How to Dress Like A French Woman: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

A lot has been written about how to dress like a French woman. Last month I spent four days in Paris and made my own list of ideas.

Even my husband, not usually tuned in to fashion, noticed “a lack of colorful clothes” on our trip.  He didn’t know it, but he was honing in on the classic strategy of dressing in neutrals. 

And that’s the whole point, really. There’s nothing magic about looking like a French woman. Most of us want to look like ourselves in ways that make us happy and at ease in our surroundings. 

The French seem to have mastered some classic rules for doing this.  Day after day, they appear looking effortlessly appropriate and stylishly ready for anything.  That’s why we copy how they dress.

And so my Dos and Don’t’s are really ideas for dressing well, inspired by the French.   The Do’s are what I saw.  The Don’t’s are what I did not see in Paris—these are clothes I see a lot in the U.S. (including my own closet), and on travels to the UK.

Did I miss anything?  

DO :

• Try this uniform: skinny jeans + boots + a great jacket – seen on women from 16 to 60
• Anchor your outfit with a neutral color
• Go for excellent fabrics
• Go for the best quality construction possible
• Wear clothes that fit – that suggest the shape underneath
• Aim for grown-up femininity
• Have well-made shoes (ballet flats, boots, and pumps)
• Make friends with scarves
• Favor solid colors
• Keep your hair natural
• When in doubt, go for the understated look

DON’T

• Wear pastels
• Buy cheap, “fast fashion” a la Target, Walmart, and Old Navy
• Choose fabrics that wear out, pill, fade, or fall apart in one season
• Dress in an overtly sexy way
• Wear capri pants and a tee shirt as a summer uniform
• Wear sneakers or workout clothes except for working out
• Hide your shape under shapeless, baggy clothes
• Wear head-to-toe colors
• Wear head-to-toe prints
• Overdo your hair or makeup
• Give up on fashion after a certain age

For me, the really compelling idea is that French women give off an air of “I’m happy with myself.” I think it shows self-respect to buy a few clothes that are well-made, expensive, and beautiful – to take clothes seriously, but with restraint.

The French way of dressing reflects this.

The French seem to value food the same way – quality over quantity. And this, too, shows in what we think of as the French fashion “look.”

Let’s face it—clothes look different on thin people than not-so-thin. And even though obesity is on the rise in France, French women as a whole are still thinner than Americans and British.

As an American woman with a few extra pounds, I know first-hand the complex and usually painful issues most of us have with body image and weight.  They’re closely tied in with how we dress.   

But I take encouragement from what I saw in France. Can we American women use the French example to treat ourselves with as much respect as possible concerning clothing, food, and body-image?

That seems like a great basic rule for dressing well.

Cheers, Sally 

photos used with permission, from www.thesartorialist.com

Lizzie Miller: “This body is her dulcimer.”

By now you’ve likely seen this photo. 

It’s the model Lizzie Miller, published in the September issue of Glamour Magazine.  According to press sources, it’s causing a “stir” because of one thing:  Lizzie’s tummy.  

I saw this first on The Sartorialist, where 500+ readers commented. Up to now, I’ve never seen more than about 175 comments, tops, on any Sart post.  

Several thoughts came to my mind after reading the press.     

Number one.  Twenty-year-old Lizzie works as a “plus-size” model.  At five-foot-eleven (1.80m), she wears a size US 12 or 14 (British 16 or 18, or European 46 or 48).  

Lizzie states that

“It’s sad. In the industry anything over size six is considered a plus-size. Pretty much every picture in a magazine or ad is airbrushed... I don’t think the public understands how much smoke and mirrors are involved in making women look like that…I’m not trying to promote obesity, and I’m not obese, but I’m also not stick thin.”

So why are women her size called “plus-sized?” 

Number two.  Public comments about Lizzie’s photo have been overwhelmingly positive—people shouting, “Finally, someone who looks like a real woman in major fashion magazine.”

But other folks complain that such imagery encourages obesity.     

So on the one hand we have photos everywhere of women who appear anorexic.  Now we have Lizzie, who appears real but is labelled, basically, a fatty. 

I acknowledge that Americans, including myself, are wont to overindulge, and our average weight has crept up dangerously in the past thirty or forty years. 

Still, is there gray area in the media between “thin” and “obese?” 

Number three.  For the title of this post, I paraphrased an ancient poem by Kabir, a 15th-century Indian poet.  The original reads:

“Listen, friend.  This body is his dulcimer.  He draws the strings tight, and out of it comes the music of the inner universe.”   

Can a body’s strings be drawn tight, even if one’s tummy is not? 

Look at Lizzie’s smile.  Do you detect her inner universe?   

sallymandy