By 
Emblem of elegance and sexiness, the French woman has disseminated an obsession and a myth throughout the world. Yet she remains an eternal mystery – one that many artists such painters or writers have attempted to define, without ever quite succeeding. Why people are so obsessed about this woman? What is French style?
Let’s try to capture the « je ne sais quoi » of a Parisian woman through the eyes of a French woman living in Australia.
The style of the Parisian woman can make a lot of men and women dream and may frustrate a bit few… women. We cannot deny how much the French style has an influence on the world and how a French woman became popular by her indefinable “je ne sais quoi” (which literally means “I don’t know what”). Are you thinking right now “what arrogance!” However it’s what we, French women, call confidence.
Confidence is the key of beauty
Many people like to say we French people are arrogant. But what you might term « arrogance », I call « confidence ». A Parisian woman’s style and effortless chic mainly stem from her confident attitude. She flirts with no complex and seduces by the way he smiles, walks, and dresses. For that, she chooses timeless clothes and radiates a subtle sexiness that I would prefer to describe as “sensuality”. Indeed, the word “sexy” has been used so much that from now on i’s become cheap, then, I prefer to leave this word to the Americans (no offence).
While the American stars often feel the maximum of their flesh to the world, the French women prefer to play with finesse and nonchalance, revealing enough to create the desire.
She embraces her age, her wrinkles, her body shape, and she feels “bien dans sa peau” – comfortable in her own skin. She sees beauty in imperfection.
Be inspired
The fashion world of a Parisian woman is full of different possibilities, always exploring new ideas, mixing pieces, and creating unique outfits.
The Parisian woman is curious. She finds inspiration in the streets, in different shops, in museums… Each outgoing becomes a good tool to translate her own personality through her style. Everything is in the detail and she shapes her eye to make the world notice her difference.
An identity of style
She has her own personality. She doesn’t want to look clichéd and she categorically refuses to fit in with the rest of the world. The most important is to define her style and her allure. She likes to make a statement with her own style without saying a word. She highlights her natural elegance and escapes the vulgarity. She doesn’t follow the rules and she is proud to claim that she is a stylish broker of conventions. She uses fashion as a tool and prefers to assert her own style.
After all, she grew up in a culture where she heard that “fashion fades, only style remains the same” (Coco Chanel). A French woman is a woman that you can’t forget and Coco Chanel was the perfect example.
Find your accessory
The Parisian woman mixes cheap and luxury items, but watch out when it comes to accessories, she likes to invest in few key pieces that will look wonderful on their own and will be her signature.
She doesn’t hesitate to spend time finding the perfect piece – something that is both classy and unique.
And even if she pushes the boundaries with an extravagant detail, she never fails. However it’s important to not give too much information and focus on only one thing.
Prefer a sober chic while being sophisticated
“Less is more”, we all have heard this saying. Like a lot of French people, this is my motto. Make the accent on the right detail. If there is something that it’s not recommended – at all – it’s to show off. Undeniably, the idea is not to grab attention for the brand but to subtly draw the eyes on the style she has built through her clothing choices and her personality.
If there is something she excels at more it’s finding the right balance between sobriety and sophistication.
Stay “au naturel” and the most important be you
If someone asks me what I think is the biggest fashion faux-pas, I always answer “when you try to be someone you’re not”. You immediately lose your charm and your power of seduction. Be true to yourself.
The perfect example is a French woman’s tangled hair. We all agree to recognise that she prefers to have messy hair and, besides, it makes it much easier to get ready in the morning. It’s a bit like her signature when she’s going out. It reveals a part of her insane sensuality and her nonchalance.
She also has a preference for a light make-up; she wants to look fresh and totally natural. Regardless of how, she will never forget her perfume which allows her to leave a bit of her essence wherever she goes.
Reveal your femininity
If there is something that a Parisian woman is totally aware is whatever the clothes, the style or the fashion, a woman has to be first of all FE-MI-NINE. Nonetheless, she has to connect with her inner femininity that will make her desirable. She is certainly a representation of femininity. She embodies style, spirit, independence, modernity, and confidence. One of the symbols of France is Marianne – a version of the Goddess of Liberty – who is often depiceted as very feminine, with voluptuous bare breasts, yet is as fiercely independant as the République itself.
The Parisian woman has an attitude and knows how to perform with her femininity. First of all, she’s an independent woman, she’s Parisian, and it’s her identity. Whatever if she’s born in Paris or not, it’s all about her mindset; she has just to heartedly embrace Paris and breathe its essence. She carries all the power of Paris and she is proud of it such as an ambassador of the French fashion and the French capital. Paris is the city of love and she plays the seductress. But she doess not only do this through her physical charms. Part of her style is a witty, intellectual mind and she loves philosophical conversations around a bottle of wine.
Imitating the style of a Parisian woman requires you to do things differently. It may be this difference, her essential uniqueness that has created the mystery and the myth that surrounds the ideal Parisian woman.
« La mode domine les provinciales, mais les Parisiennes dominent la mode. »
(Fashion dominates the provincial, but the Parisian women dominate fashion and know how to turn it to their advantage.)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse”
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