I remember a time when I was small when my Grandmother would wear a hat and gloves to go to downtown Los Angeles. When I was a bit older my mother would deck me out in a full skirt and gloves for our trips to Los Angeles for lunch and shopping.

It was thought that you dressed up to make your appearance. There were gloved attendants for the elevators in the department stores. A woman in a suit and heels would answer any questions about the departments. There were fashion shows in the cafes, etc.

Something happened and Americans started dressing down, it is laughable to think of wearing something other than jeans to most of downtown LA now, unless it would be a bulletproof vest.

It is the same in the UK, SeaUrchin - people keep up with 'fashion', but, generally, cheap stuff, which can be happily discarded next year (if it hasn't already fallen apart!)
When I was a child, my parents dressed me up in a frilly blue dress, complete with lace gloves and a hat, for Sunday school (they were not religious folk!). I went to the bus stop and felt so 'on show' and ridiculous, that I ran back home. Now, I dress so as not to be noticed, most of the time. However, as the mother of the groom, I did dress up for my son's wedding a couple years ago - silk designer dress (don't normally spend that much money on clothes in a year!), hat etc. I was amazed that a lot of the guests were amazed that I was wearing a hat. I was even more amazed to see one guest turn up wearing rubber boots ...

lemidi, that link I gave on the other thread was by a person seeking out 'fashion worthy' people, not just anybody. She may have only taken pictures of one person out of 500 for all we know. I never see any photos of middle aged women returning from the street market on these sites.

Maybe so, but Kerouac your comment "Unfortunately, this is pretty authentic" would lead one to believe that you agree that indeed the young french people do dress this way and that this blog is representative of their dress. Maybe I misunderstood your intent. Sorry.

What fashion link are you all looking at? I wanna see too.

Hope this works SeaUrchin

http://fashion75blog.skyrock.com/1.html