If you guys went to more movies, you would have got the jokes about "dress codes" in the original post!!

Gerard Depardieu ends up as a transvestite prostitute in the first film; B. Bardot shows her thingys in the other.

It was a send-up!!

Ok, so let me say that every major city has a part of town where the people dress chic as in Boston, NY, San Fran. etc and in the villages and hamlets they usually don't dress up.
Clean and good manners are more what the French will judge you on.
Americans are too sensitive about what to wear in France. In Paris, you'd dress as you would for New York.

<should I upgrade my wardrobe for travel to France?>

To honestly answer that question we'd need to know how you dress to begin with!

OMG!!! Heeeeeeee/Sheeeeees Back!

tedgale, oh dear, then the joke's on us (well on me anyway)... i guess it would be better not going topless or exposing oneself in France (unless you are at the beach)!!!!

Mmmmmmmm, thingys!

Cigalechanta, thanks for your wise advice.

Tedgale, I don't get your point about movies. "And God Created Woman" and "Going Places" were both very culturally influential. They made the careers of their stars and directors - respectively, Brigitte Bardot/Roger Vadim and Gérard Depardieu/Bertrand Blier.

Dunno what a "thingy" is. But I was impressed that Bardot sashayed around St. Tropez barefoot in blue jeans. I didn't know French girls did that in the 1950's.

Whoa, mkingdom_2. I just looked at the Dior Homme summer 2005 collection. Sloppy is in! They call it the "rock-chic look."

Now I'm thinking I look too neat and clean! Well anyway, I don't think I'll be packing a loincloth just yet....

I went to Paris in Fall 2003. I'm sure I stuck out like a sore thumb, as I wore khakis and jeans most of the time. At the time, the super-pointy shoes were being worn by the fashionistas of Paris, and there I was in big blunt-toed Merrills.

If I could change one thing (and I will when I go back Paris for a second visit this fall) is I would wear a LOT more black in general, and take my black leather jacket. It would be nice to fit in a little more, even though 90% IS attiude.

Also, the French will be a lot nicer if you start all your conversations with "Bonjour" and end them with "merci". They usually switch to English immediately since it only takes a sincere shot at saying "bonjour" to realize their English is probably better than your French. ;)

Good luck in your travels.

Jules in Denver