How to become a Parisienne: 5 things you need to unlearn immediately
We may find the Parisiennes a bit snobbish and sometimes a tad unfriendly, but ultimately we all want to be like them. Their style is elusive and there is no ready-made recipe for the French look, which makes it all the more desirable. To approach a style, it is also important to know what you should especially not do. That’s why I start this article with the 5 things a Parisienne would never do.
5 things a Parisienne would never do:
Show off logos
It's not that Parisiennes don't wear designer clothes; nothing human is alien to them, and they too enjoy Chanel, Hermès, or Celine, but a visible logo is a huge faux pas in Paris. Even the monogram of Louis Vuitton, a French classic, is on the edge for the French. They prefer to wear Goyard, which is a bit more understated. You can certainly see from a detail that you are dealing with a designer brand where craftsmanship reigns, but it doesn't have to be written in chocolate letters. A horror!
Overdone hair
Parisiennes do spend time, money, and energy on their hair, but you shouldn't be able to see that. Here, there are no groomed hairstyles or ingenious updos, but rather messy, I-just-rolled-out-of-bed hair that was probably just touched up a bit by her sister the night before in the living room.
Too much makeup
The Kardashians are almost diametrically opposed to the beauty ideal of the Parisiennes. Of course, they take care of their skin (here you can read what they prefer to use from the French pharmacy), but their touch-ups always serve the natural look. An eyebrow pencil, an eyelash curler, a few swipes of mascara, and maybe a good lipstick et c’est tout.
Extremely high heels
Ultimately, clothing serves your personality and emancipation also expresses itself in clothing style. That’s why the French woman wants to be able to go somewhere and quickly a little bit. A high heel makes her vulnerable and is totally inefficient when you have to make your way to your office via the metro system. The recipe of the American woman (sneakers for the journey and heels in your bag for the office) goes too far for the French woman. Just ballet flats or loafers and at most a kitten heel.
Sexy and form-fitting clothing
Close your eyes and picture Mrs. Bezos for a moment. A tight pencil skirt around the toned thighs and pronounced buttocks, a fitted blazer, and extreme Jimmy Choos or Louboutins on her feet. That? Definitely not. French women also want to be found attractive and lovable, but subtlety reigns. So that little button that you would probably keep closed on your blouse, can be left open, and your bra can definitely shine through your top. But that’s where it ends.
A matching set (brrr)
If there is one rule in both the appearance and the interior of the Parisienne, it is that it should not be too contrived. Something should arise, just as life moves. So a whole outfit of something, a contrived outfit like Emily in Paris, is just as bad for a Parisienne as asking for ketchup with your Boeuf Bourguignon.
So, now you are warned against mistakes, but what should you wear and how do you style it all? Because that also requires precision there in Paris.
How to dress like a Parisienne
Calm colors
Opt for calm color palettes such as browns, beiges, black, and blue. An occasional red accent is nice, but that’s about it.
Invest in the classics
A navy top (blue and white striped), ballerinas and loafers, a trench coat (of course), an oversized blazer (preferably one from a French brand that used to belong to your grandmother or something) and a logo-free bag. It can certainly be a Hermès, but it can also be a more affordable variant from Soeur or Jerome Dreyfuss. Do you still find that too much? Then a linen bag is also parfait.
Roll up and button down
If there’s one thing all French women do, it’s roll up their sleeves. Not in a figurative sense, but literally. Blazers, sweaters, shirts, they are all pushed up. And as I mentioned earlier, French women will always leave that one button of their blouse just a little bit undone. To the point of being uncomfortable, I might add. I have often been on the verge of pointing this out to someone, but that was really the intention.
Invest in a navy jacket
That is, just like the trench and the marinière, a keeper.
And, it’s a huge open door, but a Française will always prefer to wear a French label rather than an Italian or American one around her body.
C’est tout!
