French style vs. British fashion
In the latest of my Britain vs. France posts I’m going pretend to be a fashion blogger, but without the pretty pictures of me posing in a carefully selected outfit by a cherry blossom tree. Instead I’m talking about the difference in attitudes to style and consumption of fashion in France and the UK. As always it’s based on my own observations while living in France and the UK and not on any particularly painstaking research.
Timeless elegance
The French are famous for their style; that effortless chic that does, in fact, take quite a bit of effort. French style is epitomised by a few perpetual looks that seem to endure from season to season. There is no ‘the new black’ in France. Why would there be? Black is black. They invest in what we like to call ‘staple’ items: a Breton top, a pair of perfectly fitting skinny jeans, flats that can walk all day and take you dancing into the night, and a ‘smoking’ – the tailored jacket that works with everything. Throw in some accessories and voila, French style. Look at Vogue France editor, Emmanuelle Alt (bottom left). She is the embodiment of this style. idea.
My ‘Parisian Chic’ board on Pinterest
The staple wardrobe
I don’t have the stats but I think it’s pretty safe to say French women, in general, spend more on individual items but a lot less on clothing overall. That’s the idea of the French wardrobe, a minimal wardrobe for all seasons filled with well-made, well tailored neutral items which will last for years and once they’re done, they will make their way happily into a vintage store, still in excellent condition. They have much less of a credit card culture so they don’t shop beyond their means.
IT’s Parisian chic For a reason
Paris, like London, isn’t the sunniest of places, and it seems to fit that the more changeable and dull the weather, the better the fashion. Where there’s sunshine, there’s always a little less attention to fashion. That was certainly the case in Montpellier. In the sunny south the ‘French chic’ look was a rarity. People are colourful down there and their style is more easy beach chic than covered up Parisian chic. The “uniform” is more shorts, cute sandals, floaty t-shirt or shirt while in winter, they are too depressed to care. It’s not across the board; there were as many painted on leggings and inappropriately short dresses as you’d find in North London, but you get the idea.
British ‘style’
Like croissants and cheese, French style is ‘a thing’ while British style isn’t. But in London, fashion is a big deal. We spend ridiculous amounts on clothes and are obsessed with shopping the trends. We also have about a million sub-trends depending on which part of the country, or city, you live in. Apparently British women spend on average £80,000 on clothes in their lifetime and then complain they have nothing to wear. Every season there’s a whole bunch of new things that comes out and we will shop the trends that are fashionable that season. We can do that because we have a lot of options, from expensive, to discount to…bargain.
It’s not cheap; it’s a bargain
It was interesting for me to hear from a lot of French people in France who thought London was more stylish. They loved the choice and price of clothes while criticising fact that clothes were expensive and unexciting in France. I don’t necessarily agree but it’s an interesting observation. Sure, we have a lot of options and personally I find it impossible not to shop in London. There are just so many things to buy everywhere, and so many different occasions to buy for. We dispose of our disposable income when a new trend roles in, buying things which are more wow, but with less ability to wear them so regularly (that’s the problem with wow items) and less able to work from season to season.
Because we’re more trend-focused, and the shops reflect that with everything turning floral, all tops becoming crop tops and jeans switching from skinny to boyfriend as autumn/winter turns to spring/summer. There is this season and there is last season. And nobody wants to be seen as last season. So we consume fashion quickly and cheaply and more quickly and more cheaply and then primark happens. Gone are the days of pretending you are wearing something more expensive. Now we proudly boast: “Primark, £10, bargain!”
I was once in a vintage store in Montpellier and I saw an Atmosphere top for 30 euros, which of course made me laugh as the cost was probably triple what it was originally and the French lady owner of the shop clearly had no idea that Atmosphere was the brand name for Primark fashion. Hilarity.
Less is more…except when more is more
There’s also another side to the French which I didn’t know about until I moved there. There is of course chic/minimalist/timeless style, but while living in France there was also another style I saw a lot of: garish and over-the-top. I struggled to find anything elegant in French wedding magazines and websites. It was all a little ‘much’ to my taste. Frills, diamante, satin were pretty standard wedding fare while what I wanted was the French Wedding as seen on pinterest! From the outside of France, the style is beautifully shabby chic and classy but in practice, when I told my wedding decorator I didn’t want giant martini glasses or satin chair covers but instead wanted mismatched jars, bare chairs and fairy lights, he struggled with the concept of paired down chic. This was something I found quite a lot of when wedding shopping in France. I think outside of France, we’ve taken French wedding style and perfected it.
Theory vs. Practice
It’s pretty safe to say that French style is an ideal, embraced by many people in Britain and around the world, and not necessarily practiced by all the French. What do you think happened when a primark opened in Marseille? All out baguette wars, that’s what.
See. Not a bretton top in sight.
Now I personally adhered to the less is more attitude when living in France. In the whole year there, I can count on one hand the amount of clothing I bought (we don’t count shoes in that number; shoes are a separate thing) and I have loved all of them because they’re not trend related, not boring and not something anyone would find in the shops here. Being back in London I have had try and resist the urge to shop. I’ve failed and my already bursting London wardrobe has now exploded everywhere it can. When we leave I’ll embrace the capsule wardrobe, but for now, if you can’t beat em…
What do you think; is there a difference in the way people consume fashion where you’re living/have lived?
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