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

Thank god!!

I had the misfortunate to see one a couple of months back and I'm still traumatised!

Larger, older lady with droopy breasts... clad in a see-through T-shirt!!! You could literally see everything!

Paris is completly different in the months of July/August. Most from the quartier being talked about by the OP have left the Capital. Lots of tourists and not a true indication.

Exactly this!

She should try going to different arrondissement's and certainly outside of July/August.

@LOSTAN if by she you are referring to me, I spent 5 weeks there across June/ July & was many areas of the city during this time!

It is ridiculous to suggest that in an entire 5 weeks I saw only tourists!

@Lookingatthesunset - I’m sure it didn’t scar you for life! That sounds very judgmental of others on clothes and fat shaming. Fortunately clothing is not policed in this part of the world. We don’t want an Afghanistan situation.

Why are people talking about Paris in August? What does that have to do with this thread? OP was in France across June and July.

It’s very odd. It’s like any time you mention (the indisputable fact) that the French are slimmer and people start telling you that on their semester in some rural province they taught overweight children therefore Brits can’t be fatter than the French.

Why are some people so determined to insist that the people the OP saw weren't French? I'm in London and while it's true that there are many many tourists in central London there are lots of Londoners too.

I’m wondering if young people across Northern Europe adhere to more of a uniform? Therefore the casually dressed mid 20s in London won’t look too different from Parisian DC? There’s a definite overlap judging by this thread. Even with the Van Cleef and Arpels Alhambra jewellery (of which copies are readily available for the less minted!)

I’d love to know if Botox lips and fillers are used by young people in other countries as they are in London and other cities here? Also on a recent trip to Buenos Aires, we saw some huge lips snd very short shorts on ladies in our hotel. This does appear to be favoured by some cultures, but what about the French? I’ve not been to France recently so no idea if this trend is there or not?

Because it doesn't suit this weird MN agenda that (a) all French women are effortlessly stylish and (b) no one in London dresses up so anyone in France or London who isn't (a) or (b) must be a tourist.

Remember smocking on the continent is much much more common and that keeps weight down

They're all slim because they smoke like chimneys from a fairly young age (source: have French cousins).

We don't smoke & since there's a smoking ban in restaurants etc it didn't impact on me.

People of all ages were smoking at outdoor cafes but it didn't strike me as more than in any other city sitting outdoors at a cafe .

Not to mention the fact that Central London is a HUGE place, and while you might see a fair few tourists in Covent Garden, you’re going to see far fewer in Aldgate East.

It's really unusual to see large groups smoking now in the uk. It really is.

Obviously is still happens but we are much likely to more judge if it as a country now and vaping is now becoming more popular. I'd imagine partly down to cost and public health campaigns.

Casual but groomed sums up the general French look.

@HeBeaverandSheBeaver I def saw groups smoking outside bars / restaurants in Liverpool & London in the past 6 months!

From my own personal experience Malaga was the worst place for large groups smoking outside bars - and many of them were tourists!

Anyway, for what it's worth (clearly not much judging by some responses!) I've shared my observations on the style I saw over the course of 5 weeks in Paris.

And I think casual but groomed sums it up nicely.

I saw some v chic, preppy style - cigarette trousers & silky sleevless blouse, flat sandals or shoes too but less of that than I might have expected.

I travel a lot both with work & on holidays. Paris was my 6th international trip (all different countries) this year & I have at least 3 more trips to come.

One of my favourite passtimes is to people watch in airports & cities & spot similarities & differences in styles & fashions.

This thread has been fun.

I was very embarrassed actually for the lady. I don't know if she realised she was practically naked from the waist up.

I defy anyone not to be shocked.

What does Afghanistan have to do with the price of eggs???

@Lookingatthesunset - I expect the woman in question had a mirror and made her choice. In Afghanistan women do not have a choice.

Just because you wouldn’t wear it, neither would l from your description, does not mean that the woman shouldn’t.

I don't think most people would!! She might as well have been topless. Maybe she didn't look in the mirror.

Exactly this. Its always the same on threads like these. Its as if complimenting French fashion is an insult to English fashion.

There are usually quite a few posters whose contribution consists entirely of gleefully telling us that outside of Paris the women are all fat and badly dressed.

And an absolute refusal to accept that floral midi dresses and skinny jeans are only fashionable in the UK.

Exactly @Wakintoblueskies some posters seem to think that mentioning stylish French women is a slight against British women. Its so strange. Plus the insistence that I could only have seen tourists despite being there for 5 weeks...not 5 days and even then that would be a stretch...

A huge number of teen girls aren’t slim at all in the UK. We are a fatter nation than France.

@ParisDispatches Thank you for sharing your Paris based observations. I haven’t been for many years so it’s interesting to read about what is current there.
I admire the dedication of French women to making the most of what they were born with.