French Fashion

So just a beginning disclaimer, I’ve never been to France. I was in a french class for about 4 years where we honestly talked about the food and fashion of France a lot more than we actually spoke french. I personally love french fashion. It’s so elegant, chic, and not overly gaudy or extra. In my class, we went through an entire section called “La Mode” which essentially means “The Fashion”. Many believe that french fashion is the ideal style, I would say that agreeing with this, many iconic trends in the fashion world started in France, or by french people.

French Fashion Icons

Paris, France is considered one of the fashion capitals of the world. This dates back to when the industry started hundreds of years ago, because they were the first to recognize clothing as a business. One of the first fashion icons of the world was Queen Marie-Antoinette. Yes she’s the one who got her head cut off during the French Revolution. Basically the french hated her because she was all about her style and not really all about taking care of her subjects. Anyway, she popularized sky-high wigs, feathers in hair, and custom made dresses. Her custom-made statement pieces and style created the category “Haute Couture”.

Next on the iconic persons list is Coco Chanel. You probably have heard of her, or at least the brand Chanel. Coco started the trend of boyish and simple clothing. She first came out with her line in 1925, just five years after the first debut of the fashion magazine, Vogue. Chanel still reigns today as one of the luxury brands in the fashion world. I actually spent almost an entire month studying Coco Chanel as a part of our “La Mode” chapter.

Ah Yves Saint Laurent. I have to say he is one of my favorite designers to shop. I don’t actually ever, you know, buy anything, I just go on the website and add things to my favorites list, knowing that I will most likely never own any of it. Well to get back on track, he started the “ready-to-wear” change in France. This means that clothing started to be mass-manufactured and clothes began to be more affordable. Ha, as if Saint Laurent could ever be considered “affordable”.

Fashion in France Today

Nowadays, french women are praised for their ability to be chic at all hours of the day without spending hours and hours getting ready. French men have the same, effortless, yet maintaining elegancy, look about them. Pretty much whatever the french are doing, they’re doing it stylishly. In my previous post, I talked about how in Thailand, they don’t ever go in public in say, sweats or joggers. Well it’s the same thing in France, even if you’re just going to the grocery store, you should look at least somewhat put together. There is generally a higher standard of fashion and style.