French style

[bigbuttons]

This week I have had the fortune to accompany my mum on a river cruise up the Rhone. Lucky me. We are currently spending a couple of days in Lyon which is a lovely city.
I have been amazed at the styles and choice of dress of most of the American and British cruise goers. The Britsh seem to commit the worst sins dress- wise; think socks, sandals , shirts and shorts in unpleasant and garish patterns and materials. Tight belted and ill fitting clothes with flabby overhang.
I have noticed how very differently the French women dress , they just look chic, just, different. I passed a woman in the street yesterday who look amazing. She only had a simple dress on, but it was styled with a belt I would never have chosen and her hair was all swishy and she sort of sashed along the road with a smile on her face.
Older women look fabulous on the whole too. I am 48 so count myself in the older woman category.
Sadly we leave tomorrow afternoon. I shall make another foray into the huge shopping mall in an attempt to arm myself with some French style.

Is it possible to have a bit of je ne sais quoi in old Blighty? I would love to have a bit of what these French women seem to have.

French women dress simply in my experience, and walk purposefully but not rushing. They just have that je ne sais pas that's impossible to pin down.
Is it because they don't follow every fashion fad going?

I gather it is the combination of black and navy and simple cuts.
'They' never get their colours done as they don't care if they look washed out or boring.
Nor flower prints.
I embrace leopard print and will continue as such.
Italians are far better dressed in my opinion.

I was disabused of the notion that all French women are stylish when I lived in Paris 20 years ago. Yes, some were, and those that got it right got it really right - all slim, manicured, great shoes, great hair etc etc - but most of them were not getting it right in the French sense at all. And don't get me started on the men; I started to feel haunted by men wearing white socks with a suit...

I find a lot of French men to be a bit too "wacky blazer and quirky coloured glasses" for my liking.

I agree, Italian women are much chicer than the French in general.

I lived in Lyon for 6 months as a student in 2005. It's very expensive to live there and the people have a reputation for working very hard and not having a particularly relaxed lifestyle. This may indicate why they are looking particularly groomed and "expensive".

To be honest all the students and teachers at my uni wore stripy socks, dungarees and Doc Martens coupled with messy hair and a permanent cigarette in one corner of their mouths, but the 30ish receptionist in my apartment block wore a literal twinset with chinos and pearls. Maybe it comes with age...

Oh, I love a good French style thread

I miss Bonsoir She would have added lots to this thread

I was in Crete a couple of weeks back and there were no French women but generally all the women looked pretty chic and slim be they Russian, German or English.

I think it is perhaps down to the place you are on holiday - and kill me for saying this but I wouldn't actually expect the average cruise holiday goer to be super chic.

So by comparing the people on the crusie with French women on their own territory - well surely it is like comparing apples and pears?

Or cruise even

Maybe it's because I once spent the longest month of my life working for an odious French famille but I just don't get the reverence for neutrals and a good handbag. I know some people see taste and elegance but I just see dull, dull, dull.

But vive la difference and feel free to take the piss out of the House of Flo (although there are no parrot earrings, I promise).

The flaw in your argument is comparing tourists to locals. The Italian & French tourists I see on the tube in London rarely look stylish nor well groomed, in no small part due to their love affair with shiny puffer jackets.

I have a few Italian Swiss and French colleagues and I do agree that well dressed Mediterranean country women nail it well. I think it had something to do with good use of silk scarves, Chanel-esque collarless jackets, and compliant, thick, non-frizzy hair.

I really dislike these threads.

It's not about being French or anything, I spend a lot of time in France and most women are not especially stylish or well turned out.

There is this generic wealthy looking well groomed style, but that's not French as such, it's just expensive looking groomed look.

Where I am in France it's pretty hard to tell nationality from clothes, most are dressed for the activity. Lots of cropped trousers or knee length shorts with trainers and a vest top. There have been a couple I have spied from a distance and thought ahhh.

The family who got out to an attraction that is a 2.5 hour walk, yes they were brits in wedge sandles and short skirts. Looked nice but looked like they had thought more about the outfit than avoiding injury. Half way around the walk someone came towards me in baggy mustard yellow dungarees. Whe I say baggy, the bottoms were extreme harem with the crotch below the knees. Quite a thick and neatly pressed material. I thought french and was correct.