Thank you for starting this thread. I'm sorry, Jayne, that because I logged on just minutes ago, I've only just discovered it. I certainly didn't join YLF to preach or teach: if that is the way it is perceived I will leave immediately. With sadness, because I have learnt a lot here in a short time, and made some new friends. BUT I came here to LEARN! Like everybody, there is room for improvement in my interpretation of style. Yes, it is built on fairly solid foundations, but I am more than willing to learn, to evolve, even at my advanced age (I am in my early fifties.)
A couple of lines about myself may help you all to understand where I'm coming from. I grew up in the UK, of French parents. My father's family were Huguenots who had fled persecution. Some of them went on to flee again, and were among the founding fathers of the embryonic USA. I was the first of my immediate family to move back to France when I married my Parisian husband, Thierry. So it is not quite accurate that my personal style was developed in France.
I would say it began at my mother's knee, and certainly when I was an adolescent, back in the 1970s, there was an awful lot of 'tat' around: flowing dresses made of cheesecloth; garish kaftans, vaguely inspired from the Haight-Ashbury flower power movement. My mother, who still had to give me my clothing allowance at that time, steered me away from many a fashion pitfall. She was recognised in England as being somewhat 'different', rather an exotic flower amongst English tweeds, twin-sets and pearls. She had unerring instincts. She kept her hair mid-length, so that it could be worn in a loose French pleat, or held together at the nape of her neck with a large black bow. She never dressed without putting on a minimum of make-up, and her signature perfume. She wore pearls, certainly, but always with a creative twist: a long rope doubled around her neck, one end as a choker, the other left much longer; or she knotted them just above her bust. She worked on keeping her fuigure, and although her clothes were relatively few, she made friends of the local tailor, shoe-repairer, and a good dry-cleaner. She bought some of her basic wardrobe in London, had a few pieces made-to-measure from some fabric she had bought, and found others on trips to Paris, which was also where she found many accessories: shoes, handbags and silk scarves. I certainly don't think she wore a uniform, but rather her unique style, built on basics but with her own flair. Perhaps, twenty years later, her wardrobe would have been considered as a capsule +. (the plus being the details that made it her own).
So, yes, she certainly had an influence on me. When I was about fourteen she gave me a 'grown-up, slightly snobbish, but good guide' (Mum's words). It was in French, and had been written in the mid-60s by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux and was called simply 'Elégance'. Mum was right, it was both slightly old-school and snobbish, and who really changed into a 'cocktail suit' and then into full evening dress a couple of hours later? BUT there were nuggets of gold in that book, which have been great rules of thumb. It introduced me to the concept of always buying the best I could afford first to create a working wardrobe, then building on it.
It's made perfect sense to me, although I definitely refute your assertion that French women don't have to think about it, they merely subscribe to some 'fashion uniform'. After all, where is the home of 'Haute Couture', which even if few of us can afford it, influences the style trend each season for women all over the world?? Surely, it has always been and remains Paris? Yes, New York, Milan, London all have their fashion weeks, but every designer from any of these countries aspires to show in Paris, it's the fashion Mecca.
What French women, who usually earn far less than their American counterparts, have understood, what Angie has understood, as she posted to my thread, is that the elusive 'perfect' high-quality garment, beautifully cut, in a neutral shade (which will vary according to colouring, figure, height, and a host of other variables) is worth waiting for. It can take years to develop a wardrobe of 'investment pieces. Years of saving, and searching. The crucial pieces which all French women should have in their wardrobes has been much written about, and their is little general agreement, save for a few pieces. For me personally they are the vital little black dress, knee-length, or slightly above or below depending on your age, shape and preferences: the first one in a wardrobe should probably be a simple well-cut sheath which can be accessorized for day into evening wear (you can always add to your stock of LBDs in different shapes, later. I now have 5). A well-cut three piece suit: jacket, skirt and pants (which alone can be split up and provide endless permutations); a few good cashmere sweaters, the first in neutral shades such as black,navy, camel, cream, brown, dark fir green, (whatever are your personal 'neutrals'), to be augmented later by 'on-trend' shades that suit YOU; a few lighter-weight tops in natural fibres (cotton or silk) in both neutrals AND 'happening' colours (this could be a clutch of tees in a variety of different cuts from camisole to short and long-sleeved); a raincoat (in my case the famous Burberry); according to your climate, a good Winter coat, which I would choose in a neutral, so that I can have fun accessorising it with 'pop-of-colour' shoes, scarves, maybe a fun knitted hat, gloves, whatever you prefer; a few pairs of well-cut figure flattering jeans, ideally including a white pair for Summer; a classic Breton top (I still prefer navy-and-white, but there are plenty of other colour combinations that have been introduced in the years since Chanel famously wore her borrowed-from-a-sailor one); and a well-cut pair of palazzo pants (for me, that means black crêpe wool, but for you it might be tweed, any other of your personal neutrals). These are incredibly versatile. They can be worn with any form-fitting sweater or top, and will take the suit jacket into an evening look quite happily. My personal jacket is a classic tuxedo shape, and it accessorises everything from jeans to a long skirt, a LBD, summer dresses when the sun goes in, even when inspiration fails for an evening look worn buttoned over nothing more than a pretty black-lace bra (in case it's glimpsed, when I move). Beyond these key pieces, it really is entirely up to the individual. A few leather biker-jackets are essential to me, for example, but might not be to the next girl. I like to buy quality totes, but another girl might prefer a handful of cheaper more colourful ones. I definitely like my basic handbag shapes to be of good leather, and to last however. But then, I often buy cheaper 'on-trend' clutches. It varies constantly. This year for example, I have bought a cobalt-blue and black Diane Von Furstenberg to replace one of my LBDs (which has also been worn with my tux. jacket from my basic three-piece), a pair of tile-pattern casual pants that Angie found at Nordstroms, some polka-dot stiletto pumps that Mary K posted to jazz up my LBDs, my palazzo pants, my black skirt, almost anything, and several cheaper pieces. You ask how long I expect these 'on-trend' pieces to last. The answer of course, is as long as they remain trendy. That is why they are not bought at investment prices. It might be six months, it might be two years. Who knows with fashion??
Look, all this is getting tiresome, for me, and almost certainly for you. I don't like the implication of the thread title either. If I have offended anybody, then I am truly sorry, and will leave the You Look fab community today. I shall be sad, but do it. Over to you.
