier, slimmer, and more stylish than us Dutch women. With two days in Paris under our belt we are full of impressions, inspiration, and the realization that we simply don't have those genes butrrrr fake it till you make it and with a little goodwill and doing your best, you can get quite far.

Let's start by saying that you need to choose what kind of Parisienne you want to be. Do you want to be the woman who sits at L’Avenue, drinks champagne, shops on Rue Saint-Honoré, and is always driven around by a private driver? Then the following points are for you:

  • Wear French brands. The French in general are quite chauvinistic and anything made within their own borders is preferred. Céline, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Givenchy, and Isabel Marant are doing well. For the slightly more affordable option, you can turn to Maje, Sandro, Vanessa Bruno, and Zadig & Voltaire.
  • Wear Black. Anna Wintour says that she will never be seen in a “head to toe black” outfit the French couldn't care less and choose black en masse.
  • Quality over quantity. You really won't see any stretched-out high street sweaters. Everything is made of incredibly luxurious materials and are pieces that can last for years. Timeless, classic, always good.
  • Buy a designer bag. Jet yelled about every 100 meters, “the designer bags are flying at you!” And that was true. Chanel, Saint Laurent, Céline, without it, you really don't fit in. Once settled on a terrace, you naturally don't put it on the ground but on the special bag stool next to you (a bit of a place has that) or, in the case of a small bag, you park it on your chair between your back and the backrest of the chair.
  • Start smoking. In New York, I was almost kicked out of the country for lighting a cigarette, in Paris it's quite the opposite. Everyone smokes, especially the fashion girls.
  • Throw away all your makeup. French girls don't wear makeup. Or at least, they wear invisible makeup. A tiny bit and actually that's already too much. French girls are already pretty enough thanks to their perfect gene mix au naturel.
  • Have perfect hair. You can go two ways. Either it's perfectly blow-dried, not too big and hairspray-like, but very well-groomed and beautiful and flowing and shiny. The other option is to not wash it for 4 months, not brush it, not take care of it, nothing. You then wear an outfit that consists only of the aforementioned Expensive French Brands, perfectly manicured hands, invisible makeup, and then that hair. French that you are then, c'est pas normale.

But if you don't feel like this money-wasting and prefer something a bit more artistic, you can also be a Parisienne, no worries. Take the metro to the Marais and swap L’Avenue for the terrace of Café Charlot. On this side of the city, the streets are flooded with hip figures dressed in large fabrics, theatrical drapes and ugly-but-hip shoes.

  • Wear Rick Owens or Asian brands. Not familiar with the look of Rick Owens? Google it for a moment and then you'll know exactly what I mean. Because we saw that look everywhere. Big pants with a crotch that hangs at ankle height, huge shoes with triple thick soles, a lot of black black black and a lot of big big big. For every type that walked by, we said, “well, it could be a homeless person or a Famous Designer.” Rick Owens can also be swapped for Y3, Issey Miyake, or Yohji Yamamoto, as long as it's Asian and hysterical.
  • Buy a designer bag. Because that's also a must here. But not the polished versions of the L’Avenue girls, here we wear Balenciaga, Dries van Noten, Marni, and Alexander McQueen.
  • Buy sneakers. Heels are out of the question. You wear white sneakers (preferably Adidas Stan Smith of course), but Jeremy Scott x Adidas is also fine just like Raf Simons x Adidas. As long as it's flat and a bit weird, you're good.
  • Close off your shower. People here don't necessarily look very well-groomed, as mentioned. A shower is therefore a waste of space in your cramped Parisian apartment, so close it off and turn it into an extra wardrobe to store all that oversized clothing.
  • Do something with a headpiece. Very important. A crazy quirky hat completes everything.