Like any big city, Paris is full of variety. Variety in architecture, variety in people, nationalities, and of course STYLE! You can all imagine that fashion is a huge deal here, almost on a par with romance, and not only because I am working within that world.
Every day I see so many people whose looks I want to steal, and some of course that slightly hurt my eyes for sheer overload of trends! I personally always feel its better to just have one statement item per outfit. When I was writing for Fashion & Beauty last year I wrote an article about Exeter stereotypes, but I will say that there’s probably more of a variety here than in Exeter (no offence meant by that comment!).
So first there are the incredibly chic, incredibly stylish women that are of all ages. My boss for example falls into this category. Tailored suits, crisp shirts and coats that very few people can pull off, and of course, incredible shoes! This is an ideal work style for those working in the business side of the fashion industry – you can show you know what you’re talking about whilst also making sure people take you seriously.
Then you have the hipsters, though I’m not sure what the French equivalent would be. To be honest this is such a common style that I would start to just call it Parisian rather than hipster. It’s a style that is kooky, effortlessly cool and honestly just really fun. Over here, again no offence intended, the “hipster” style seems to be effortless, less try-hard and honestly covers a wider range of people.
One thing I have to mention about Parisian style is the love of LEATHER (well often faux-leather)! Leather trousers, leather leggings, leather skirts (I must admit I have one), leather jackets, and leather detailing. Another of my colleagues definitely falls under this category – she is a huge leather fan. Personally, I’ve never been “cool” enough to pull off this look and found that it was often a bit much but I definitely think it’s growing on me. Adding one (and I mean one) leather item to your outfit manages to ooze cool and look really quite sexy. I must make it clear that the outfit below is a clear example of too much leather in my opinion!
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This is turning out to be a harder entry to write than I thought, because there is just so much you could include, and then you also do not want to go over board with endless lists of the chicness of the Parisians. However, my colleague just mentioned another oh-so-French style that I cannot possibly leave out – incredible GLASSES, of both the sun and regular variety. Ok, so the photo I chose is not of a French brand, (they’re Tom Ford), but have glasses ever seemed so sexy?! This is what I am faced with every single day – the true embodiment of geek-chic.
So when you arrive in a city this stylish, how do you go about fitting in?! Well luckily you don’t have to! As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, the variety is incredible so you can wear whatever makes you comfortable. Granted being here has made me want to buy so many new things… but who can blame me when some of the most stylish people in this world are walking through our office doors every single day. Fashion designers can wear the weirdest clothes and still manage to get a flash of clothes envy out of you! I won’t however, be bold enough to wear something like this any time soon…
Photo credits: www.net-a-porter.com, www.vogue.fr, www.eye-wear-glasses.com, data2.whicdn.com