CLASH OF CULTURES

Walking the streets of Paris with my sister and husband last week I shouldn’t have been too surprised to discover that French girls are ethereal creatures. I don’t think a long prologue here is necessary to explain what I mean: over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of time in this visually inspiring city (my family lives there), walking and people watching enthusiastically until slightly dizzy, slowly building up a passionate friendship with its atmosphere. This post should be a mere progress report of my personal immediacy with Paris and its trends but I’ve realized that the intensity of my sentiments has grown. Until a few days ago, and despite numerous extensive stays in the capital, I always felt that French girls embraced a traditional style, unable to create images that are fresh and original. This fact seemed so clearly inevitable and obvious that I had almost stopped looking for interesting looks having already categorized Parisian girls except for a few occasional flashes of loveliness. It never occurred to me that I may be wrong. I think that being half French and half English myself, my own challenge has always been to pick the best of both cultures, more than often preferring London aesthetics and excesses over safer French alternatives. But things can change rapidly (well, it took a few years) and I now realize that a whole new generation of girls have stripped away the traditionalism which I had come to accept as normal. Last week in Paris I saw girls wearing clothes with more humour than before, with the necessary amount of “cool” and an approach to style which surprisingly could rival any trendy Londoner. Their view on clothes is undeniably less repetitive and more stylised while maintaining a typically French hint of sophistication. So not only do they now choreograph braver and more experimental looks, leaving magazine mirror images behind, but they also continue to seduce us with their astonishingly natural physical and mythical beauty.

All pictures from Purple Diary - http://www.purple-diary.com/

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10 comments:

Abbey said...

the last photo is so beautifully odd.
wonderful blog :)






xx milkchildren

Natalia said...

I think that in the end traditionalism in all things (perhaps especially in fashion) will change. There is only so long that the French, as a group of people, could remain predictable.

Lovely Post. Really well written.

leeselooks said...

beauty

have missed you.

I . LOVED. THIS . POST!

i have to make it to paris. asap ;)
we were thinking maybe in august?

<3

Anonymous said...

Il était temps que tu reviennes, j'ai cru que tu t'étais perdue sur la planète Télex.Moi je dis : Belgian girls all the way baby!

Feather Hunter said...

loving your blog
xxx
featherhunter.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

well i always thought the soi-disant traditionalism that the french had in terms of wardrobe selection...was what made them special. but with all this traditionalism, i too have seen many a ethereal creature...who have left me speechless.

(but it is funny/odd my cousin, a typical parisian, can buy a jacket from zara's and i think he looks fabulous...yet the same jacket might not work elsewhere...that said: i think it's really how you carry yourself and the french do that très bien...)

nancy

ps love that you have this pic from the purple diary...and love olivier zahm's rant about "the kooples"... ;)))

BeeTas said...

great blog!!!
check the mine,please

http://beetas.blogspot.com

xoxo

mi said...

this last photo is really intriguing. did you take this???

xx
maude


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http://treschicago.blogspot.com

ryder said...

is your name lou dillon? you look amazing

micol zanzuri said...

love this photos!!

http://mikyscloset.blogspot.com/