French chic……..can you create it?

The first French lady I ever encountered was a young Mam'selle who took our class of 12 year olds back in the fifties. Not chic but certainly earthy as we stared mesmerised by her furry armpits!
Recently I shared a table with two middle aged Parisiennes in a McDonald's near the Gare du Nord. They managed to carry off 'the look', even in that setting, by choosing a green salad and a glass of red wine, as I chomped into some fattening option with a Diet Coke.

I believe French chic is something that has to be learned at an early age.

The women I have met who had it, or the Spanish or Italian counterpart of it, had been brought up from the age of 10 to make the best of their appearance, which at that age was concerned only with correct deportment, good manners and learning to choose clothes and combine them correctly.

Later, at about 14, they were taught to converse politely in adult company and never, never to go anywhere, in some families not even to leave their own rooms, without making quite sure that clothes and shoes matched and that their hair and nails were presentable.

Mothers, aunts, and more especially grandmothers were quite merciless in their remarks if one slipped up. Girls were expected to look in a mirror and assess their good and bad points, then discuss how to make the good points more noticeable and how to conceal the unfortunate ones.

To a lesser extent, until the 1970s, Scandinavian, Austrian, Swiss and German girls learned these things too, whereas in Britian where I lived for most of the year the attitude was that as long as you and your clothes were clean that was all that mattered, and teenage girls were more or less expected to be shy, tongue-tied and as my scandalised Danish grandmother put it, "Behave like boys and look as if they had dressed by guesswork."

In the British girl's defence, obviously spending 40 something weeks of the year in school uniform hardly developed one's dress sense, nor could the clothes sold by the C&A, Lewis's or Marks and Sparks do anything at all towards making a gawky 15 year old feel confident about her appearance. (Clarkes' shoes did not help either.)

Cultural differences exist for better or worse and I do not believe that you can learn these things, however hard you want to and try to, as an adult if you have not been trained as a child.

Nowadays, only those women who still have their clothes tailored show any difference in the actual clothes, as all the rest of us are clothed by Hennes & Mauritz. Levi's and other international shops - but the woman inside the clothes has still been brought up to conform to one or other country's unexpressed expectations and therein lies the difference.

Siptil - since getting my first bra at the age of 12½ I only bought bras, underpants and underskirts when we were on holiday in Denmark in the summer, as the choice was far larger and you were most definitely expected to wear matching bra, pants, suspender belt and slip.

Don't ask me why, as only the mythical nurse in the casulty dept. if you should ever end up there, was ever supposed to see any of all this, until the day you married.

But I will admit, I felt better in matching undies than in Marks and Spencer's offerings. And I could and still can buy bras that fit in Denmark, Germany and Israel. No British made bra has ever fitted except where it accidently hit me -but that is presumably due to my figure rather than the British firms that produced ladie's underwear, back then.

colliemum It was Cotes &Mer, fabulous food.

HazelEyes No flowery dress and I never eat dessert!

Thanks Sago, I'm always on the lookout for something other than the usual here - canard, canard et canard.

My 16 yo’ English granddaughter always looks effortlessly chic whether wearing quality clothes or granddads cast offs. It is an innate sense of style. Money, diet, nationality (?) has nothing to do with it.

I followed a Frenchwoman on YouTube out of interest and found the style rather severe and boring. If you wore earrings, take your watch off. Belt? Take something else off etc. Plus she had terrible teeth (which was comforting).
Princess Diana had ‘it’, even as a teenager, she would tie a little scarf round her neck in a stylish way and her honeymoon Balmoral clothes were countrified but not frumpy.
It was nice that we could show countries like France that we could be super stylish.
Jackie Kennedy managed it too.

Trained as a child to be judged by others?. Probably not very British although I think some of the upper-class in the 20s and 30s would have treated their girls a cattle in this way. You had to be able to identify the PLUs.

Who exactly are you trying to please, grandtanteJE65?

a as

I went to live and work in Paris when I was 19. I felt like a frumpy bag lady type in comparison to the slender, polished, coquettish, groomed French girls. They seemed to make no effort and look amazing. Of course their language helps. It has a somewhat seductive tone to it.

I had just come from Edinburgh and felt very parochial and like a country mouse arriving in the big city. I never did mange the look. The clothes were tiny...all size 6 to 8 - I was a size 12-14, or they were just far too expensive. I'm a bit more elegant now but not chic and I've noticed that French tourists don't look so different to any body else these days, It's a more standard 'world' look now.

Of course they’ll have wonderful sun tans and because the weather’s hot they eat far less too so are slimmer than we ‘ northerners ‘ . With a sun tan, you can wear loose fitting white or cream tabards too , and basically, with the true ‘ cafe culture’ the French ARE just more stylish !! When you’ve tanned legs even an older woman can wear short skirts and statement jewellery is a given !
Look at Juliette Binoche in Chocolat !

Nearly all the Frenchwomen I know have chewed down nails but still look chic. I can't think of a single Frenchwoman - even film stars - (except on colleague at work, at a pinch) whom I would call pretty, or beautiful but they still all look chic.

As many have said, it is simplicity and quality of clothes and accessories. Only MOnica has used the word "arrogance" but there is a certain amount of that involved, shown in the way they carry themselves and the way they command respect. Funnily enough, a smile will also give you a certain aura - one that exudes confidence and at the same time makes others think they are important. Much of this can also apply to women of other nationalities who have the old "je ne sais quoi".

French food, as some have said, is really not so special - often with no vegetables at all, just meat, potatoes and a very rich sauce or the ubiquitous frites and steak haché.

Somebody on another thread refered to having to wear a vest this winter. In Clermont Ferrand there is a very busy Damart
shop, still thriving . Last winter I bought another one for 25€,
a little expensive but they last and last. Maybe that helps the
French woman stay warm and still look chic in winter.

When I’m in Italy or France I can always spot the British tourists - baggy long shorts, floral prints, football shirts, primark tops, clumpy sandals or crocs. Italians - black, navy , white, limited colours, well cut suits, sharp haircuts.

I much prefer the wonderful visual feast seen in Brighton.. boho, retro, trans, chic, arty, rockstar, trashy, smart office, sporty... it's a wonderful mix... just be yourself and more accepting of difference. what does it matter?

I lived about an hour from Poitiers for some years, returning to the UK 7 years ago... definitely not many chic ladies in rural France.

Most Brits who lived there seemed to find it was better and cheaper to shop at online Next, M&S etc and have it sent to France. My experience of French clothing stores then was either cheap and nasty, e.g. not surviving many washes, or really expensive, with very little in between!

I'm way behind with reading Gransnet - thanks Sago I've enjoyed this post.

I think most of us who actually live in France have agreed that this is probably about a small minority of rich Parisiennes and not representative of women in France. I have read this thread while watching the lunchtime news, with reports from around the country. I haven't spotted these elegant creatures so far....

VB000 I have found LeClerc excellent for underwear, and if you look diligently, there are diamonds among the poorer quality wear. I bought a beautiful good quality dress there this year for DD's graduation and a denim jacket that has been much admired.

vegansrock

When I’m in Italy or France I can always spot the British tourists - baggy long shorts, floral prints, football shirts, primark tops, clumpy sandals or crocs. Italians - black, navy , white, limited colours, well cut suits, sharp haircuts.

Hardly surprising really - the Brits were on holiday and the Italians or French weren't. I think that most people have different wardrobes for work and play.

One area where the Brits are better than the French is in interior decoration. You only have to look on the French estate agents websites to see many horrible interiors. There are often "mumsy" interiors on the agents' websites in England which are dated and boring.

French design magazines regularly feature British homes as well as designers -furtniture, textiles etc etc.

Dinahmo

vegansrock

When I’m in Italy or France I can always spot the British tourists - baggy long shorts, floral prints, football shirts, primark tops, clumpy sandals or crocs. Italians - black, navy , white, limited colours, well cut suits, sharp haircuts.

Hardly surprising really - the Brits were on holiday and the Italians or French weren't. I think that most people have different wardrobes for work and play.

I can honestly say I’ve never seen an Italian in baggy long shorts, floral prints etc. even when they are on holiday Dinamho. Long, fitted shorts in a dark colour, or camel, and a polo shirt with a collar, plain coloured strappy top or sundress is more their style. They don’t do scruffy.

Mamie

I think most of us who actually live in France have agreed that this is probably about a small minority of rich Parisiennes and not representative of women in France. I have read this thread while watching the lunchtime news, with reports from around the country. I haven't spotted these elegant creatures so far....

Mamie I think we are talking 2 different 'chic' here. The rich women of Paris are like the rich women in any major city as are
the rural women who dress appropriately for their lifestyle.
However your average 'townie' in France looks mega better
in any season than your average in the UK. Somehow they seem to put style into clothes and I don't agree that its expensive clothing either, the French girl wearing a scarf is
the best example.

There are chic people of all races and nationalities.

As a result of this thread I spent the morning scouring clothes shops over here and then did a bit of people watching from my table at lunchtime. What did I learn about French women's choice of clothes?

So, not many wear cardigans. If they do the younger women drape them off one shoulder, showing a strappy camisole underneath. More mature ladies clinch them in at the waist with a belt. I saw quite a lot of zip up cardigans, but very few with gaping buttons. Some jumpers had zips going diagonally which looked elegant.
Their trousers and jeans barely graze the ankles, they were all straight, not bootleg or wide.
Tweeds appears to be in the shops for the autumn and tartans too. Hang on a minute, didn't we, ie in Scotland, invent them?
The women had smaller busts than British women, and just to level up here the men had jackets, not fleeces, and wore smart shoes.

I quite enjoyed being an observer, and think I blended in ok with my blue jeans and Joules stripe top! The blonde hair and fair complexion gave me away though. ?? ??