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How to Look Like a French Woman

Some tips to have in a closet

By Mariam PagavaPublished 4 years ago 10 min read
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With the most famous brand of effortless chic - embracing the chic - who better to take the inspiration from our outfit styling than the French Woman? With the year of 2020 in view, It is the time to navigate and rethink the pieces we already own. In this case, we need to be more careful to not overdo everything.

Our formula should contain some Je ne sais quoi, meaning that everything we do and wears needs to be such as an appealing quality, that it cannot be adequately described or expressed.

We all have thought once in a while about dream lives in Paris or Provence. Because, yes, it looks so appealing to eat croissants in the morning and drink wine before noon. The little French rule is that something should always be a little messed up. A woman who is not perfectly put together is the one who seems to have a deep personality like there is more information about her that one needs to know.

We believe that anyone can master the French Woman style because that is easier to do than you think. French women mostly go with the “Less is more” mindset and they just invest in quality pieces, because they are well aware of the fact that quality is always over quantity. They are just casually elegant and confident about who they are as a woman, Yet they know some amount of effort is necessary to look Tres Jolie.

Sixty years after the unapologetically sexual and young Brigitte Bardot danced her way into pop culture with her gorgeous hair and eccentric personality. French women like Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Birkin, and her daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, Françoise Hardy, and of course Coco Chanel, immortalized graceful matriarch are all we are streaming for.

Why do we like french women? Most of all, because of their personality traits. They are a bit of a romantic, intellectual, interesting, and are wearing high standards as they are wearing nice clothes. Everything about them is signature, even perfumes.

Of course, at the end of the day, everyone should wear what they like to wear, but little details matters, and you can take some notes from French Woman like not wearing too big logos on your clothes, or not be obsessed with super trendy items, to not wear too much of wright colors at once, or many more. People around the world are most of the time trying to make an impression or look a certain way to fit into society’s standards. French women are standing out because they look and choose their clothes based on their state of mind and personality. They don’t follow anyone’s ideas of looking good, they just look good in their own way, and because of that, they are so special. Of course, there are some french women who follow the society’s standards but overall, they have a different attitude about style.

How to be French, whenever you are

In the book “How To Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits”, author Caroline de Maigret wrote that the idea is to find the real you and to not be a product of what society wants you to be.

Caroline de Maigret explains that Parisienne women cherish their “imperfections”. It can be a gap in her smile, or thick eyebrows or a pointy nose, they just don’t care about it. It’s a certain form of strong character and allowance that they can be outstanding without being perfect.

She also tells us that if you fall asleep with soak hair, you may be surprised in the morning. The skin should be approached as a form of art. One must use a certain amount of SPF, moisturizer, and just hide little things like bags under the pimples with a concealer. The french are using mascara on the top and bottom lashes, and they are doing that generously. Short clean nails are the best nails the woman can have, sometimes it can be with nail polish, sometimes without that.

Now about the attitude of the French woman. As Caroline suggests, one must always be fuckable. Even standing in line at the bakery on a Sunday morning, buying champagne in the middle of the night, or picking the kids up from school. You will never know.

You can sometimes even embrace your inner snob because that’s what we are, let’s face it. Also, enjoy the face you have today. It is the face you will be wishing to have in 10 years from now. And for the balance, when your face is getting messier with age, your hair can get more elegant too.

French woman

French model Iné de la Fressange also said to the Guardian that one dress to feel good, not for showing off. And to do that, you need to learn from life. Similarly, Charlotte Gainsbourg told the Wall Street Journal that clothes should fit your life. Not to BE your life. For her, to look good, is to look comfortable and maybe a little bit of easy-going. Designer Isabel Marant thinks that French girls are known to pretend like they don’t pay attention to what they are wearing while doing just that. It’s a question of the perspective of how they are doing that and in which ways. They just don’t talk about it, because it is their game. French women sometimes pose to be careless when it comes to style and they are never revealing that they spend more than one hour getting ready. They may seem like they have just been kissed but they just dabbed their lipstick on with a finger. The French like to play, they don’t do over-sexy. The sexiness should come from the way they speak, think, walk, and carry themselves. They would never wear a tight bottom with a super tight top because they constantly mix and match.

In some ways, the French style has a certain form of arrogance. Women have tremendous respect for themselves in a way that they can wear what they feel like wearing and don’t wear something - even if it’s very popular and in every cover of the magazines. They have more of their own things going on.

So, what are the mysterious qualities that make the French style so unique? To find out what the “Non”-s are, here are some of the tips one can follow in order to understand the French woman’s philosophy when it comes to styling. These tips are timeless and simple, yet, very relevant for every age group.

Read on in order to know their little secrets:

  • A French lady would never wear sky-high heels
  • “No” to trends yes to the timelessness
  • Bangs and messy hair - Have you ever noticed that the french woman never seems to have the hair which is overdone? They barely even look brushed, yet it looks nice and appealing.
  • Striped shirt - That goes without saying, why? Because you really can’t go wrong with a striped shirt. Yes! It is a stereotype, but with an interesting reason - nothing looks nicer, than the pair of jeans with the flats and striped shirt.
  • Invest in a wear-with-everything Trench coat - it will last eternally and will be your best friends forever too.
  • Buy clothes that really fit you. It may sound very easy, but we know that it is very hard to buy clothes to fit well. If you can afford it, you may have a great tailor in order to make sure that everything in your clothes fits from A to Z.
  • Wear a neutral palette - colors are everything. Wear black, white, beige, and brown. They will add some sharpness to your face.
  • Have a low-heeled pump in order to not need thousands of shoes.
  • Invest in quality, not in the quantity. Save up for pieces like a nice Hermès scarf or Chanel bouclè jacket if that’s your style.
  • You can wear men’s clothes - sometimes. Their style has been here for ages.
  • Use a red lip - sometimes you can switch from work clothes and nude lipstick from work clothes with red lipstick and your outfit would magically become more glamorous.
  • When in doubt, wear black - A little black dress maybe? Who knows!
  • Dress for yourself - Great style develops from dressing for yourself.
  • Wear high waisted jeans - Whenever you are American, French, or from any place in the world, it doesn’t matter, you need classic jeans. If you want to look Parisian, then it’s your number one guide to pursue it. Use classic jeans with no holes, rips, or paint splatters. Wear jeans with a blouse and this outfit combo will always make some changes in your mood. Not much is needed for jewelry, but the classic handbag would help too. Also, denim shopping can be guilt-free because you need pants all the time.
  • Invest in white button-down shirt - because it goes well with everything! You can add a silk scarf and some fragrance and the look is done.

How to dress like a french woman over 50

You can be fabulous at any age. Fifty and chic are inspirational and we are seeing them all the time. This french woman gives us the hope that no matter how old you are, you can be sophisticated and stylish at any time of your life.

  • You can finish any outfit with a scarf - maybe not any, but you can’t go wrong with it. For example, Brigitte Bardot was displaying the versatility of scarves in every outfit.
  • Highlight your shape - Don’t hide under the thousands of layers of clothes.
  • Blue and black together - well, this rule you can break, but these colors are very chic together.
  • Long and classic outerwear - Just to remind you about that even more, remember Françoise Hardy? She used to wear a trench coat almost every day. And she did that with a turtleneck and oversized glasses.
  • A blazer is a lifesaver - Good pair of jeans and a good blazer can make anyone look glamorous. This is the french girl going and this idea is going away with everyone when you have no idea what to wear.
  • Wear sunglasses
  • Invest in boots

These are the easy french styling tips you can do right now

Have you ever thought of wearing a cardigan as a top? Well, it is stylish and cozy at the same time. Or maybe you have thought about mixing masculine and feminine clothes? It can be a suit with low-heeled shoes paired with something flirty like moto boots or something. Master to mic “girly” and “tough” pieces together.

For example, Jane Birkin showed us years ago that one can be feminine while wearing masculine pieces. She rocked suspenders and could put a girly twist with them with layers of necklaces.

Also, you can tuck in your top, you will be showing your figure a little and it will give you a polished look.

Accessorize with silver or little gold jewelry. A simple pendant would make you look much more radiant.

Mix some textures and fabrics, it will make your outfit interesting. For example, have you ever seen a silky dress with a cozy sweater? They look amazing together.

Wear more denim and more straight leg jeans.

Look for simple shoes like low block heels or ballet flats. They can be more of a cliche, but everyone can benefit from having a neutral pair of flats in their wardrobe. Françoise Hardy would wear ballet flats all the time. That was chic on her, easy to wear and they look great with any pants.

Conclusion

After all, French style is about micing clothes. And most of all, it is about attitude. How you look, how you move, how you open your bag, how you cross your legs - there are just little things that make a huge difference with a french woman. When we see a french woman, we see the woman and then we see the clothes they are wearing.

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