I am going to Paris for the first time in a wk and am under the impression that dress is more formal than NY.Is there truth to that?

To me, it seemed very similar to New York. Some dressed up, some dressed down, everything in between.

Not true. You can wear the same clothes in Paris that you wear in New York.

Just returned from Paris yesterday. Dress as you wish. Saw it all except for shorts and tee shirts. I wore jeans the whole time and never had a problem. Have fun--you'll love Paris

But where exactly did you go, John?

I returned from Paris a few weeks ago and agree with John... saw it all. For sightseeing, we wore jeans. At night, we dressed more upscale but my husband never wore a tie. That said, we mainly ate at bistros and smaller restaurants, where everyone else seemed to be dressed like we were.

when visiting in paris i find it best to wear a little elmer fudd hat with a feather in the band and hiking boots.<BR><BR>sven

i rather fancy a coon skin cap and nylon thong. although as it starts to head into the fall reason, i find the cap to be a bit to au courant and prefer something less stylish, hmmm, say a diaper, clipped and worn at a rakish angle. enjoy yout trip1

Frivolous posts like the foregoing aside, I wish I had a dollar for every post at Fodor expressing some degree of angst over what to wear in Paris - then I could afford another trip!

I believe that one should dress as one sees fit irrespective of one's surroundings or one's peer pressure to do or wear something that one would otherwise not do or wear.

Wear your everyday clothes-of course nothing sloppy or dirty. Gee, we start thinking that Paris is up on a pedestal and there is some unspoken dress code. The Parisians are wearing what we wear here in the US-typcially jeans!

My husband and I were all over Paris doing all the touristy things and he wore jeans everywhere. For dinner he wore nice wool pants, but he does that here at home anyway so it wasn't any different for him. I think I may have been overdressed during the day because I didn't wear jeans. We went in May and I wish I had brought my jeans jacket because that was the look at the time - everyone had one on. Of course, the jeans were the trendiest - that dark dirty worn look - regular jeans would have looked odd.

It depends on where you are going, your age and, maybe, your figure. If you are going to any of the major tourist attractions: the Louve, Eiffel Tower, etc. you will be around other tourists & will see everything & no one will care (except Fodoristas who read stuff like this). If you go to a special exhibit at the Gran Palace, shopping on Ave. Montaigne, tea at Laduree or lunch or dinner at a fashionable restaurant you will see incredibly chic women who are dressed like they are going shopping at Bergdorfs. An Hermes scarf and a good handbag worn with dark slacks and sweater can take you almost anyplace.

Right on, Chloe!