How to dress adult male and 8 and 10 yr old for Paris in Aug.
Aug 5th, 2005, 09:20 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How to dress adult male and 8 and 10 yr old for Paris in Aug.
On Aug. 18 my husband and two children will be accompanying me to Paris. I will be taking them on the same excrusions and staying in the same apartment as I did with girlfriends earlier. Previously I was there in Feb. We dressed in black and long coats most of that time. I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone on dress and shoes for the month of August. I know they don't wear bright colors as in the states, no tennis shoes, no shorts, no t-shirts with sayings. Are dockers for men appropriate? What style shirt? Collars? I like to immerse myself in the culture of the counties I visit, I enjoy adhering to their dress and manners. I know I won't pass as a Parisian - that is not my intent. So please don't respond with the attitude of go comfortable, and don't worry about looking like a tourist. If anyone has some information on shoe styles, how Parisian children dress, etc. I'd greatly appreciate it. I have found that when we dress to blend - we have made many new friends and the people are always open and polite with us. Also for us the summer temp. averages 95-98 with 98% humidity. Is a Paris 70 temperature like a San Francisco or Portland temp? Thanks for anyones help.
Aug 6th, 2005, 01:23 AM
#4
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Advice from a Parisian: Paris can be pretty hot in August, especially with this whole climate change which has been affecting French weather over the past few years.
Even though you asked not to bother advising you to dress comfortable, that's what I recommend because the thing is: you'll never look Parisian, no matter how hard you try. So you might as well look as yourselves, and be happy and comfortable about it.
People tend to be preppy in Paris, so you may want to make an extra effort on the gear, but no more. T's, shorts, jeans and sneakers are fine (you'll be doing a lot of walking!), with perhaps polo shirts and khakis in the evening.
I can assure you that you won't be spotted as a "dirty touist". You'll be welcomed, as long as you have the right attitude.
Have fun in my beloved city!
Even though you asked not to bother advising you to dress comfortable, that's what I recommend because the thing is: you'll never look Parisian, no matter how hard you try. So you might as well look as yourselves, and be happy and comfortable about it.
People tend to be preppy in Paris, so you may want to make an extra effort on the gear, but no more. T's, shorts, jeans and sneakers are fine (you'll be doing a lot of walking!), with perhaps polo shirts and khakis in the evening.
I can assure you that you won't be spotted as a "dirty touist". You'll be welcomed, as long as you have the right attitude.
Have fun in my beloved city!
Aug 6th, 2005, 01:42 AM
#5
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 401
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Your post implies that you are trying to dress your 8 and 10 year old children up to resemble Parisian children while they are traveling with you.
Growing up, the woman who lived next door was from Paris, and had 3 sons and a daughter. I was friendly with her and also her mother, a very refined Parisian lady. I think they would find this concept highly amusing, to say the least! Sort of like using children as fashion statements.
If you dress up your children in more formal clothing, I seriously doubt it will enhance their trip, or help them make friends with Parisian children any faster. But you could wait until you arrive, and take them shopping in a french department store, where they might have fun picking out things for themsilves.
That said, I agree that you can use French newspapers as a reference. Your statement about t-shirts with logos made me laugh, because it reminded me of the period some years ago, when anything bearing the face of Mickey Mouse was all the rage in Paris.
Very amusing idea, hope you can pull it off!!
Growing up, the woman who lived next door was from Paris, and had 3 sons and a daughter. I was friendly with her and also her mother, a very refined Parisian lady. I think they would find this concept highly amusing, to say the least! Sort of like using children as fashion statements.
If you dress up your children in more formal clothing, I seriously doubt it will enhance their trip, or help them make friends with Parisian children any faster. But you could wait until you arrive, and take them shopping in a french department store, where they might have fun picking out things for themsilves.
That said, I agree that you can use French newspapers as a reference. Your statement about t-shirts with logos made me laugh, because it reminded me of the period some years ago, when anything bearing the face of Mickey Mouse was all the rage in Paris.
Very amusing idea, hope you can pull it off!!
Aug 6th, 2005, 01:51 AM
#6
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 358
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There have been zillions of posts on this issue on this forum. First, you'll be surrounded by LOTS of European tourists, and believe me, Dutch or German bus tours are not stepping out of a Givenchy presentation! Then, it is likely to be hot (or not: at the moment, in the low 20s C). And finally, it is impossible to give recipes, you know, like these magnets you put on your fridge: scarf that, shoes this, etc. GSteed's suggestion is spot on: nothing better than live pictures to get an idea. If you get the francophone channel TV5 on cable, watch it, especially the France 2 news, and you'll get plenty of samples of, if I may say, French dressing! Or try and rent recent French movies on DVD (Netflix has plenty, if your local store is not "arty" enough). But, as usual, relax: the French don't dress (or don't live, for that matter) the way Hollywood portrays us in Le Divorce.
Aug 6th, 2005, 03:39 AM
#7
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,755
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
..just be yourselves..re the kids, my goddaughter lives in Paris (and both of her parents are French ie not expats). At your children's age she dressed mostly in Gap which I always found rather ironic.
Aug 6th, 2005, 03:46 AM
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,098
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Dress like people on vacation, not someone who lives in Paris and is on their way to work. That does not mean cut-offs or micro shorts or muscle shirts. Of course dockers for men are fine--they aren't on their way to a board meeting; they're on vacation.
You aren't French; you aren't on the way to your office to interview a client; you'll be out in the heat moving about and sight-seeing, not in a cool, protected office suite.
Dress appropriately for someone from another country who is on vacation. Not sloppy, not dirty, not skimpy, but practical and neat.
You aren't French; you aren't on the way to your office to interview a client; you'll be out in the heat moving about and sight-seeing, not in a cool, protected office suite.
Dress appropriately for someone from another country who is on vacation. Not sloppy, not dirty, not skimpy, but practical and neat.
Aug 6th, 2005, 04:00 AM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,605
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I googled images for "Paris" and obvious summer photos...
http://www.leguide-paris.com/media/g...mbourg-006.jpg
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~koster/galle...huchette30.jpg
http://jbouzou.free.fr/photos/photo_..._du_tertre.jpg
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/~dcoatta/...eDay-Crowd.jpg
http://gallery.tc.dk/paris2002/P8230110_Inside_Pompidou
http://www.leguide-paris.com/media/g...mbourg-006.jpg
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~koster/galle...huchette30.jpg
http://jbouzou.free.fr/photos/photo_..._du_tertre.jpg
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/~dcoatta/...eDay-Crowd.jpg
http://gallery.tc.dk/paris2002/P8230110_Inside_Pompidou
Aug 6th, 2005, 04:07 AM
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
>How to dress adult male and 8 and 10 yr old for Paris in Aug. <
You put the clothes on the 8 yr-old and set him on a chair in the corner.
Ditto the 10-yr old, but in another corner.
You lay out the adult male's clothes and tell him you aren't leaving the hotel room if he doesn't wear what you have set out for him.
If all goes well, it won't take more than an hour.
Have a nice trip.
You put the clothes on the 8 yr-old and set him on a chair in the corner.
Ditto the 10-yr old, but in another corner.
You lay out the adult male's clothes and tell him you aren't leaving the hotel room if he doesn't wear what you have set out for him.
If all goes well, it won't take more than an hour.
Have a nice trip.
Aug 6th, 2005, 04:25 AM
#12
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rochelle.....I can't accept your conclusions of how they dress in Paris.In todays world (and of course with the influence of TV and the movies) most of the western world (and those of the big cities dress quite alike. I would dress exactly as you would in any big USA city.
It was very noticable in the recent interviews of people in the street in London after the bombings how similar in dress the Londoners were to the Americans.
If you are not concerned about your taste you shouldn't be concerned how you dress in Paris.
It was very noticable in the recent interviews of people in the street in London after the bombings how similar in dress the Londoners were to the Americans.
If you are not concerned about your taste you shouldn't be concerned how you dress in Paris.
Aug 6th, 2005, 05:40 AM
#13
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,305
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"I have found that when we dress to blend - we have made many new friends and the people are always open and polite to us."
I don't know how to tell you this, but we've never set out to "blend," yet we have made many new friends and people have always been open and polite with us.
Get over yourself!
I don't know how to tell you this, but we've never set out to "blend," yet we have made many new friends and people have always been open and polite with us.
Get over yourself!
Aug 6th, 2005, 06:01 AM
#14
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,890
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8 and 10 year olds should dress as they always do during the summer. Clean is the best you can hope for.
A grown man should know how to dress himself - and Paris is no different from any other major city. No ratty cut off jeans, dirty sneakers and mis-shapen washed out t-shirts with odd sayings (which seems to be the usual tourist garb here in NYC - and I believe suitable only for cleaning out the garage).
I suggest good walking shoes (rather than enormous white sneakers - which IMHO look silly on anyone over the age of 20) - dockers/khakis and polo shirts are fine. If he wants to wear proper shorts (nice knee length - neither enormously oversized or tatty) he should be OK during the day unless you try to go to a better restaurant.
A grown man should know how to dress himself - and Paris is no different from any other major city. No ratty cut off jeans, dirty sneakers and mis-shapen washed out t-shirts with odd sayings (which seems to be the usual tourist garb here in NYC - and I believe suitable only for cleaning out the garage).
I suggest good walking shoes (rather than enormous white sneakers - which IMHO look silly on anyone over the age of 20) - dockers/khakis and polo shirts are fine. If he wants to wear proper shorts (nice knee length - neither enormously oversized or tatty) he should be OK during the day unless you try to go to a better restaurant.
Aug 6th, 2005, 06:49 AM
#16
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,087
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's going to be pretty hot and humid in Paris in August. In those conditions personal comfort has to come before high fashion IMO.
I was there 2/3 weeks ago with 12yo boys and a 14yo girl. It was fairly hot then.
As a single parent I cannot even consider buying new clothes just for when we travel, so they wore their usual stuff. Also we travel light, so could not take loads of stuff. None of them looked very much different to any other young teen or child anywhere we went in France. Several times they were spoken to by French children, especially the boys who took their scooters to ride on in the evenings.
The boys wear skater/surf boardwear: jeans from Gap, t-shirts from quiksilver, billabong, ripcurl etc, all the usual cool surfer-dude names. Yes, these t-shirts have logos, but they are for sale in the stores on the Champs Elysees and elsewhere in Paris (and France)so the French kids wear them too. My boys also wore long shorts (on or below the knee) again, boardriding wear. They wore their flat-soled skate trainers, (etnies, DC's) and we bought some new ones somewhere in les Halles, and also a pair in Bayeux - so you see, boardwear is so popular it's everywhere!. One boy wore a baseball cap (the right way round!, and no logo) he bought in les Halles, the other wore sunglasses. When we ate out at restaurants in the evenings, they wore the shorts or jeans with a nice shirt - sort of like a hawaiian shirt but more muted - and English! - with checks or stripes. Both still looked smart but cool.
My daughter wore either a longish gypsy skirt with the obligatory big belt or a knee length skirt, with pretty decorated flipflops or sandals (there are so many lovely ones around at the moment). She topped the skirts with a t-shirt (not a vest, too much risk of sunburn)or a cap-sleeved blouse. We actually bought a skirt and several of the tops in Paris, in Morgan, Zara and Monoprix, so I suppose she did dress like a Parisian! Sunglasses, and a handbag slung on her shoulder.
(I have noticed that the French - and Italian - women carry a handbag or wear a shoulder bag as normal - it is just us visitors who sling our bags across our bodies or wear bumbags (fannypacks) and rucksacks which of course single us out straight away as visitors.)
I wore olive coloured linen trousers or black linen cropped trousers during the days, topped with a plain black or white t-shirt. I wore my old tried and tested comfortable sandals mostly. I also took a pair of white linen trousers which I wore in the evenings with a kaftan-style top - they are in all the shops in the UK, and we saw lots in Paris too, and pretty thong sandals. I carried a pretty straw basket with the maps, camera, guidebook, waterbottle, sunscreen, lipstick etc, but because I had the money and cards in a small purse slung across my body I probably looked like a visitor, but so what, it doesn't bother me.
We saw plenty of men wearing long shorts - it's the men who wear the short tight shorts who look out of place. In the UK men wear long shorts with shoes we call docksiders: leather, maybe coloured, with leather laces, very casual but still quite smart, worn without socks. Can't remember seeing any in Paris but I wasn't going around looking at men's feet!! Maybe its a British thing, but most men I know would wear them all summer wherever they went, regardless.
Rufus T Firefly has it right,
and ira - LOL!
I was there 2/3 weeks ago with 12yo boys and a 14yo girl. It was fairly hot then.
As a single parent I cannot even consider buying new clothes just for when we travel, so they wore their usual stuff. Also we travel light, so could not take loads of stuff. None of them looked very much different to any other young teen or child anywhere we went in France. Several times they were spoken to by French children, especially the boys who took their scooters to ride on in the evenings.
The boys wear skater/surf boardwear: jeans from Gap, t-shirts from quiksilver, billabong, ripcurl etc, all the usual cool surfer-dude names. Yes, these t-shirts have logos, but they are for sale in the stores on the Champs Elysees and elsewhere in Paris (and France)so the French kids wear them too. My boys also wore long shorts (on or below the knee) again, boardriding wear. They wore their flat-soled skate trainers, (etnies, DC's) and we bought some new ones somewhere in les Halles, and also a pair in Bayeux - so you see, boardwear is so popular it's everywhere!. One boy wore a baseball cap (the right way round!, and no logo) he bought in les Halles, the other wore sunglasses. When we ate out at restaurants in the evenings, they wore the shorts or jeans with a nice shirt - sort of like a hawaiian shirt but more muted - and English! - with checks or stripes. Both still looked smart but cool.
My daughter wore either a longish gypsy skirt with the obligatory big belt or a knee length skirt, with pretty decorated flipflops or sandals (there are so many lovely ones around at the moment). She topped the skirts with a t-shirt (not a vest, too much risk of sunburn)or a cap-sleeved blouse. We actually bought a skirt and several of the tops in Paris, in Morgan, Zara and Monoprix, so I suppose she did dress like a Parisian! Sunglasses, and a handbag slung on her shoulder.
(I have noticed that the French - and Italian - women carry a handbag or wear a shoulder bag as normal - it is just us visitors who sling our bags across our bodies or wear bumbags (fannypacks) and rucksacks which of course single us out straight away as visitors.)
I wore olive coloured linen trousers or black linen cropped trousers during the days, topped with a plain black or white t-shirt. I wore my old tried and tested comfortable sandals mostly. I also took a pair of white linen trousers which I wore in the evenings with a kaftan-style top - they are in all the shops in the UK, and we saw lots in Paris too, and pretty thong sandals. I carried a pretty straw basket with the maps, camera, guidebook, waterbottle, sunscreen, lipstick etc, but because I had the money and cards in a small purse slung across my body I probably looked like a visitor, but so what, it doesn't bother me.
We saw plenty of men wearing long shorts - it's the men who wear the short tight shorts who look out of place. In the UK men wear long shorts with shoes we call docksiders: leather, maybe coloured, with leather laces, very casual but still quite smart, worn without socks. Can't remember seeing any in Paris but I wasn't going around looking at men's feet!! Maybe its a British thing, but most men I know would wear them all summer wherever they went, regardless.
Rufus T Firefly has it right,
and ira - LOL!
Aug 6th, 2005, 07:04 AM
#17
Kids: knee length cargo shorts, t-shirts, socks, sneakers (people most certainly do wear sneakers in Europe).
Husband: slacks, polo shirt, loafers.
As in any city, the Parisians are going to work and are in business attire, and all the vacationing tourists are in casual comfortable clothing. IMO it is just plain silly to dress like a Parisian business person for your vacation.
If you are determined to dress your children like "Parisian children dress" why not wait and force them to go shopping on the first day of your trip.
Husband: slacks, polo shirt, loafers.
As in any city, the Parisians are going to work and are in business attire, and all the vacationing tourists are in casual comfortable clothing. IMO it is just plain silly to dress like a Parisian business person for your vacation.
If you are determined to dress your children like "Parisian children dress" why not wait and force them to go shopping on the first day of your trip.
Aug 6th, 2005, 02:04 PM
#19
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's going to be very hot in August for one thing. Another thing don't obsess with clothing; there is no dress code in Paris. Your kids can make friends regardless of how they dress. Sorry to be vague as that's not what you wanted. But you will be identified as a tourist sooner or later no matter how you are dressed. I did wear casual clothes like jeans and passed for a Parisienne until I tried to speak French.
Aug 6th, 2005, 02:12 PM
#20
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,854
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've been to Paris in July and August, and while it could be 70 when you are there, the climate is definitely not like San Francisco. It will likely be hotter, and could be very hot in the daytime (85-90). I'd check weather reports closer to when you plan to leave, but would be sure to have some clothes suitable for hot weather.
