The French Girl’s Approach To Fashion
Fashion shows and magazines are dominating every line of our sight with new collections of stunning designs, patterns and anything you can imagine in the form of wear has been making its way on the runway and in the glossy print. Everything seems most spectacular.
french vogue editor-in-chief emmanuelle alt always looking chic. (Credits: theuniuni.com)
But to be honest, while I adore these new collections, I think it’s a bit ridiculous to buy something that I’ll only fancy for a season or two. My poor student pockets can hardly pocket transportation and food. Drifting a bit, the focal point for beauty to me is the perfect base, in essence, the skin: fresh, healthy skin. I’m generally a lazy person and it gets so hard in the morning to complete a proper skincare routine let alone putting on make-up.
And, I’m really not into conformity or the rainbow parade.
Skipping all the fancy wording, I’ll get straight to the points we are going to talk about today. It’s just you, me and the French girl’s approach to her wardrobe. It’s not about being the most stylish or the most fashionable, it’s about beautiful clothes that fit and enhance the wearer of the garments. More and more people not only in but beyond the fashion industry as well are adopting this approach. You know the usual ‘why‘ drill: classic, spendthrift, smart, and so on. But it’s not just about clean cut clothes or flexible colours, it’s about the girl who knows what fits best on her and what her style is. Don’t worry, it’s not as tough as it sounds.
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1) Invest in your basics
When we say basics, we are talking about clothes that will bring you from the working hours of the morning to the late, late party hours of the night: basically, clothes that are the essence of your wardrobe.
basic, necessary and good-looking. a killer combination. (Credits: basic.polyvore)
Admittedly, it changes from woman to woman, man to man. Look at what you always fall back to wearing most often e.g. t-shirts, jeans, etc. Those are your basics.
2) Time shouldn’t tick
Clothes should last a lifetime or at least a decade in my opinion. To do, you need to remember two key things: to buy for your size, not for ‘when you slim down’ and paying a bit more now will benefit you in the long run.
Cashmere, silk and leather aren’t simply more expensive that most fabrics for the sake of being more expensive. They are good quality fabrics that hold the structure and tougher against the wear and tear and basically, last longer. Even at first sight, they fit better.
So you can feel free wear them as often as you’d like and be free of worry that they’ll wear out too fast.
3) Colour
Black, white, navy, burgundy and beige.
Nearly every French girl has this combination or a variation of this basic colour scheme in their wardrobe. These are the base colours that will work regardless of skin colour. How they do work is a matter of sense of proportion: if there’s too much of a certain colour or a certain colour just does not work for that body part.
4) Willingness to experiment
In modern time, this shouldn’t be very difficult with so many style avenues for people today but on a personal level, I still feel that there are people who have yet to feel the comfortability to step beyond the comfort zone of the peers.
It’s okay to adopt a uniform if you’d like or wear the same outfit numerous times. (I’m a repeat offender of this and proud of it!) Just because it hasn’t made it out to the streets or the shelves, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t it a go. There is no need to feel confined to the wear of the season.
5) Attitude is key
Dress not to impress.
audrey tatou’s coy grin just makes everything look a thousand times better. (Credits: peartreestone)
Even with clothes that look great on you, it’s not going to go well if you don’t feel good about yourself wearing them. These pretty clothes aren’t just there to look pretty on you, they’re meant to make you feel pretty and good-looking so that you’ll find the confidence you need to go about your life and strut your stuff proudly.
And finally,
6) Pass on what you’ve learnt
Because the best kept secrets are the ones passed on: kept and adhered to for generations. They are then shared and kept in existence.
sizeless beauty. (Credits: theage)
It isn’t about how much clothes you have or what body shape you are, it’s about what you make out of yourself with what you have.
Cosmopolitan, August 1982. (Credit: dollpartsdesign)
“Elegance is different than chic; elegance has to do with money, with leisure time, with upbringing, and education. The chic woman looks natural, not dressed up. Chic is not a matter of money. Chic means that, from head to toe, there is a sense of proportion“
- a Parisian quoted in an article by Ellen Wallace in Cosmopolitan in August 1982.
