I've just got back from five days in Le Marais, and I've decided I want become Parisian, s'il vous plait.

[TossDaily]

So there.

EVERYBODY looked fantastic. EVERYBODY. DP and I just sat open-mouthed in fascination. Whatever their age, they looked amazing.

So I'm sitting here on a diet, wearing an Isabel Marant jumper and frantically googling 'How to turn French.'

As far as I can tell, the rules are:

1. Be thin, despite the fact you are walking down the street at 11am gnawing a cheese and ham baguette the length of your forearm.

1. Have your hair the colour and texture of natural hair.

1. Have the most amazing skin, despite the fact you have a permanent Gauloise on the go.

1. Never get pissed and lairy, despite the fact you are having a glass of red wine with your lunch and it's Tuesday.

1. Wear shoes you can walk in.

1. Have an amazing coat.

1. Know how to tie a scarf so it looks like you have slung it on and it's just choosing to snuggle up to you because you are SO FRICKING GORGEOUS.

1. Have a pharmacy on every corner that is just an Aladdin's Cave of miraculous skincare delights for less than a tenner each.

Anyone else have any tips? Joking aside, I loved the style - the shops, ohmigod the shops! It was like I'd walked into my internet shopping history.

I could actually walk around in my biker jacket without feeling like a twat.

I want to be French. Aidez-moi.

On foot of this thread, my tres French red beret and scarf arrived. All I was missing was some fake snow as I looked like a five year old on a Christmas card. I specifically chose red as I have chestnut hair and pale skin and even though it shouldn’t, certain reds can look very well on my reddish hair.

I returned both as I sadly have to accept I cannot pull off the chic look.

My American vintage top arrived and it wasn’t white as described but is instead an ‘off white’ which is a cream colour. Cream is one of the worst colours I can wear as it washes me out completely. I suppose my credit card is better for it.

I shall keep a look out whilst shopping over the weekend- the stole- like a secret handshake - are they on MN.
I am torn with the stole. I want it- but there are loads on eBay too that are loads cheaper and look ok. But they might be crap.

I am wondering also whether TF lipsticks are worth the £££££. I would love to find a lipstick that didn't fell meh. The Chanel colours are lovely but I hate the feeling on my lips.

Intomyarms I fancy a hat. I don't want a beret, a cap would be good. Why don't you try some different styles until you find one that you like?

Caps are much easier to wear, they're more flattering on most people and the don't suffer from the Frank Spencer association.

Not Frank Spencer

Enid, I think some complexions need a bit of blush with it to make it work. If you look at old Elizabeth Taylor photos you see she needs quite a bit of blush to not be washed out by the red. Mary Greenwell also claims there's an age (think it was mid forties to early fifties) that a woman struggles to wear a red lip and then it looks fabulous again. I think she's a genius and I'll take her word for it but surely it'll be on a per case basis

Cuir indeed the mutual love affair is interesting. There's always a great exhibition at the Maison de la Culture du Japon whenever I visit. Their gift shop is great too. I love the Japanese neighbourhood around Rue St Anne and will always happily forego the French cuisine to eat my fill there for at least one night, super affordable and as good as in Japan. Love the little shops and Japanese bakeries there too.

Into, I think a beret and a scarf was probably a bit much in one. For most it will be one over the other and not everyone suits hats, especially with berets you need to try a couple before you know what suits you as they're not all one and the same.

Shame about the AV, it looked polar white on those pictures!

Proper, if you get the boys and girls lipsticks from TF they're a cheaper entry way into the TF lipsticks as they're just less product. I honestly don't know if TF are worth their asking price, yes they're comfy and have long staying power and some more pricey ingredients in there that make them more comfortable to wear but I only really ever bought into them because they have colours I can't find elsewhere and I usually recommend a colour from them on here as they suit a lot of different types rather being locked into the cool/warm toned spectrum.

Janet that cap is lovely. I have a grey, felt baker boy from John Lewis, it is lined and super warm, I agree it is very easy to wear. I loved those Breton ones botemp linked to upthread too. I have a burgundy beret, but it's knitted, and I just don't really wear it much, I am wondering if it's the texture, quite soft but too chunky a knit.

Into your beret and scarf sound lovely. The right red can look stunning, I think iirc, that a true red is supposed to suit everyone but depending on your colouring you might go for a blue/cool red or warm/orange red.

Absolutely didn't post on the wrong thread. Nasty and snide comments about Americans and Japanese. It's shocking that this kind of talk is deemed acceptable.

What an excellent thread ...

Bo - I want to go to Paris with you for a weekend of shopping and people watching please?!

Looking forward to buying my red lipstick today as my treat to myself. Off to a Blackpool Strictly Cocktail Party this evening and will be seeing an old Uni friend for the first time in over 30 years (), do going to be channelling some of the lovely ideas and advice on here

Planning on wearing a simple black pin stripe Massimo Duti top that dh bought me for Christmas (I'd never heard of them before unfortunately I had to take back the gorgeous riding boots as my calves were too big for them ) and some plain black wool trousers (which are now loose on me again after losing weight).

I have a gorgeous long red winter coat that I'll give its first outing this winter to. It always makes me feel good and I get loads of compliments

Big scarf, biker and red lipstick. Burgundy stole on order. Thanks for this thread - trying to get my mojo back and this is helping masses.

I was wearing my favourite red lippy by Chanel last night 444 Gabrielle Rouge Coco.

Guerlain do lovely reds too, Rouge G Garconne is a moisturising true red.

Here's a pic from last night wearing the Chanel lippy. The red eyeshadow was a bit of an experiment and not very Parisian.

I’d love a really nice wool coat. Haven’t found one yet this winter.

bo I’m a big fan of blusher. I think it was the first make up product I ever bought (apart from super sticky roller ball lipgloss and body glitter. The 90’s.)

That looks lovely Auld!

I fancy a baker boy cap. Thanks Bo I think I will try the este lauder carnal. I need a lipstick that doesn't feel like I need to lick it off immediately. I also like the idea that as it wears off it will leave a nice stain rather than a tide mark.

Margery, I've just said very complimentary things about the Japanese if that was aimed at me, but I think at this stage you're just trolling this lovely thread so I'll ignore you

Auld excellent lipstick and glossy hair action

Thanks. Glossy hair due to henna.

Proper, Carnal is a really full on red for a first red, not for the faint of heart (I do love it though). beware of the Violette rabbit hole. They have various good reds in the Envy range though, so there is plenty to choose from.

Aesop, careful what you wish for. I'm planning for January but OH is being annoying with the dates due to yet to be determined work travel so I may just end up going solo or strangling a friend along last minute. So in that vein I may very well just take an umbrella and become a tour guide instead

The Gabrielle is such a classic Auld, it looks lovely on you. I always forget about Guerlain but their lipsticks are indeed great although I find the packaging with the mirror clunky.

Pretty, it sounds like a fab outfit, enjoy your night out! Don't worry MD boots are cut really small, as most Southern European boots are.

It was the same for me Enid, I could see the point of mascara but I could take it or leave it. Blush did something else, even when it was nearly imperceivable (which is how I like my blush). I never know if it's a positive thing or not but I have a face that requires very little makeup to transform so I've always been more conservative with it. I think I look deranged with falsies or a full coverage foundation but perhaps I've never really put the required effort in as I failed to see the point of them.

I don't want to ignore Margery. I think there's some cracking stuff on this thread but whenever we talk about 'fashion tribes' (which is how I view this) we're always using very broad generalisations and it's only too easy to slip from that into lazy stereotype and from that into outright offensiveness. There was certainly a point early on in the thread when the op herself intervened.

It's not easy to go against the tide of a thread. I've done it myself and you know you're going to get defensiveness if not outright hostility. I do think it's normally better to challenge individual posts - or if you don't want to do that, report them - rather than a whole thread which I think is full of lovely links and great advice.

Oops, we've got two prettys, the above was to prettybird.

I don't disagree with you Flo, as this thread is far from lily white, especially in the beginning of it. But I find it very difficult to discuss things of these nature in the microcosm that is MN as soon as an -ism is declared on an entire thread. You're automatically pushed into the offensive and that's often perceived as an admission of guilt or continuing to hold onto ignorant denial which means everyone is unwilling to budge an inch as a result. The odds are stacked unfavourably on both sides and no one comes out looking better for it. But yes, I can definitely see the point that if you're not reading it with the idea of 'fashion tribes' in mind it can read very differently and in places it most definitely has.

I know you've flagged up ageism on these boards a lot and it's made me more attentive about it as a result but you're specific about it, I understand where and how it happens, usually, inadvertently rather than framing it as malicious intent from those posters.

*defensive not offensive, obviously

I've given up almost completely on mascara as my eyelashes are really short so it doesn't make that much of a difference and because no matter how waterproof they are, they always come off and leave a smudge just under the outer corner of my eyes. Not helped by the fact that I have very watery eyes (most contact lens wearers struggle with dry eyes - when I was learning to wear them many many years ago , I was nearly at the point of needing drops to dry my eyes )

For special occasions, I might use false eyelashes instead.