Currently in France for the first time and....

[TealRhino]

I'm pleased to say I've seen quite a few examples of the much-envied French style we talk about on here!

Most notably was a woman yesterday; mid thirties, (expensively) highlighted hair just tied back in a knot, trilby hat, simple frayed denim shorts, a simple white top with a bit of lacy detailing at the back and a huge LV tote bag.

She was average in looks and a slim but not skinny build and wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary but she just looked so amazing!

I think the Scandinavians look so much better than the French their look is relaxed though many of the women are naturally gorgeous and they don't seem to go for plastic surgery.

Scandies are dull and conservative - they looked like catalogue models - the naff kind - yep the girls are pretty but live there for while and people watching becomes a very dull sport.

Agree with MrsScadenfreude - French/Parisian style is quite conservative and almost like an unofficial uniform of sorts. ALso agree that French style is really Parisian style as is certainly does not describe the women in my DH's native area - frumpy and slightly overweight would be a better description.

Even the French are mystified about this mythical French woman - read here.

I am from Brittany and I've never seen any woman in tracky bottoms and lardy. One of the keys to French style is neckscarves. They are everywhere in French clothing shops.

I'm in the South of France and everyone is slim, chic, and made up to the gills here. It is the reason why I run twice a week and am the same weight I was pre-children.

how come when we visited paris last winter everyone wore black winter coats and jeans? it was like a uniform and so drab. i took a load of my best clothes, expecting to still be embarrassed and all i needed was a black coat, jeans and a dull coloured jumper? where are all these fashionable french women - because they weren't around last winter in central paris?

The lardy, tracky bottom wearing women are generally found in Normandy and the Pas de Calais, Raymond.

Agree re the scarves.

Lots of nauticals and bling in La Baule & surrounding resorts.

lol at neck scarves.. rather than er... leg scarves?

Handbag scarves?

I'm in Brittany and see all sorts, but certainly a lot of those "obviously French" women. I think they are usually slim, with very good posture and they ooze confidence - they feel comfortable in their skin.

Yes Lady

I wrote neck scarves because they are different to scarves (which are of the woolly variety) these are more chiffony and designed to be tied round the neck in a chic fashion!

I think the classic French look might work in the UK... but only cause it contrasts. In France, I would be longing for a bit of unconventional quirkiness, of women who ENJOYED their food with passion and gusto, who would laugh like they loved life and didn't give a fuck about the fact they were taking up public space. I'd so desperately want individuality instead of Stepford femmes.

We went to the Ile de Re this summer, parts of which are havens of understated chic - it's not just clothing and grooming, it's a whole way of life. Much easier to achieve if everyone around you is doing the same thing and the shops cater to it.

I was thinking about this while I was shopping yesterday in our local town in Normandy. There was lots of crimplene, funny coloured tops in synthetic fabrics and flowery skirts. My favourite outfit was a shapeless denim dress with loose, beige, lace leggings with frills round the bottom, gold shoes and magenta hair. I have lived here for ten years and the height of chic involves short, white, frilly skirts, gold or silver shoes, crop tops and masses of jewellery. I am in my sixties and most of these outfits are worn by women who could give me a few years. I just don't get this style thing. As far as I can see it is as overrated as French food.

French bourgeois chic is, unsurprisingly, found in French bourgeois locations. The whole of France is not bourgeois.

Very true Bonsoir. The women in our village are mostly non-smokers, uniformly pear-shaped (oh how they love their tergoule), and sturdy from a lifetime of tending the potager and looking after the farm animals. They are also some of the nicest friends I have ever had.

I know exactly what you mean about the Ile de Re, Bonsoir. I love the fact that everytime we go you never have to worry about getting extraneous people in your holiday photos as they all add to the ambience dressed, as they are, to fit in with their surroundings in navy and white stripes, shades of taupe with perhaps a splash of red.

Ile-de-Re is a concentration of that elusive French understated lifestyle that foreigners come to France searching for - though they mostly end up disappointed!

Ile-de-Re is a tiny little place. It's bound to disappoint if you're looking for all of France had to offer in just a few square kilometres with the usual camping sites, villas and fish restaurants. Good for cycling.

My uncle and aunt live on the Ile-de-Re. I love going to visit them but can't deal with the billions of starfish in the sea there. It freaks me out.

Frankly when I went to Paris the only ones that looked chic where the foreigners (no!! not the brits- I mean the african and asian women). The French women where very casualy dressed - jeans and not in a chic casual way. Those over a certain age looked very 'dragon lady' with very dyed hair and eye-liner. I found most french women very boringly dressed and cannot say their skin was anything to shout home about. No peches or roses to their complexion- just dull beige.

Onthe other hand I have seen plenty of British women who look very stylish - and ok - a lot of desperate frumps who will insist on wearing those awful quilted gilets and think they look classy!!!

There's definitely a French style that some individuals have, and the basis of it is being slim, tanned and having the kind of dark colouring that works well without make up, and wearing simple, good quality clothes. The look would work on anyone regardless of nationality.

When I visited Grenoble, I thought the majority of 20s/30s women looked really dull compared to English women of the same age, all dressed in plain, dark, uninteresting clothes. In Paris I've seen some beautifully stylish people, but I always see incredibly stylish people in London too. I think it's just a side effect of big, glamorous, expensive cities to contain glamorous, expensive looking people.

Having said that, I saw a school party of French kids in their late teens the other day and all the girls were utterly gorgeous - v tall, v thin, tanned, long unkempt browny blonde hair, and much nicer clothes than many British teens - skinny jeans and converse and parka rather than cut off shorts and sparkly tops and extensions.