Observations from Paris

[ParisDispatches]

I was recently in Paris & spent an inordinate amount of time people / fashion watching!

In the spirit of the London thread I thought I'd share my observations.

I was there for several weeks & was based in the 5th but spent lots of time in 6th, 7th, 1st as well Marais, Montparnasse etc

Teens / early 20s were wearing lots of cropped wide legged pale denim with vest tops or cropped tshirts & clumpy trainers or converse. Delicatet gold jewellery.

Or flippy little short skirts & vests. Tanned arms & legs & generally far slimmer than we see here. More natural makeup too. Lots of 90s inspired looks

Around St Germain I saw some incredibly elegantly dressed women 30 upwards
Again generally v slim (I myself have gained weight from 12 to large 14 in past year & so was v conscious )

One woman had an incredible all black outfit. She was in her late 20s & was cool & edgy looking & I felt myself gazing enviously after her...

Birkenstocks abounded . Small cross body bags. There was an hour long queue to get into Polene which shocked me

Lots of beautiful silky shirts at dinner in the evenings.

I don't recall seeing floral midi dresses & white trainers much

Lots of veja on both men & women.

Overall more casual than I'd expected but v groomed

That’s the French though, isn’t it. Looking great in almost anything. DD is no longer early 20s, but skimpy vests and wide cut off jeans are definitely her signature this year. She’s French skinny though. Yes to the delicate jewellery. Well groomed hair is vital. Minimal make up too. Small phone bags too are popular with DD too. So London and Paris are not so different in that age group.

My dd is 18 & loved all the style & fitted tight in. She's a size 6 & v petite. She was thrilled that she found so many clothes that fit her

Yes to the beautiful hair!

Also - far fewer visible tatoos. Less prominent eyebrows & more natural lashes than London

@ParisDispatches DD2 now has groomed eyebrows! Plus naturally good lashes. DD who is older prefers lash extensions which are understated. Not huge false ones. I think it depends whether you change your fashion quickly in response to trends, or stay a bit fixed in a rut. I think Paris leads with a chic look. Always has. DD2 in particular has always been very fashion trend savvy. The first to try something. Not a follower. The look favoured by many is a bit too Kardashian!

I know what you mean. I didn't see too many kardashian-a'likes there though

Overall it seemed to be a more luxe, understated look for all ages

I noticed BRAS. French women have not succumbed to the droopy-norked lockdown vibe. They were PERT. Made me want to up my game.

What bags do they carry? Thinking laptop/tote size, younger age group

...also did you go into Polene and if so how were the prices in Paris compared to UK online purchasing?

Actually, now that you mention bras - I noticed a surprising number of clearly brakes women in the 20, - 40 age group. Mostly small enough breasted but v clearly showing through tight vests / tops

I saw mostly small cross body bags in leather.

It felt like there was a Maje / Sandro / ba&sh / the kooples / zadig & voltaire on every steet

The Polene store was a total let down for me. I queued up for an hour. Saw the bag I wanted in the window. Grabbed it as soon as I got in. Tried to pay but didn't realise the system was to queue at another table & a sales assistant would go downstairs & get a boxed fresh bag. Duly queued again. Showed them the bag, said I'd like this please. To be told we're out of stock. We only have black or yellow I said I have it in my hands, can I buy this one - nope that's display only. So I left empty handed

The store is beautiful. V chic & minimal. With minimal stock

Prices seemed the same as online euros for me

Braless

An interesting thread. I lived in Paris thousands of years ago and return quite regularly, avoiding the odd riot whenever l can.

l think Paris can give s very different vibe in July/August not least because half the local population appear to have moved our.

i was surprised about lack of visible tattoos; l have read elsewhere that French women are tve most tattooed in Europe but I suppose this can vary in what you see from day to day. OP, did you notice many people wearing multiple earrings? It seemed to be becoming quite a thing. I have Parisian friends who say they are
more comfy being naked than without their earrings.

So what shoes were people wearing?

Braless appears to be very much a thing of late, with the idea of a top being so tight fitting no bra required.

Then you venture onto Line 5 of the Metro and you think you are back in a jumble sale.

Yes to multiple earrings, I saw lots of those

We were on line 7 mostly though a few forays onto line 5!

Lots & lots of birkenstocks. Chunky trainers or converse seemed to be the mainstay. I didn't see many heels.

Last Sumner we were in Tuscany & the fashion there was v different. Lots of beautiful day dresses with plain flat leather sandals. I was v envious there.

I had far less style envy in paris which surprised me.

This is a very interesting thread as I was meaning to start one the other day. We have just returned from Paris and I was actively looking out for S&B trends. I was so disappointed! The most elegant and 'put together' women I could see were Asian tourists. Without a doubt the French were much, much slimmer than the Brits are. But unfortunately, I felt their style had really gone downhill.

Really? It’s the pert of breast that most often go braless. I have small boobs and usually go braless in summer (not in the office though).

No there was not a nipple to be seen. Everyone was formally hoiked.

The flowery midi dress is more Parisian à la Campagne. My local market is very entertaining in August. I'm even going to a big party this month where it's mentioned as the dress code on the invitation ! No mention of bras....

I mean in the UK. I rarely see large breasted women braless.

I saw a magazine article on what to wear in Italy this summer. Sun dresses and sandals with a rafia clutch bag for evenings. So I think that look is for holiday areas, not cities maybe? I do think we have that look too. Except we have dresses and trainers in the city because it’s so much easier than heels. No grubby tors by the end of the day and ok in rain. Low sling back kitten heels excepted. Birkenstocks are floating on the stick exchange. Clearly on a roll.

DD2 doesn’t always wear a bra. But she’s small. Lots of the vest tops are very supportive for smaller busts anyway.

DD2 has a big padded nylon laptop carrying bag. These are definitely popular in London.

Re tattooed ladies, I think that is about class, as well as possibly about the urban/rural divide. There are a lot of (badly) tattooed women in the provinces where I live, and they tend to be large bodied and lower income, often with badly dyed hair. I haven't noticed many women with white collar jobs who are heavily tattooed.

@Brexile Same here I think. Is there a tattoo bar in Chelsea?

@TizerorFizz No idea! But it seems you can't go too far wrong if you open a tattoo parlour out in la France profonde. Or a vape shop.

We were in Florence, Pisa & Lucca last year & I saw so many women of all ages in beautiful simple summer dresses & flat brown leather sandals. The dresses were not the floral midi dresses we've seen here at all.

Sun dresses or cotton shirt dresses or shift dresses mostly. It looked so great. I actually bought a dress & a skirt in a boutique in Lucca. Beautiful cotton. I love them.

I noticed a lot of medium / small breasted women without bras in Paris. Mainly wearing tight vest tops.

I don't recall seeing large breasted braless women but might just not have noticed them.

I, too, saw some incredibly well turned out Asian tourists. Super stylish.

And I sat near a middle eatern family in a restaurant & one of the women was dressed in a western style (the other was wearing a hijab) & she was very beautiful & had the most incredible jewellery. She had 3 cartier love bangles! I was mesmerised. Due to the positioning of tables she was directly in my line of vision.

She also had the Van Cleef & Arples Quatrafoil bracelet & earrings. And you could tell by her outfit / bag & general groomed look thar she was wearing the real deal..v simply & elegantly dressed in a navy summer dress but wow her jewellery was amazing 👏

This is the biggest load of crap I've read in quite some time. Where on earth do you live where teen girls aren't slim (apart from your own waif-like daughters of course) and can't find size 6 clothes, and women don't wear bras???

"French-skinny" 😂😂😂

Majority of teens I see coming out of the local college are slim in the UK. French are a lot less scruffy but let's be honest OP most of the people you saw were probably tourists too.

@ParisDispatches Yes. Those types of dresses were in the article. Plus the sandals. Obviously written by someone who had been to Italy recently!

DD1 seems to be spot on with the vests though!

The smartest group of people I have seen were at a theatre in Kyoto for the traditional shows of Geiko/Maiko. Chanel and Hermes everywhere!